Inaugurated in June, the City of Taste and Flavors of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts of Reunion Island aims to become a center of influence, as much as a training center serving “good and healthy eating” in Reunion. Addressing a wider audience than students and food professionals, La Cité is offering its first culinary events in this third quarter. Also of interest to companies looking for unifying team building projects.
In June 2023, the Reunion Chamber of Trades and Crafts has joined the Cité du Goût et des Saveurs network, carried by CMA France*. Created in 2005, the first in Brittany, the Cité du Goût et des Saveurs strive to promote a certain idea of food, of cooking and gastronomy based on recognition, the valorization and transmission of know-how and the promotion of quality products. There is a City of Taste and Flavors per region and, Of course, regional products are highlighted. Key words of the program : " To exchange, learn, discover or rediscover and enjoy together. » It had been several years since the project of a Reunion City of Taste and Flavors had been in the works of the Reunion Chamber of Trades and Crafts, long twinned with the CMA of Brittany. A project supported in particular by its president, Bernard Picardo. But there was a lack of a location and the necessary equipment. Entry into service in May, the new installation of the regional university of trades and crafts (FOLLOW) of Sainte-Clotilde removed the obstacle, and the City of Taste and Flavors of Reunion was able to come to fruition immediately. With more than 800 apprentices, half of whom are preparing for the catering professions, URMA of Sainte-Clotilde is the largest learning establishment in Reunion and the continuing training center for professionals in the sector. With the City of Taste and Flavors, this center for transmitting know-how opens up to non-professional audiences to promote even more widely “cooking well” and “eating well” for all.
Improving the quality of the food supply
“Spearheaded by the Réunion Region, the renovation of the URMA in Sainte-Clotilde includes the delivery of new technical platforms, spanning a little over a thousand square meters. Bakery laboratories, pastry, of ice, charcuterie and butchery give our consular company the means to quantitatively and qualitatively develop its training offer. The City of Taste and Flavors now brings together in one place all of our service offerings in the agri-food sector.”, explains Bernard Picardo. The clearly stated objective of the City is to promote diversification, the move upmarket and the promotion of Reunion professionals and products in the service of “eating well”. Thus his first symbolic action, a samosa competition organized during its inauguration, rewarded six artisans. Another example : training for snack bars near schools, preferred in the canteen by many middle and high school students, in order to improve the quality of their food offering.
Team building on the program
Education about “eating well” promotion of local products, cooking demonstrations, practical cooking workshops… The City of Taste and Flavors of Reunion Island is only just beginning, but its next animations, during the last quarter of 2023, will also show the type of activities that may interest the general public or professionals in the context of team building. Profitee of Diwali, The festival of lights, the City of Taste and Flavors highlights Indian culinary art by bringing a chef from Kashmir in November. If Indian cooking workshops will be reserved for professionals, a training workshop in Indian pastry that he will lead should be open to amateurs.
To know more : marie-helene.malaise@cma-reunion.fr tel. 0262 21 04 35
* CMA France is the national public establishment unifying the network of chambers of trade and crafts.
