July 26, 2017

TRADITOM KIDS II: Tasting a Rainbow of Tomatoes

We did it again! The 2017 version of TRADITOM KIDS was another big success. Around 20 members of the UPV and CSIC labs participating in TRADITOM introduced more than 250 children aged 7 and 8 years to the value of genetic resources, its diversity and the importance of its conservation.

The activities took place in the Horticultural Field at the UPV Campus in Valencia between July 11 and July 13 for nine sessions of 90 minutes each. The workshop involved eating, recognising and differentiating different types of tomato varieties corresponding to different fruit colours at the ripe stage (red, yellow, brown, orange). Children were excited to check if they were able to identify which is which with blind eyes following their taste-training. After that, children knew if they fit in the group “non-taster”, “taster” or “supertaster” with a simple test that illustrated that not only tomatoes are diverse but also humans. At the end of the last session, the TRADITOM members used some of the best tomatoes in the TRADITOM collection to cook a large Paella that was shared on the spot.

A detailed description of the TRADITOM Kids activities in English or Spanish is available for download. The results and pictures of the TRADITOM KIDS SUMMER SCHOOL will be uploaded in the UPV Summer School web and to the TRADITOM project website.

A big Thank You to the whole TRADITOM KIDS team!

Antonio Granell, Clara Pons, Jose Luis Rambla, Jaume Prohens, Maria Jose Diez, Ana Garcia, Andrea Arrones, Andres Crespo, Angel Rodriguez, Carolina Soben, David Alonso, Edgar García, Estefania Mata, Esther Gimeno, Eva Solbes, Jose Torres, Pietro Gramazio, Santiago Vilanova, Vasileia Chioti, Sivina