Summer School on Foods with Geographical Indications at Hochschule Geisenheim University

09/16/2024

Making Grüner Soße at the summer school; Photo: Marilena Schulte/Hochschule Geisenheim

Parma ham, Allgäuer Bergkäse, and Frankfurter Grüne Soße – these are just some examples of foods with a protected designation of origin. Such protections are intended to not only guarantee the quality of a product but also help support regional economies and promote traditional production methods. Food and beverages with protected geographical indications were the central focus of this year’s summer school for the Food Safety, Food Chain Management, and Beverage Technology degree programs, which took place September 9–13 at Hochschule Geisenheim University.

The summer school, which ran under the title ‘(Navigating) Food Horizons’, was offered as an ERASMUS+ Blended Intensive Program and was hosted together with partners from the Universidad de La Rioja in Spain, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca in Romania, and Eszterházy Károly Catholic University in Hungary.

After an initial virtual seminar, 19 students and colleagues from the different partner universities met in person for a weeklong stay in Geisenheim. The summer school program included several technical presentations by lecturers from the participating countries as well as practical sessions. Students had the chance to directly apply their theoretical knowledge by producing pasta, plant oils, and alcohol-free beer. On their first evening in Geisenheim, the students were also able to try their hand at making Frankfurter Grüne Soße – a protected Hessian dish – at a get-together in the Unikeller event space at Hochschule Geisenheim University.

On Thursday, participants in the summer school headed out on an excursion into the greater Rhine-Main region and had the chance to look behind the scenes at Lufthansa Cargo and FrischeParadies in Frankfurt.

The summer school was met with a very positive response from all participants; beyond the academic aspects of the event, there was also plenty of opportunity for intercultural exchange and gaining international experience.