Já se encontra disponível on-line, em alentejonaturalproducts.pt, o catálogo digital  de Empresas, Produtos e Serviços de fileira de apoio à promoção internacional da fileira dos recursos silvestres do Alentejo, que constitui uma das actividades do projecto Internacionalização dos Recursos Silvestres 2020, inserido no Programa PROVERE, nomeadamente na estratégia de eficiência coletiva (EEC) “Valorização dos Recursos Silvestres do Alentejo”. Encontra-se traduzido em 3 idiomas (espanhol, francês e inglês).

Promovido pelo NERBE/AEBAL -Associação Empresarial do Baixo Alentejo e Litoral , em parceria com a ACIECALM – Associação Comercial, Industrial e Empresarial do Concelho de Almodôvar, a ADCMoura – Associ-ação para o Desenvolvimento do Concelho de Moura, a ARPTA—Agência Regional de Promoção Turística do Alentejo , a Turismo do Alentejo, ERT, o Município de Almodôvar e a Câmara Municipal de Mértola, destina-se a empresas, sediadas no Alentejo, que produzem e/ou comercializam produtos e serviços da fileira dos Recursos Silvestres, nomeadamente mel e derivados, cogumelos, figo-da-índia, medronho, plantas aromáticas e medicinais, recursos cinegéticos e recursos piscícolas de águas interiores e pretendam internacionalizar a sua actividade junto dos mercados de Alemanha, Espanha, França e Holanda.

Para adesão a este catálogo, basta que os empresários interessados preencham um breve formulário constante da plataforma.

Para além do catálogo digital, fazem parte do projecto as seguintes actividades:

–Guias de Mercado, de apoio à internacionalização para a fileira dos recursos silvestres para os mercado alvo;

–Acções de prospecção internacionais aos mercados alvo, para identificação de oportunidades de mercado para a fileira;

–Visitas de reconhecimento de prospectores internacionais ao Alentejo para conhecimento da oferta regional, com realização de programa de visitação e reuniões b2b com empresas da fileira;

–Participação em feiras internacionais, para promoção internacional dos recursos silvestres do Alentejo.

Espera-se que com este projecto se contribua para promover a competitividade da fileira dos Recursos Silvestres, como iniciativa sustentável centrada no Território, potenciando o sucesso da internacionalização das suas PME, através do desenvolvimento de mecanismos inovadores de prospecção, conhecimento e acesso a mercados internacionais e do estímulo a iniciativas colectivas inovadoras.

In order to help out producers, craftsmen and farmers from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the AANA set up in a few days a relationship platform allowing customers to find out fresh local products near their home.

Please click here to access our “Nouvelle-Aquitaine Local Products Solidarity Platform” : https://www.produits-locaux-nouvelle-aquitaine.fr/

This platform has been set up thanks to the help provided by Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, Chambers of Agriculture, Chambers of Trades and Crafts, Chambers of Commerce, and all the local partners, from several French regions and departments, solicitous about assisting producers and customers in their struggle against COVID-19.

We invited all the producers to fill in details concerning their activity and their available products on our solidarity platform, and asked them to geolocate in order to let customers have acces to high quality products as well as basic needs.

In a few days only, near 2000 producers have subscribed, providing meat, fruits, vegetables, cheeses and milk products, fish and seafood, spices, condiments and honey, both salted and sweet specialities, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, seedling and plants, eggs… All these producers are able to deliver goods to private customers and local shops, in order to comply with lockdown measures as much as possible.

• All together with producers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine !
• I eat locally-grown and seasonal food.
• I support producers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
• I stand in solidarity with my region.
• I stay at home and have local products delivered.
• I cook local products at home.

A combative and committed chef

Coloured scarf in her hair to discipline her brown curls, ring in one nostril, elegant fitted kitchen jacket, Vanessa Botella, shows a serene look: that of the chef who has just delighted 70 people. On the daily menu: seasonal salad, hearty butternut and potato savoury tart and creamy vanilla cottage cheese. A small glass of wine to accompany it all… A tasty meal, with local and seasonal products for barely 4 €, is Vanessa’s daily bet since she took over the reins of the Bistro of Paul Bert Network.

An atypical career path

At 32, the young woman claims an atypical career path. Born into a family of Breton restaurateurs, she helped her parents in the dining room at a very early age… enough to decide to avoid making a career out of it. Attracted to arts and crafts, she trained in sewing, tapestry, decoration and applied arts. She completes her training with a vocational baccalaureat in commerce. At the age of 22 and yet well trained, she struggles to find a job in decoration. To earn a living, she does a myriad of temporary assignments. While she was on a waitressing assignment in the canteen of a large industrial company, the cook was kept waiting. Waiting so long that the pancakes on the menu would not be made unless the young Breton girl, for whom pancakes have no secrets, went into the kitchen. She doesn’t hesitate for a moment and it’s the revelation: “During all my schooling, I’ve been looking for an artistic field in which to reveal myself. With cooking, I had finally found it! ». Vanessa then went on to become a chef. “The job is very masculine. It’s not easy for a woman to be accepted”. However, doors are opening, chefs trust her, she passes her CAP in barely nine months, goes to travel in Laos to think about how she wants to share her conception of cooking.

Healthy, local and seasonal cuisine

On her return to Bordeaux, she works as a volunteer in the Paul Bert Network. The place in the kitchen is taken, so she takes care of the supplies. “I very quickly told myself that it was not possible to have hives on the roof and a vegetable garden in the street and continue to buy frozen foods, industrial products or cans from wholesalers for the bistro. I suggested to the directors that we buy from producers and craftsmen, that we offer local and seasonal products. Vanessa’s sourcing is effective! Impossible to find a plastic bottle or a can at the Paul Bert Space. Syrups are made on site, fresh fruit juices pressed on demand, vegetables supplied by an AMAP (association for the maintenance of peasant agriculture).

Since October 2018, Vanessa has also taken over the kitchen. And since “we hired her to shake up the habits!”, she does it: she introduces vegetarian menus once or twice a week, reserves Wednesday for fresh fish: “it’s the day we have the most children. I pay a lot of attention to the origin and seasonality. Here, you won’t see any Nile perch or Madagascar shrimps! ». Convictions coupled with an acute sense of resourcefulness that comes partly from his experience in Laos, “people there cook with nothing and make crazy dishes!”. Bernadette Lopes, president of the Paul Bert Network, adds: “Vanessa is very invested, she invents with the resources she has and does not hesitate to cook with leftovers. Not only is it good, but it’s a waste-free kitchen”.  

“In this job, you have to be radical”

If Vanessa’s passion and profession is cooking, she likes to remind us that it is also the social and human dimension of the Paul Bert Bistro that touches her, especially the work with her colleagues and the many volunteers, some of whom are volunteers or have real social difficulties. Combative, stubborn, Vanessa sees herself as a “fighter”, especially since she became a mother. “I am proud to have succeeded in gaining respect. In this job, you don’t have to be shy, you have to be radical.” That’s what the young woman undertakes day after day at the Paul Bert Network, while taking some time each year to develop new projects: planting a patch of aromatic herbs in the street that she can use in the kitchen, and launching a program on food on Radio Paul Bert, the center’s radio station. With her strength of conviction, she is sure she will succeed!

Practical information

Réseau Paul Bert

2 Rue Paul Bert, 33000 Bordeaux

animation.rpb@orange.fr

Tel +33 (0)5 56 79 20 44

https://www.facebook.com/reseau.bert/

© Sonia Moumen (exchange reporter) for Champs Libres, member of Kus Alliance France

Cooking : a commitment

At the Estey Social and Cultural Center in Bègles, a town of 27,000 inhabitants near Bordeaux, Charline Fournier has developed two particularly singular initiatives around cuisine: the Bistrot and the Bistrot mobile. Two projects between conviviality and social integration. Because cooking is a commitment.  

With parents who ran a boarding house, there is no doubt that Charline was immersed in the world of catering from an early age. However, when the time came to choose her studies, the young woman, sensitive to the values of solidarity and mutual aid, optes more willingly for the profession of socio-cultural animator. She is particularly interested in popular education and citizenship but also in entrepreneurship. First of all in the Médoc, a rural and wine-growing area of the Gironde, which is prestigious in terms of wines but where the population is experiencing great social and economic difficulties. Charline creates a travelling toy library in the street. “Mobility is ingrained in me. In order to reach people, I have always gone through homelessness and off the streets” explains the young woman, whose other credo is the participation of the inhabitants in the projects. “This has always been close to my heart. I like that people are not mere spectators but actors of who they are and what they do”. 

Food and cooking at the heart of Estey’s social project

When Charline was recruited a little more than eight years ago at the Estey Social and Cultural Center, it was to create a toy library: “I came here for the game” she says with a mischievous look in her eyes. Once the project was on track, Charline, who doesn’t like routine, took two years of availability to create Le Café des familles in Bacalan, a popular district of Bordeaux. This café has the particularity of being mobile so that it can reach as many families in the neighbourhood as possible, as close as possible to where they live. At the same time, she founds the Minidettes, a food truck imagined with a friend. In addition to the daily management of the food truck, Charline discovers a great interest in cooking. 

Two years later, when she returned to the Estey, a bistro was set up there but no one in the team can take care of it anymore. “I was asked if I wanted to take care of it. That’s where the adventure started. I need projects so I don’t get bored, so I put the existing bistro to my liking! “says Charline with the enthusiasm that characterizes her. 

She starts by rethinking the decoration with a group of inhabitants. Fresh and colourful, the bistro now has a little “cosy chic” side that is particularly appreciated by the guests. At the same time, she brings together a group of very active volunteers (there are six of them today) who are interested in a “cooking” project in the social center. She develops an “integration” component by creating two posts intended for people wishing to train and find a job: one as a kitchen assistant, the other in catering service. The values of the restaurant are also those of Charline “solidarity, transmission, mutual aid”. 

Once the bistro is set up and because Charline likes to imagine itinerant projects, she launches a mobile version of the bistro: the famous Bistrot mobile. This street food project, which allows young people who are sometimes a little lost to find their way, is such a success that Charline is already imagining a new stage in the rocket…

Practical information

Bistrot et Bistrot mobile de l’Estey

20 rue Pierre et Marie Curie
33130 Bègles

Tel +33 (0)5 57 35 13 00

https://estey.mairie-begles.fr/

https://estey.mairie-begles.fr/le-bistrot-de-lestey/

https://www.facebook.com/centresocialcultureldebegles/

© Sonia Moumen (exchange reporter) for Champs Libres, member of Kus Alliance France

An agro-ecological ambition around food

In the heart of Bordeaux, in a former art deco building, the association Paul Bert Network has become over the years a meeting place between people in great precariousness and inhabitants of the city centre. One of the pillars of this particularly committed social centre: agroecology and good food for all. 

At the corner of Paul Bert Street and Ayres Street, in the heart of historic Bordeaux, stands the imposing silhouette of a beautiful art deco building from the 1930s. Wide bay windows, ironwork entrance door, light installation designed by the internationally renowned visual artist Claude Lévêque… It is hard to imagine that this 1000 m2 building is a social and cultural center. 

The place offers a hammam, showers, a laundry, French and computer courses, public writers’ services, social services, nine very social housing units (including six emergency units), but also – and this is more singular – a bistro, an apiary and even a vegetable garden… Food and agroecology, as well as culture, education, health and social support, have long been at the center of the association’s commitment. 

Beehives in the middle of the asphalt

The most emblematic project in this area is undoubtedly the installation of beehives on the roof terrace of the building. Not without pride, Christophe Philippe, the director, welcomes the first steps of the center in beekeeping. “We had up to six hives, produced up to 180 kilos of honey. Potting was done here at the bar. From the breeding of the livestock to the distribution of the pots of honey, we gradually learned to master the entire production chain! “. 

Setting up beehives in the middle of the city was not a simple matter: “In the middle of the asphalt, in the middle of the dugout, we told ourselves that our bees would have difficulty withstanding the shock… This prompted us to plant the roof terrace with honey plants, vegetables, but also aromatic herbs”. Alas, the beekeeper’s apprentices soon saw the Asian hornets arrive. Far from being discouraged, they immediately looked for an ecological solution. It will be the installation of a rooster and four hens “Black Janzay”, a Breton breed reputed to hunt insects and that the Asian Hornet does not scare! This hen even willingly makes it her meal, catching it with a peck when it is hovering in front of the hives, then beheading it to eat only the body full of protein. Collateral effect of the arrival of a henhouse on the roof? The morning crowing of the rooster does not seduce all the residents. “It opened up dialogue, allowed us to talk about the project. Creating disorder is also part of our methodology,” says Christophe mischievously, before adding that “discontent can also produce solidarity”. 

A vegetable garden in the street

The social center was also confronted to neighbourhood discontent when a vegetable garden was set up in the street, with a few grumpy people preferring to park their cars there rather than see tomatoes and zucchini grow. Tension mounted, the press talked about it, the city council took up the issue and the mayor at the time, Alain Juppé, finally decided: “We’re not going to make a big deal out of this story of tomato plants! ». The lasagnabed, the litter resulting from the fermentation of cardboard, grass, manure and dead leaves, laid on the pavement, can therefore continue to quietly turn into compost and receive new plantings as the seasons go by. 

The kids and inhabitants of the neighbourhood come to glean some fruits and vegetables, a vermicomposter is installed. “With our hundred participants, it has become the last place where we talk. It’s a way for us to reappropriate public space, not to make it our property, but to use it,” says Christophe, who has been dreaming since then of greening no less than the whole street ! 

A popular but luxurious bistro

From producing vegetables on asphalt to setting up a bistro, there is only one step that the Paul Bert Network does not hesitate to take. “It’s important to take people on demanding adventures” says the director of the structure, who is proud to post a “full house” every lunchtime. At the table of the Paul Bert Network, you can eat well, healthy and well-balanced for the modest sum of 4 €. “Here, people pay. They don’t pay much, but they pay. Economic exchange pacifies relations” says Emmanuel Jourdes, the director general, before continuing: “Luxury is important for all social classes. Our concern is to offer the very popular classes food that the bourgeoisie can afford.”

A small team is in charge of this luxury at a reduced price: Vanessa, the cook, and employees and volunteers in the kitchen and on catering service. At the bistro, you can be a volunteer one day and a customer another day, giving your time or bringing ingredients. Vanessa was offered several kilos of quince by a client of the restaurant. Seasonal fruits that she immediately transformed into… the dessert of the day. Emmanuel Jourdes admits to being proud of this project. “It’s a real popular bistro, not made for the poor. The mix is well developed, the atmosphere is family and relaxed. We’ve recreated a village square”. 

Beehives, vegetable gardens, bistro… when asked about the next projects of the Paul Bert Network, he smiles about the creation of an astronomy spot on the rooftop terrace “with his feet in the garden and his head in the stars!”. 

Practical information

Réseau Paul Bert

2 Rue Paul Bert, 33000 Bordeaux

Tel +33 (0)5 56 79 20 44

animation.rpb@orange.fr

https://www.facebook.com/reseau.bert/

© Sonia Moumen (exchange reporter) for Champs Libres, member of Kus Alliance France