„"The world eats." That was the theme of this seminar at the wannseeFORUM. And it's undeniably true. Every person in the world needs to eat. But where does food come from, who has access to it, and why are Spanish tomatoes sold in Central African countries? The answers to these questions aren't easy to find. But 50 students from the Louise-Schröder-School set out in their workshop groups to explore these questions and try to understand the global connections involved in food production.
It all started with a presentation by Claudia Fix. The speaker from Engagement Global She presented various staple foods to the participants and explained where they originally came from. She illustrated how foodstuffs traveled around the world due to migrations and colonization.
This was followed by a role-playing exercise about the journey of bananas from the Caribbean to Europe. The roles played by the various workers along this route illustrated the injustice of global trade: While supermarkets in Germany receive almost half the purchase price of a banana, the people on the plantations receive only a fraction of that, even though they have to stand in the sun all day, are exposed to toxic pesticides, and have to perform heavy physical labor.
The rap workshop immediately addressed this issue in their song. „"Banana Split"“ It tells the story from different perspectives of the suffering of the people involved in banana production and distribution.
The theater workshop also explored southern fruits. After a visit to the Ritter Sport chocolate factory, the group examined the conditions of cocoa farming in Ivory Coast. This ultimately led to the play. „"Maria's Ivory Dream"“ The story revolves around a chance encounter during a holiday in the Ivory Coast, an encounter that would later have a significant impact on the protagonist's life. There, she met a girl who was forced by her mother to work on cocoa plantations and therefore could not attend school.
The technical conditions in countries of the Global South were examined by the Oven assembly. In her workshop, the lecturer presented various cooking methods and compared them with the students in terms of their efficiency and environmental impact. Finally, the participants built their own micro-gasifier stoves from tin cans.
The comic group provided an overview of the connections within global food production. Their comic book... „"different worlds"“ They explained how food is produced and thus drew attention to injustices. The main topics were meat production and factory farming, but also working conditions in other countries around the world.
The Collage working group created several audiovisual presentations using the presentation software "Prezi," showcasing their self-designed labels for food labeling. For example, they designed an "unfairtrade" label, which could be used to identify products manufactured under inhumane working conditions. This was intended to alert consumers to the questionable origin of the product when making purchases.
All presentations can be viewed below the article.
In addition to working on their respective final projects, the working groups also attended various guided tours to brainstorm ideas and familiarize themselves with the topic. Dahlem Domain. There, in the Culinarium, various exhibitions on the topics of nutrition, the origin of food and many others can be viewed, and the farm can be visited.
In addition to the many finished products from the workshops, some students also took the time to edit together a short film from the seminar. You can find it here. here.
With final presentations and many new insights in tow, the seminar came to an end after an eventful week, and the students headed home. Back at school, the seminar's findings will be presented to the other classes in their year group.