or seven years in a row, every third Friday in November, Slovenian beekeepers have been organising an educational-promotional campaign for kindergarten and primary school children entitled “Honey Breakfast”.

On this day children have Slovenian honey for breakfast, mostly donated by various beekeepers. Now Slovenians want to make the campaign European.

The idea for the educational-promotional campaign stems from the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association which now presents an initiative to establish the “European Honey Breakfast”. The Breakfast in Slovenia has been supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

As the majority of a person’s habits originate from childhood, it is vital to impart positive values on environmental consciousness already from an early age. Honey Breakfast is based on a collaboration of beekeepers and teachers and is co-ordinated by the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association and Public Advisory Service on Beekeeping. Every year, beekeepers societies from local areas collect honey and most of it is donated to kindergartens and schools. Also an educational publication is published and distributed among children. Besides beekeepers who are in charge of presentations and children’s workshops, mayors, various officials, athletes and many other prominent figures are present at the Breakfast too. It is supported by the media as well; they publish numerous articles and thus raise the awareness of the general public on the importance of beekeeping.

In 2011, the Honey Breakfast developed into a Traditional Slovenian Breakfast and Slovenian Food Day
The declaration of the Slovenian Food Day gives the locally produced food a special importance; moreover it helps raising the awareness of the public on the significance of the locally produced and processed food and its consumption, and draws the attention to the importance of a balanced diet. The main goal of the Slovenian Food Day is to support the Slovenian food producers and processors and to raise the awareness about the meaning of local self-sufficiency, conserving the clean and healthy environment, preserving the rural areas, educating the youth about food production and processing procedures, and promoting the interest for agricultural activities.

Part of the Slovenian Food Day is the Traditional Slovenian Breakfast project which involves Slovenian kindergartens and primary schools in order to educate children about the importance of agriculture, food industry, beekeeping, environment protection and the importance of a healthy and balanced diet and physical activity.

Based on Slovenia’s good practices, we would like to introduce an initiative to establish a European Honey Breakfast campaign.

In November 2014, Honey Breakfast was presented at a 3rd International Beekeeping Conference, organised in Slovenia. The participants had a chance to attend the breakfast in kindergartens and primary schools where they had an insight into the project implementation in order to transfer the concept of the campaign into their native countries.

Vital for the successful implementation and good practice transfer of the European Honey Breakfast is the support of ministers and European parliament MPs – therefore we appeal to everybody to support the campaign and thus aid the nature and bee conservation. In the end, this will ensure food and a better life for everyone also in the future.

Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association and Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, SINFO