“I already work with sweets and jellies and I learned that for us to be successful, we need to be qualified, and one of the things about Gastronomia do Amanhã is this, to qualify all students to be this gastronomy professional.', declared Natalina Coutinho, resident of Itupanema, community of Barcarena, and one of those certified by the most recent edition of the course.

Albras, a producer of primary aluminum, located in Barcarena, is one of the promoters of gastronomy in the municipalities of Barcarena and Abaetetuba, through sponsorship of the “Gastronomy of Tomorrow” program. Carried out by the Instituto Cultural Amazônia do Amanhã (ICAA, in portuguese), the course held in 2023, provided training for 312 people, during the execution of 13 workshops, between October and December of last year.

Those who work at the company also had the opportunity to learn more about gastronomy. The classes lasted five days, including theoretical and practical, covering the topics of entrepreneurship, development of technical sheets for food, notions of event planning and small business, with emphasis on the use and flavors of ingredients from Pará. “Supporting projects that enable professional and economic growth in the regions where we are located, such as Barcarena, is very important for us. And once again we sponsor this project because, in addition to disseminating professional cooking techniques and economic fundamentals aimed at supplementing income for families, it values ​​the gastronomic culture of Pará”, highlighted João Batista Menezes, president of Albras.

Chef Verena Aquino, technical coordinator, talks about the experience of helping people in this learning process. “Gastronomia do Amanhã wants to be alongside the community across the state of Pará. Therefore, for us it was very important to take the course to Barcarena, Abaetetuba and one of the quilombola communities in the region. Learning and training create opportunities for these people to use gastronomy as a way of generating income and improving their quality of life”, he pointed out.

In this edition, knowledge reached the Quilombola Remaining Communities of Barcarena. The students improved their learning to use the ingredients of quilombola food culture, in a gesture of respect and celebration of regional culture. Another highlight was the holding of classes at Fazenda da Esperança, in Abaetetuba, a space that welcomes women in the process of recovering from addictions. During the course, ingredients harvested from the Farm's new vegetable garden were used, opened thanks to the support of the Albras corporate volunteer group, which carried out actions at the institution throughout the year.