site.btaSofia Youths with Intellectual Disabilities Cook with Italian Chef

Young people with intellectual disabilities cooked Italian lunch with Chef Daniele Priori at the Worlds Day Center of the Maria's World Foundation in Sofia on Thursday.

The event "Let's Cook an Italian Lunch" was part of the ninth edition of the Italian Cuisine Week, which the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in Sofia is organizing between November 16 and 22 with the support of the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. 

Thursday's menu at the Worlds Day Centre included pasta with aubergines, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil, and Italian cheesecake for dessert. 

Italian chef Daniele Priori and the young people prepared pasta Aumm Aumm according to a Neapolitan recipe. The name of the recipe literally translates to Shhh - shhh and, according to the organizers, is used to describe "something made in a hurry, without much fuss". 

"We at Maria's World Foundation help people with intellectual disabilities to develop their social skills so that they can fully fulfil their potential in society", the foundation's director Miryana Siriyski said.

The Foundation was established in 2012 by the family of a young woman with intellectual disabilities, precisely with the aim of supporting the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities, Siriyski noted, adding that when these people become adults and are not longer in school, they stay at home with no one to supported them to develop their abilities and skills. She stressed that in this is where the Foundation's role comes: to support people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

The World Day Centre was established in 2013. It operates with the support of the Sofia City Hall and is already helping 60 people to develop their skills, said Siriyski. 

The service is provided to people over the age of 18 for as long as they need it. "This is a community. The young people visit the day centre daily, join in various workshops for souvenir making, garden activities. We have two cooking workshops located in different parts of the city and fully equipped professional kitchens. We also have a paper recycling workshop, generally many different activities that get these young people involved according to their interests and they learn new skills," Siriyski said.

She pointed out that what they are most proud of is that many young people have acquired skills to an extent that they are able to leave the secure environment that the day centre and take up jobs. "These are places where they work for a few hours, practicing skills in a real working environment. Vyara, to take one example, who is one of the girls here with us, of whom we are very proud, has been a volunteer for years and visits the Muzeiko children's museum once a week, where she helps her colleagues in cleaning, disinfecting and arranging the equipment they use for activities with children," said the director of Maria's World Foundation.

The youths also have the opportunity to participate in volunteer activities as well as hourly activities for a fee. 

Siriyski said that their organization has a very good relationship "with a hotel where girls learn to arrange towels and participate in housekeeping activities". "We also have a good partnership with a large chain of supermarkets where they sort clothes, and participate in the preparation of the goods for the shop". She added that these activities are intended to prepare the programme participants for work. "There are 20 people who are working for pay and we support them in that", Siriyski explained. "What is specific to people with intellectual disabilities is that they can improve their skills a lot, but they need support throughout their lives". 

She pointed out that the need for support changes and diminishes over time as the person develop skills. Some of them even manage to build skills to an extent that they no longer need any help. "There is 26-year-old Kalin Krumov who has now left the service and become part of the team, precisely because he has developed his skills to such an extent that he does not need support, and he himself, from experience, is able to teach other young people to develop their skills", Siriyski said. Krumov has been attending the day centre for seven years before joining as part of the team. 

Maria Alexieva, a social worker at the centre said that during his time as participant, Kalin gradually discovered that cooking is one of the things he enjoys. "He became much more balanced and calm", Alexieva said. "Gradually, over the years, he gained solid experience, joining in caterings at our social enterprise "Bon Appetit", both in the catering kitchen and the event service itself. In the meantime, he also started working in a restaurant - certain days of the week he goes to work, prepares meals", Alexieva explained, adding that for several months they have assessed that Krumov has a level of independence that allows him to no longer be a consumer of the service, but to enter into a mentoring role. 

Alexandra Marinova is 29 years old and has been attending the day centre for years. "I like to be involved in activities in the kitchen, helping in cooking, taking part in preparing food for catering," she said. 

"We brought from Italy this particular chef, who has worked in many famous restaurants around the world, to show how to prepare two relatively simple to recreate Italian dishes - a pasta with aubergines and a pastry," ITA Sofia director Chiara Petro said. "Within the framework of the Week of Italian Cuisine, we wanted to celebrate Italian cuisine and to be close to the members of the community in Bulgaria with an event that we are very happy to have organized and it brings us great pleasure to be with these people," she added.