Annual Report

Background and Objectives of the University Program

The UB Food Studies & Gastronomy Program aims to provide a diverse range of courses in the field of food and gastronomy from a multidisciplinary perspective. This program falls under our International Mobility initiative, which targets North American study abroad students who spend a semester in Barcelona. It leverages the University of Barcelona’s leadership in the area, which has been offering coursework in this field since 2016 through the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences.

The Food Studies & Gastronomy program is promoted and managed by the Campus de l’Alimentació de Torribera, which belongs to the Department of Nutrition, Food Sciences, and Gastronomy. The Program’s holistic approach to food and gastronomy goes hand-in-hand with the goals of the Torribera Food Campus project.

Grants for the Advancement of UB Centers’ Internationalization Initiatives

The Food Studies & Gastronomy program plays an integral role in the Assistance Program for the Advancement of the Internationalization of UB Centers: On May 12, 2022, Dr. Pedro Marrero, head of International Relations of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences and Vice-Dean of the Academic Council of Food Sciences, presented the program for the Internationalization grant under the category “International Strategic Actions.” On June 21, 2022, UB Provost Dr. Joan Guàrdia assigned the program a score of 7.9 (the second-highest in its category), awarding a €3,000 grant and co-financing of €950 from the UB’s office of Internationalization.

Content and Activities - September-December 2022 and January-April 2023 Grants

The results from the two grant periods (September-December 2022 and January-April 2023) have shown promising outcomes. We believe that significant progress can be achieved by collaborating with the program’s leadership team, involving and promoting the Internationalization Department through the support of the Vice-Dean, and securing support from the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalization initiatives with the 2023 grant.

With the above-mentioned support, our aim is to continue consolidating the program and position the University of Barcelona as a southern European leader, attracting international students interested in various aspects of the global food system.

Regarding course sizes, the UB Food Studies & Gastronomy classes are capped at a maximum of 30 students, and courses with more than 30 students are subdivided. In total, 141 students signed up among two courses in the Fall 2022 semester, and six courses in the Spring 2023 semester. The financial result of the 2022-2023 academic year provided €91,086 for program development, with deductions (3 parts of 8%) totaling €28,764.

The courses and instructors were as follows:

Mediterranean Nutrition & Gastronomy, Camila Loew, PhD (17 & 32 students)
Food Systems & Sustainability, Jose A. Torralba, PhD (- & 19 students)
Food Through the Ages, Marina Diaz PhD (10 & 42 students)
Food & Migration, Barcelona’s Cultural & Culinary Exchanges, Vera Armus (- & 21 students)

Goals of the Food Studies & Gastronomy Program

Food is at the foundation of our existence. It is one of the most transversal aspects of human life; so vital to the culture and economy of a place and its people, it allows us to explore cultures and societies through a multiplicity of disciplines.

The UB Food Studies & Gastronomy Program stems from the belief that food serves as an excellent lens to understand our culture, from a broad range of perspectives. Thanks to its transversality, food gives us the opportunity to offer a particularly rich and attractive, experientially focused curriculum. Barcelona, a culinary hub marked by both tradition and innovation, supplies us with a fruitful environment for the exploration of these topics.

The overarching objective of the Food Studies & Gastronomy Program then, is to provide study abroad students with a hands-on, interdisciplinary and holistic vision of Barcelona’s cultural, socio-political, historical, economic and environmental landscape, capitalizing on a subject that is always relevant and increasingly of interest.

Despite the obvious obstacles posed by the pandemic, Barcelona remains one of the most popular study abroad destinations for international students. We originally created this program in response to an increasing interest and demand regarding food studies, something that has only continued to grow during these past two years. Today, we remain the only program in Barcelona to offer a curriculum entirely centered around food and gastronomy.

The Food Studies & Gastronomy Program presents the University of Barcelona with a valuable opportunity to continue to expand its reaches. By way of the Torribera Food Campus, the only food studies and nutrition faculty in Barcelona, we have the ability to offer international students resources and facilities that they would not receive at another institution, an important competitive advantage for positioning our program.

All of our courses are taught by established professors with higher education degrees, who come with many years of experience specifically teaching study abroad students. Furthermore, each of these faculty members has lived and worked abroad, which provides them with a heightened cultural sensibility at the moment of interacting with foreign students. They function as educators as well as cultural translators.

Our courses are designed to be fully interactive, combining lectures with empirical elements such as field studies, case studies of local Mediterranean foodways, round tables, or guest speakers. Through all of these learning methods, we aim to provide a strong local/country/regional perspective, which allows us to work comparatively with other geographies. From visits to a winery in Alella, a workshop at the kitchen of La Boquería, or even opportunities at Torribera’s food science research labs (INSA-UB), we believe the skills, knowledge and values gained from this type of education will remain a memorable and formative part of our students’ experience.

Our courses are designed to provide a trans-disciplinary, holistic, integrative approach to Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and the Mediterranean. Using food as our window, our courses allow students to explore different facets of these environments by way of varied academic disciplines. Our experiential learning method is at the center of our curriculum; each course offers hands-on opportunities both in and out of the classroom.

Orientation Session and Overview

The welcome session for our Spring 2023 students took place on January 12, 2023, with the overall goal of introducing them to the University of Barcelona, the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, and the Torribera Food Campus.

Visit to the University of Barcelona’s Paranimf

Our Spring 2023 cohort met at the gates of the University and then headed to the Paranimf, where the faculty from the Institutional Relations department provided an explanation about UB and the Historic Building, which was celebrating its 150th anniversary. All participants received a brochure about the University Historic Building.

After learning about the most important historical aspects of UB and its Central Building, the students had the chance to tour the Paranimf and observe the building’s impressive paintings and design, concluding the visit with a group photo.

Visit to the Ferran Soldevila Gardens - UB Historic Building

Next, students headed to the Josep Carner Building of the Faculty of Philology and Communication to familiarize themselves with their classrooms, passing through the walkway area of the Ferran Soldevila Garden.

A group of students walking to the Ferran Soldevila Garden via the central stairs. In front of the Josep Carner Building, they then received more information about the building and classrooms from Dr. Camila Loew, Co-Founder and Academic Coordinator of the program.

Orientation Session 2023

The orientation activity is meant to introduce students to the Food Studies & Gastronomy Program and share relevant information about its goals, courses, academics, and extracurricular activities. Held in the Capella Room of the Historic Building, the session also allows new students to ask any questions they may have regarding specific aspects of the program. Led by the program’s Founder and Co-Director Dr. Camila Loew, it is complemented by an overview of the academics and research initiatives of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences and the Torribera Food Campus project by Dr. Rosa Lamuela, Program Co-Director, and Professor at the Department of Nutrition, Food Sciences, and Gastronomy. As the former director of the INSA-UB research center, Dr. Lamuela also shares insight into the University of Barcelona’s primary food-related lines of research.

In-Campus Workshops

Culinary Workshop at the Torribera Hospitality School (Grameimpuls)

A group of students from the Mediterranean Nutrition & Gastronomy course in front of the Noucentista Building of the Hospitality School in Santa Coloma, with course instructor, Dr. Camila Loew, before starting the hands-on Catalan cuisine culinary workshop.

Preparation of Xató (Catalan Institute of Cuisine and Gastronomy Foundation)

The Kitchen of Santa Coloma de Gramenet’s School of Hospitality (ERESC-Grameimpuls) where the Catalan Cuisine workshop is held. The hands-on class was taught by the cooking teacher of the School of Restoration, Chef Pedro Fernández. The organization of the themes and contents of the workshop is overseen by Dr. Camila Loew.

During the workshop, each of the students prepared two dishes, a xató and a Catalan-style stew with broad beans and peas, which they were able to taste, and analyze its organoleptic qualities, in the dining room of the Hospitality School at the end of the session. The director of the ERESC School, Susana Beltran, spoke to our 2023 cohort about the organization of the school and toured them around the facilities, and offered students a selection of wines from Vinya d’en Sabater, managed by Grameimpuls.

This activity took place in both the Fall and Spring semesters.

Visit to the Torribera Orchards and Greenhouses

Visit to the Torribera Campus Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science

Extracurricular Field Trips to Metropolitan Agricultural Landscapes

Visit to DO Alella - Alt Alella (AA) March 3rd, 2023

Visit to Espai Mescladis

The Food and Migration course went on a field trip to Espai Mescladis (March 9, 2023), a non-profit organization whose aim is to contribute to social cohesion. The project includes a cooking school and restaurant and helps promote new social agreements through dialogue, encounters; it champions diversity as a value, and the right to migrate as a principle, using cuisine and gastronomy as its focus area.

Students spoke with Martin Habiague, the founder and director of the initiative, to learn more about the Mescladis project, its purpose, and deepen their knowledge about migration in Barcelona. They also tasted the restaurant’s lunch menu, prepared by members of the Mescladis cooking school.

Visit to Ametller Origen

Marketing and Entrepreneurship in Food field trip to Ametller Origen took place on March 27, 2023. Students spoke with the current director of the company and visited the market facilities.

EVOO Workshop

Extra virgin olive oil workshop and tasting in the Mediterranean Nutrition and Gastronomy class with Dr. Loew. Students learned about the benefits of Spanish extra virgin olive oil, its production, and varieties in the Mediterranean. The session included a tasting of three different olive oils. This activity took place in both the Fall and Spring semesters.

Visit to Barcelona’s Museum of History

The Food Through the Ages course visited Barcelona’s Museum of History (MUHBA) and the Roman ruin site in the Gothic Quarter, guided by instructor Dr. Marina Díaz. The outing took place in both the Fall and Spring semesters.