Right to Education: School Canteen Cooks at Marchesi's
Italian university students' meals will become healthier, more sustainable, and higher-quality thanks to a training program that brought thirty-four university cafeteria chefs directly into the kitchens of the Gualtiero Marchesi Academy in Milan.
Yesterday, Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the first series of theoretical and practical lessons dedicated to the new ANDISU Guidelines on Sustainable Catering officially concluded. Following the first session on July 15, which involved sixteen chefs, yesterday another eighteen professionals working at the directly managed cafeterias of associated right-to-study organizations completed the training program in Milan.
The project: sustainability and haute cuisine for students
The goal of the initiative, promoted by ANDISU President Emilio Di Marzio and Marco Del Medico (ANDISU delegate for Catering and president of DSU Tuscany), is to improve the quality of service offered every day to thousands of non-resident students and those enrolled in Italian universities. The training program was designed and managed by Siter, a training agency of Confcommercio Siena, which actively collaborates with the Marchesi Academy.
During the lessons, chefs from all over Italy explored cooking techniques and the use of raw materials typical of high-end restaurants, adapting them to the needs and large capacity of university cafeterias.
"Gualtiero Marchesi always said that cooking is, first and foremost, an act of responsibility: towards those who eat it, towards the raw materials, towards the act of cooking itself. Training thirty-four chefs for Italian university cafeterias means bringing that responsibility where it matters most, every day, for thousands of students." — Enrico Dandolo, Director of the Gualtiero Marchesi Academy and President of the Gualtiero Marchesi Foundation
The initiative's numbers and its impact on the service
The project involved a total of thirty-four catering workers, divided into two operational classes.
According to Enrico Dandolo, the course didn't just teach recipes, but also taught a true working method based on respect for the ingredients and the simplicity of the dish. This philosophy translates into a drastic reduction in food waste thanks to greater technical knowledge, increasing overall quality without increasing the complexity of the preparations.
The promoters' statements
ANDISU President Emilio Di Marzio expressed great satisfaction with the completion of this first phase: "With this second day, we are continuing a process we consider strategic for the future of university catering. The goal remains the same: to improve the quality of meals served to our students, reduce waste, and enhance raw materials, in a spirit of sustainability that must never compromise taste."
Marco Del Medico, the initiative's promoter and president of DSU Toscana, also emphasized how this investment will have direct and immediate benefits for students' daily lives, announcing that work is already underway to continue the collaboration with the Academy in the coming months to train new classes of chefs.
Finally, Cristina Petri, director of Siter Confcommercio Siena, highlighted the importance of integrating the philosophy of a master like Gualtiero Marchesi with mass catering, demonstrating that quality and sustainability can go hand in hand, even on a very large scale.
What concretely changes for students
Over the coming months, the skills acquired by the thirty-four chefs will translate into updated menus and preparation techniques within the participating university cafeterias. Students will benefit from more balanced dishes, prepared with cooking methods that preserve the nutritional properties of foods and showcase local products, while also reducing the environmental impact of the food service.