’Nutrire’ l'inclusione. La progettazione di percorsi di educazione alimentare nella scuola dell'infanzia e primaria

The inclusive orientations towards which the Italian school has been moving in recent decades impose the need to broaden our gaze beyond the temporal and spatial boundaries in which it takes place. The research and experiences of recent years amply render the idea that inclusion is not, in fact, a process to be circumscribed within well-defined boundaries, but on the contrary a working perspective that makes it necessary to open up even to apparently unusual spaces that can instead assume, if carefully identified and planned, a decisive educational role, thus becoming an effective sounding board to consolidate the very principles and values that underlie it. In this regard, it is now evident that inclusion, to be truly so, does not take place only within a classroom, or within the walls of the same building. It does not take place only by guaranteeing the simple access of a student in a vulnerable condition to the course of study, nor even by the mere allocation of support hours to the class in which he or she is placed. For example, the conviviality that is created around a laid table, the climate that can be established, the relationships that can potentially develop, in spaces and times usually dedicated to the pleasure of being with others and sharing the meanings that the meal takes on for everyone, can create the necessary conditions for a person to experience a situation in which he or she feels at ease or, on the contrary, neither accepted nor welcomed. One can, therefore, easily understand the enormous inclusive educational value held by places such as the refectory or school canteen, traditionally not considered in the forefront or underestimated in their potential, in the group of contexts aimed at this purpose. It is well known, in fact, how mealtimes, in every context in which they take place, from the most intimate family environment to the more formal school and/or work environment, right up to informal and unstructured situations linked to people's free time, represent a crucial opportunity to make many of the values of welcome, respect and openness to others that inclusion brings with it actually feasible.