What is this “culinary escape game” to promote social and professional integration?

A library that suddenly opens and reveals a bedroom, a piano with a magic touch synonymous with a trap door… Each escape game has its surprises, sometimes impressive. That of the Stamtish association, in Strasbourg, is no exception to the rule. With one particularity: the discoveries here are of a culinary nature.

“Instead of unlocking a room, we unlock either the starter, the main course, or the dessert”, sums up Laura Suffissais, the coordinator of a project born in 2021. Not just for the pleasure of the game. The association y sees this as a means of responding to its main mission: “the professional and social integration of people who have emigrated to the restaurant industry”.

At each session, which can accommodate up to four tables of ten people, a foreign cook will thus be involved. “We had the case with Nadia, who is of Moroccan origin and was able to put herself in a situation and offer her specialties. But it can also work with Patricia, who comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo and doesn’t dare venture outside her family. The escape game will serve as a springboard and show her that she can have confidence in herself by managing up to 40 people, ”explains the facilitator, also delighted to be able to discuss with the participants.

Twelve thousand euros wanted

These, who pay the price they want, are led to discover “the secret ingredient that the cook or the cook brought back in his suitcase”. A whole course of about 2h30 which allows them in particular to discover figures on immigration or more generally to open up to cultural diversity. “At the end, we often have discussions and people learn things. The escape game really allows us to reach a new audience,” summarizes Laura Suffissais, who would now like future sessions to be organised.

Until then financed by subsidies, in particular from the town hall, the game could stop. The association launched a crowdfunding call so that it continues. “Because we have to buy the intellectual property of the script from a Lyon company”, further details the coordinator, also hoping to develop other escape games with the money raised. “We need at least 75% of the target…” Or at least around 12,000 euros out of the 15,000 expected. So far, nearly 6,500 euros have been collected.

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