Youth exchange "You Are What You Eat" in Poronin, Poland

The text has been written by the Greek team of participants.

Youth Center of Epirus gave the chance to seven young people to participate in a youth exchange through the Erasmus + program. The program took place in Poland from 1st till 9th of July, in a village which is called Poronin. The topic of the program was a healthy and environmentally friendly way of eating and consequently, promoting a sustainable and eco-friendly way of living. There were 35 people, 7 from each country: Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia and Poland.

The workshops concerned to food waste and make suggestions for a balanced diet. Also, issues were related to nutrition issues, such as carbon and water footprints of food. The confirmation of what we learned came through the picnic-activity that we organized for the whole village as we prepared toys related to the food for the children that were there (calorie food value, dietary pyramid and musical instruments from vegetables).

As far as the cultural aspect, there was a special evening for each country. There every country could present its customs, its local products and traditional dances. We also had the opportunity to do two excursions, where we visited some fantastic locations in the wild. The first was in a protected national park and the second was in a magnificent lake in the Tatra Mountains.

Our impressions are very positive and our memories are sweet from our trip to Poland. And if we learnt something that we are what we eat, because the diet is one of the main pillars of a person’s health and every type of energy related to our diet has an impact on the environment.