Europe is a grand classroom for Salute: Food and Health in Switzerland study abroad program
The opportunity to explore sustainable food and agriculture along with new friendships and experiences made the first cohort of Salute: Food and Health in Switzerland a success.
Virginia Tech junior Lauren Simon always dreamed of studying abroad in college but worried she might fall behind in her coursework toward a degree in nutrition and dietetics.
A new semester-long study abroad program based at the picturesque Virginia Tech Steger Center for International Scholarship in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, offered the experience of a lifetime while also keeping her on track to graduate.
Simon spent her days taking required classes such as Organic Chemistry and Italian while also experiencing food production first-hand from farm to table along with European concepts of health, nutrition, and food sustainability.
She also made nine new best friends who became her travel companions to more than a dozen European countries, where they visited castles and museums, scaled Alpine peaks, and went skydiving and paragliding.
“This study abroad experience opened my eyes to so many different ideas surrounding health,” Simon said. “It honestly changed my life. It’s hard to pick a favorite memory or landmark because this entire experience was the highlight of my life so far.”
All 10 participants in the inaugural cohort of Salute: Food and Health in Switzerland echoed Simon’s review. The program was first offered in the fall of 2023 to students in the Departments of Food Science and Technology and Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. A second cohort is currently underway.
For students interested in joining the third cohort, applications for the fall 2025 program open in January. To learn more about the program, students can speak with program leaders at the Global Education Study Abroad Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Drillfield.
“We want every Virginia Tech student to be able to have a study abroad experience like this,” said Brian Wiersema, Virginia Tech’s pilot plant manager and co-creator of the Salute study abroad program. “Our primary goal was to remove the barriers that many of our students in food and health majors faced to studying abroad. Students can come on this trip and not interrupt their progress toward graduating on schedule. They pay the exact same tuition and room and board as they would on campus – and scholarships are available.”
Say cheese! The first cohort of Salute: Food and Health in Switzerland toured a parmesan cheese production facility near Parma, Italy. Photo courtesy of Joell Eifert.
In their Green Food Lab, students practiced their sustainable food preparation techniques, with help from local chefs. Photo by Vivica Kraak for Virginia Tech.
Lauren Simon skydives over Interlaken, Switzerland. Simon was one of 10 students who participated in the first cohort of Salute: Food and Health in Switzerland, a study abroad program designed for students in the Departments of Food Science and Technology and Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise. Photo courtesy of Lauren Simon.
A visit to the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo by Nicolin Girmes-Grieco for Virginia Tech.
Outside the Chillon Castle in Montreux, Switzerland, on Lake Geneva. Photo by Nicolin Girmes-Grieco for Virginia Tech.
Brian Singewald prepares potatoes for gnocchi in the Green Food Lab. Photo by Joell Eifert for Virginia Tech.
Final dinner in Parma. Photo by Joell Eifert for Virginia Tech.
In classes, field trips, and excursions with Virginia Tech faculty members Joell Eifert, Vivica Kraak, Nicolin Girmes-Grieco, and Steger Center Executive Director Sara Steinert Borella, students learned about European food production, culture, sustainability, nutrition across the lifespan, and health. With its central location in Europe, the Steger Center provided easy access to many of the continent’s premier culinary, cultural, and geographic highlights.
“Switzerland hosts three language groups, and hence three cultural groups, all of whom approach food traditions from varying perspectives,” said Steinert Borella, a cultural studies scholar based at the Steger Center. “As home to the World Health Organization and some of the best locally and sustainably produced food in the world, it’s a phenomenal laboratory for students studying food and health systems and practices.”
On week-long, faculty-led excursions, students visited sustainable farms and vineyards; the United Nations and World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva; the Lindt chocolate factory; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne; the International Red Cross museum; cheese, meat, and balsamic vinegar producers; and the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant, among other highlights.
“To say that this experience was transformative is honestly an understatement,” said Cameron Levin, a senior majoring in food science and technology from Herndon, Virginia. “Living in Switzerland completely changed my perspective on food waste and sustainability. It was amazing to see how clean they keep their cities and how strict they are about minimizing waste and separating recycling. Living there has encouraged me to think more about recycling and repurposing food.”
Surrounded by more than 60 Hokie students and faculty from diverse disciplines at the Steger Center, “it was like living in a mini Virginia Tech campus in the Swiss countryside,” said Samantha Burgess, a junior from Herndon, Virginia, majoring in food science and technology.
Weekends were free for students to travel and explore all that Europe had to offer.
“We all immediately clicked and traveled everywhere together – to Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, Scotland, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, and more,” Simon said. “We also got very close with our professors, who are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about their work. Even on our excursions, they always made it a fun learning and travel environment.”
“I think one of the best days of the week was Sunday night dinners at the Steger Center, sharing our meal with our professors and telling them about our crazy weekend experiences in whatever new country we went to that weekend,” Burgess said. “And we traveled almost every weekend. We saw the canals of Amsterdam, tasted the escargot of Nice, walked around Parc Güell in Barcelona, and walked through the Tower of London. It was exhausting, but also hands-down the most fun ever had.”
Students also had the opportunity to do independent study at local farms and restaurants and to volunteer in an afterschool program.
“I learned from and helped out with a completely organic, zero food-waste restaurant called Afiordigusto,” Levin said. “Afiordigusto takes produce from local farms that would have otherwise been thrown out and they repurpose that food into the meals that they serve or into products that they sell.”
For Levin, Simon, Burgess, and many other students on the trip, the experience deeply influenced their academic and career goals, as well as their world views.
“I think the best thing about the program was that it allowed us to experience so many ‘behind-the-scenes’ aspects of food culture in Europe that aren’t necessarily available to travelers on a personal vacation," said Burgess. "I would absolutely recommend this program to any student interested in learning about the food culture and sustainability practices in Europe. The experiences we had, from touring a Swiss university that transformed its dining services into one that offers a wide variety of delicious, sustainable, plant-based food options, to taking cooking classes in the Green Food Lab to learn zero-waste recipes, opened up so many avenues for me to achieve my career goal of working in food sustainability.”
