See where Dietitians Explore! has travelled and read about the adventures they’ve had!
Where we’ve travelled:
Essen, Germany
Where could be better for our food-loving participants than a city in Germany whose name literally translates to ‘food’? Essen, a city tucked away in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is a bustling metropolis complemented by modern neighbourhoods, parks, trails and multi-cultural cuisine. The city has been shaped by its history in the iron, steel and coal industries. Former coal mines now attract visitors as a cultural performance centre and a UNESCO world heritage site. Essen served as a great destination where participants had an opportunity to hop on a high-speed train and visit dietetic-centric hot spots.
Our participants had a busy and exciting week. These were some of the program activities:
- Orientation to the German Dietitian Association and the dietetic profession in Germany
- Introduction to the eating habits and nutritional challenges of the German population
- Visit to a German School for Dietitians, interaction with students and participation in students’ menu planning assignment review
- Shadowing hospital food service staff; tour preparation, storage, and tray delivery
- Tasting of a full hospital patient menu
- Shadowing clinical dietitians in hospital, sampling enteral feeding supplements, meeting a patient with a feeding tube
Essen offered a variety of options for touring and site seeing. Here are some of the highlights in and around the city:
- Museum Folkwang; a museum of 19th and 20th century art
- Lake Baldeney
- Old Town Kettwig
- Villa Hugel Essen
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Words from our participants:
As a DE! participant we were able to gain exposure to a wide variety of settings within nutrition such as clinical, food service, and research. Speaking with students at the local nutrition school was a wonderful opportunity to share our experiences and learn from each other, and were even given an opportunity to give them feed back on their menu planning assignments.