On 11 and 12 March 2026, the Cooking Resilience consortium gathered in Milan, Italy, for the project’s first Transnational Project Meeting (TPM1), hosted by the coordinator Centro Servizi Formazione (CSF) at Piazza Velasca, 4.

Representatives from all six partner organisations attended in person, travelling from Spain, Greece, and Ukraine to take part in this founding moment for the project. The two-day event marked a crucial step in establishing a shared vision, governance structure, and detailed work plan for the 30 months ahead.

Day one was dedicated to the working sessions. Andrea Bertoni (CSF) opened the meeting with a welcome address, followed by a presentation of the overall project management plan and timeline. Key governance bodies were formally established, including the Project Management Board, the National Counselling Board (NCB) — with at least six stakeholders to be identified per country — and the Sustainability, Diversity and Inclusiveness (SD+I) Board. Each Work Package leader then presented their respective plans: ECTE introduced the roadmap for the Alliance for Excellence in Culinary VET (WP2); Mariupol VLST presented the plan for the Digital Learning Pantry (WP3); INFODEF outlined the Culinary HUB (WP4); and CSF presented the Dissemination Strategy (WP5).

Partners agreed to maintain momentum through bimonthly follow-up online meetings, with the next meeting scheduled for 12 May 2026.

Day two offered an inspiring study visit to the CSF training centre in Vigevano, where partners toured classrooms, laboratories, and training spaces, gaining first-hand insight into Italian culinary VET in practice. The visit culminated in a social lunch prepared by CSF students — a fitting symbol of the spirit of this project and a memorable moment of exchange for the whole consortium.