Photo: Odd Harald Sletteboe Fossmoen, Magma UGG

Visit and taste geoparks

Geoparks are remote territories characterized by amazing landscapes and fascinating local histories where food has been playing a crucial role for centuries.

Food and Geoparks

The UNESCO Global Geoparks encompasses the soul of places, they are “listening” the local communities, translating their needs and supporting them to keep their traditions alive  towards a sustainable future for all. All Geoparks are characterized by geological heritage recognized by the scientific community as having itnternational importance, further more is Geopark´s duties to preserve and to leave to new generation a better, or at least the same, amount of resources to use.  Geoparks are all united from the same values and goals.

Since 2013, Magma Geopark has been searching for a solution to better disseminate the local heritage, both geological nad cultural, while supporting local companies and people. Geology and culture are very diverse in each Geopark but all the territories are chacterized by unique culinary traditions which are the naural result of the interraction between cultural -historical, use of the soils  and the continuos adaptation to the exiting geomorphological features which shaped the landscape along the geological eras.

We found out that food could have been a good way to exploit knowledge within Geopark inhabitants and visitors concering the geological heritage, understading the importnace of the geoheritage and its diversity iwe are also preserving the knowledge of local communities for the future generations enhancing to a better use of natural resources.

Food plays an important role in each local communities worldwide, through food we are socializing, exchanging ideas and become friends. Food needs has always been one of the main trigger for travelling and for choosing a specific location for human settlement above the others. Communities, while they settled down, always selected the spot with higher chances of survival, and higher food production has always been on top of the priority list. They always took  into consideration, consciously or unconsciously, the geomorphological and the geological features of the area where they were planning to live. Food provision and geological heritage have been connected since the beginning of human kind.

Through food the Geoparks have the opportunity to write the story about their local heritage, emphasizing though products the link between the geological bedrock and the soil for human activities, to develop tailored educational activities realted with importance of eating locally and to produce food in the respect for the environment. 

Pic, Cheongsong UGG