Training Programme on Foodscape Studies Opens at KNUST

A Danish consortium of universities comprising the Technical University of Denmark, Aalborg University and University College Nordjylland in collaboration with the Department of Food Science and Technology has started a one-week training programme on Foodscape Studies at the International Centre for Innovative Learning (ICIL). The training began on 15^th February, and ended on 19^th February, 2016.
The main focus of the training was to introduce to participants what Foodscape studies are all about and to build capacity on how to conduct foodscape studies using KNUST students’ breakfast eating habits as a case study. The training forms part of a project known as ‘Strengthening Root and Tuber Value Chains in Ghana’ and it is to contribute to national research capacity by providing scientific knowledge, solid baseline data and methodologies to monitor performance of root and tuber value chains in Ghana.
Mr. Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Project Coordinator, highlighted the general objectives of the project and its intended impact on all actors on the root and tuber value chain and the nation as a whole. He explained that the project, which is led by Dr Robert Aidoo, was sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
Mr. Boakye-Achampong explained that the project was carried out by the departments of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension and Department of Food Science and Technology in partnership with the Danish consortium of universities.
Professor Niels Heine Kristensen, Aalborg University, Denmark, in his presentation on the concept of foodscape, said it was a new area of food studies which captured the dynamic relations of food and the consumer. “Foodscape studies take note of culture, geographical location, socially constructed and culturally learnt habits, patterns, rituals, practices and scripts of the consumer and food,” he stated. He acknowledged that Foodscape was a relatively new concept and thus weakly defined and conceptualized in the broad sense because it was context-interrelated.
Dr. Wireko-Manu, Project Facilitator, presented a paper on the findings of a survey conducted by second year students taking a course on traditional food and nutrition. In her presentation, she said that even though breakfast was considered the most important meal of the day, most students skipped it. She highlighted that research had shown that students who took breakfast had more energy, better concentration and generally did better in school than breakfast skippers who were more likely to be irritable, restless and tired. For students to perform optimally, according to her, they need to eat good breakfast.
She further observed that it was against this background that the training on Foodscape studies was using students’ breakfast eating habits on KNUST campus as a case study. She introduced nutritious pastry products developed under the project using root and tuber.
The workshop attracted lecturers and students numbering about 40 from the Department of Food Science and Technology, Department of Agric Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources and the Department of General Art Studies.