“A concrete initiative that puts into practice the true essence of the concept of being a community. A virtuous example of how to network and provide a real job opportunity that respects the needs and requirements of each worker.
The Campania Region will always be alongside businesses, associations, professionals, and local entities to support projects that create opportunities, allow women to emancipate themselves, share experiences, and be free."
Lucia Fortini, Councilor for Schools, Social Policies and Youth Policies of the Campania Region, said this on the sidelines of the awarding of the diploma of the training course in “Management of kitchens and catering services” and the HACCP card to about fifteen women from the Spanish Quarters of Naples.
Girls, mothers, grandmothers from 30 to 60 years old, unemployed women and housewives from the popular neighborhood of Naples, followed for many weeks a course on how to manage and cook in the professional kitchens of a restaurant.
The course, promoted by the Muezzin association in collaboration with Foqus, and financed by the Campania Region with resources from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, was held by Antonello Rinaldi, chef of the Social Kitchens that overlook the Court of Art of Foqus and that every day offer traditional dishes and menus to those who study, work, come to Foqus for tourism or for a lunch break. Thanks to the certifications obtained and the skills acquired, the "Women of the Spanish Quarters" will now be able to work in the kitchens of any restaurant.
In Foqus programs, they will be able to independently decide when they want to work, booking, based on the rhythms of their private life, their shift in Rinaldi's kitchens, in the kitchen or in the dining room, enriching, when they cook, the restaurant's menu with their recipes. The details of the project were illustrated by Rachele Furfaro and Renato Quaglia, respectively president and general manager of Foqus, by Lucia Russo of the Muezzin association and by chef Antonello Rinaldi.
“For some time we have been trying to create job prospects for the women of the neighborhood on which the activities of our Foundation have been focused for almost ten years. – explained Furfaro -. Recognizing the need to reconcile life and work schedules, based on the needs of women in the Spanish Quarters, is the challenge of these times and the question that emerges from contexts such as the Quarters.
According to this project, every woman will work when she can and wants to”. The project originates from a Mediterranean custom, as Quaglia said: “We were inspired by the model of the social kitchens of Beirut where the farmers who live on the hills, when they can, come down to the city to directly manage, and with their products from the fields, the catering of some places.
From this experience we have derived the principle of work management based on private life times that may not allow women the traditional full-time or continuous work. Today 15 women from the Neighborhoods are a potential professional resource for the many clubs, trattorias and restaurants in the neighborhood, in a new occupational, social and economic dimension”.
The activities of the restaurant and pizzeria of Foqus, very popular with the students and teachers of the Academy of Fine Arts and professionals for lunch break, will be, for the new professionals of the restaurant business, the opportunity to start their own work, thanks to the initial financial support of the Region and the Foundation.
“It was a very formative experience for me too. – Rinaldi highlighted -. I have come into contact with women who have extraordinary energy and a great desire to do. Accustomed to preparing food for their families, they have had to make the leap in scale from the family kitchen to the 80-seater restaurant.
With this course we have helped to broaden their horizons of knowledge while preserving the roots that sink into traditional Neapolitan cuisine, from rustic pies, casatielli and tortani, to the classic ragù and Genovese sauces, up to desserts and, in particular, pastiera, prepared strictly with orange blossom water, as required by the original recipe”.
Article published on 12 April 2023 - 15:52
