A FOOD-based event with the goal of promoting cultural understanding is set to stir up the European Championships in Glasgow.

Taking place form August 9-12, Civic Canteen will host a series of special food-based workshops and events – all of which have the shared goal of uniting people using food as a vehicle to promote cultural exchange. The sessions are ticketed, but free to attend.

Highlights of the programme include While Having Soup from Montreal’s award-winning art activists Atsa which brings strangers together to have thought-provoking discussions over a bowl of soup.

Atsa co-founder Annie Roy said they were looking forward to coming to Glasgow for the first time.

“It’s always a surprise to encounter a new public and see how they react to giving time for a discussion with a stranger,” she said. “We cannot anticipate too much but I think it will be a great turn-out since an event like the European Championship brings a special vibe to the city and people are happy and in an open mood to meet one another.”

She said that people who want to join in the conversation do not need to be an expert or intellectual but should just come along to see what happens.

“We do not give the subjects in advance – it is part of the surprise,” she said.

Roy said that in this era of Facebook and other social media platforms it was important for people to meet up and be able to talk to each other about the issues of the day.

“It becomes quite narcissistic and mostly stays in the same kind of algorithmic relations. It is great to go out of this box and stimulate ourselves with the surprise of a new talk!” she said.

“We think it is important to think about how we can live in a non-violent planet and one of the small things we all can do is be interested in one another and talk to understand each other.”

Four people act as both mediators and waiters, helping the participants to find stimulating subjects while also serving soup.

“Then the conversation is confidential while having the soup. You nourish your stomach and mind,” said Roy.

At the end, Atsa helps each pair create a small sentence that will be their “mantra”, a kind of souvenir.

“It can be poetic, funny, serious and it will be put on their portrait. This will form the poetic portrait of the conversation and they will be able to find it on www.atsa.qc.ca,” she said. “Each portrait is shown in the next destination and we now have more than 3500 portraits. We’ll certainly do an exhibition or an event at one point and we hope this will continue for a long time.”

Similar events have already been held in Rennes, Gars, Hull, Vancouver and Montreal.

“But we also went to various countries thanks to a special grant from the Canada Council, including Ouagadougou, Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Bayreuth, Marrakech, Iqaluit, Val-d’Or, Moncton, Whitehorse and Yellowknife.

“It is in the DNA of the project to multiply itself,” said Roy.

Tickets can be booked at: https://goo.gl/G2UDE1.