Handbook

The Organic Cooks in Public Settings handbook is intended as a useful tool to illustrate methods and good practices in achieving sustainable public canteens through the introduction of organic, seasonal and regional foods. The handbook provides basic information on practical topics relating to organic canteens in public places:

• The regulatory framewok concerning public canteens and inclusion of organic and local products;
• The canteen organic certification system available in different countries;
• How to organize the local supply chain;
• How to deal with the meal price, in order to keep the meal with organic and local ingredients at affordable levels.
• Meal management in order to avoid as much as possible food waste and guaranteeing a nice social environment
• Accompanying measures for food education;
• And finally hints for a proper communication both internally and externally.

The handbook suggests practical examples to overcoming barriers in the use of regional and seasonal organic food in public settings; it addresses the problems arising during the conversion process and proposes possible solutions.

The handbook also includes a set of useful good practices around Europe, aimed to ease the conversion of conventional canteens to organic ones.

Finally, the handbook can be used both as a basis for teaching activities and as a dissemination tool to inform relevant stakeholders and target groups such as chefs, kitchen managers, policy and decision-makers, teachers and educators, advisory associations and consumers.

The handbook contains direct links to the webpages and documents about the topics covered with a digital version available on “Organic Cooks in Public Setting” social webpage