Pope blesses European gastronomy competition for people with disabilities

By Sr. Nina Benedikta Krapić, VMZ

The Croatian association UNUO concluded the "Cupid's Spoon Europe" competition with the blessing from Pope Francis during the General Audience on 11 October.

Speaking in his greetings to Croatian faithful, the Pope said: “I warmly greet all pilgrims from Croatia, especially the winners of the gastronomic competition from the countries of the European Union, organized by the UNUO Association in Zagreb.”

“Cupid’s Spoon Europe” is the first European Gastronomy Competition for people with disabilities and children without proper parental care.

The competition ran from February to August 2023. Workshops and competitions were held in 24 European capitals, including Lviv in Ukraine.

All national winners gathered in Zagreb, Croatia, for the European final in early October. Afterwards, they visited Rome and the Vatican to attend the Pope’s General Audience and receive his Apostolic Blessing.

Pope’s blessing was ‘crown of the competition’

“This is the first kind of competition in the world, where the people with different kinds of disabilities, like Down syndrome, autism, physical disability, or blindness can present what they are capable to do by preparing food and drink. We came to the Audience in Rome because this is the crown of the whole the competition,” said Vedran Habel, the president of the UNUO Association.

Speaking to Vatican News, Mr. Habel added that all the participants are very happy to be in Rome.

“They're extremely happy, and it makes them motivated to support other people with disabilities to join to this competition. If they want to be a part of the society, they need to be visible and now they will work more to include everybody in this competition,” he said, inviting everyone to work for equality of the people with disabilities in the society.

Gift for the Pope

The representatives of UNUO gave Pope Francis a mascot of a Cupid’s spoon

“He gave us a blessing and thanked us for the Cupid Spoon mascot. He said that this is an incredible initiative and he gave us support for what we are doing,” said Mr. Habel and explained that the Cupid Spoon mascot is the mascot of all people with a disability.

Good practice spreads from Croatia to rest of Europe

UNUO has been engaged in the education, especially in gastronomy, of people with disabilities, children without adequate parental care and children in disadvantaged positions. They started a project of cooking training and competition for youth and adults with disabilities in Croatia. It aimed to improve employment chances for participants, as well as to give them more visibility and advocate for their equal position in the society.

The project has also had an impact on participants' confidence and self-esteem in deciding to start independent living.

Since the project was a major success in Croatia, its initiators decided to make it a larger European project, involving people with disabilities from all over Europe. This is how the first European Gastronomy Competition for people with disabilities and children without proper parental care was established.

The project was supported by the Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia, Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, who was present at competitions and meetings with young people.

Croatian Caritas and other institutions of the Catholic Church in Croatia, as well as the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and numerous Croatian embassies in European countries, as well as this Embassy of the Republic of Croatia to the Holy See, supported the project in various ways.