Undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students, along with faculty and staff, attended the one-hour workshop, which aimed to teach the academic community how to prepare natural starter, also known as sourdough or leaven.
Ana Garcia, head baker at Royale Pão Paixão, confessed that "Making bread is an act of magic" and that the necessary ingredients are "Flour, water, and time." She explained that "The mixture of flour with water causes lactic acid bacteria to mix, activating microorganisms and yeasts," emphasizing that "Each sourdough starter is unique."
Pedro Graça, director of FCNAUP, highlighted the importance of paying attention to the wheat ear, the symbol of nutritionists, and to bread, especially in the year the Nutrition course celebrates its 50th anniversary. The initiative was also a tribute to former professors, such as Emílio Peres.
Bread is part of the Food Wheel and the Mediterranean Diet Wheel, dietary guides developed by FCNAUP, the Consumer Institute, and the Directorate-General of Health, being included in the group of cereals and derivatives, tubers, accounting for 28% of a healthy and balanced daily diet.
At the end, the academic community tasted a variety of breads from Royal Pão Paixão, made with natural starter and stone-ground flours from different cereals such as wheat, buckwheat, spelt, barbela wheat, fig, and walnuts.
World Food Day coincides with the founding of the FAO in 1945 and World Bread Day (since 2000). Throughout the 50 years of the Nutrition Sciences course at the University of Porto, FCNAUP has celebrated the occasion in various ways, including sessions on water, nutritional labeling, and research project dissemination.
