site.btaTroyan Brings Generations Together around Shared Table

People of all ages shared homemade food, family recipes and stories at the Generations at the Table community picnic in Troyan’s Turlata Forest Park on Wednesday. The initiative was organized by Troyan Municipality and young volunteers to mark International Youth Day, bringing participants together around a shared table to exchange memories. Held as an outdoor picnic, it gave people of different ages an opportunity to talk in an informal setting.

The purpose of Generations at the Table was to bring people of different ages together around a shared table and use food and conversation to encourage communication between generations, Troyan Municipality Communications and Local Self-Government Department Head Stanislava Vacheva told BTA.

“My greatest wish is for a close-knit community to remain,” Vacheva said. She added that this should first and foremost be a community of young people actively involved in organizing the event.

“These are the people with whom we have been discussing and working on various initiatives over the past few months, as well as those who took part with exceptional enthusiasm in the mentoring programme we held for the first time last year. The idea is for them to kindle the same spark in the schoolmates who come after them,” Vacheva said.

“The idea for Generations at the Table was born both spontaneously and after a period of reflection. The young people proposed it, saying they wanted more in-person events in a real-world setting. They wanted events where they could meet like-minded people, peers and others with similar interests in different initiatives,” Vacheva said.

The initiative was inspired by a large event in Sofia, although its purpose was different. “Here, we want to bring different generations together in one place so that traditions can somehow be passed from the past, through the present and into the future,” Vacheva said.

Vacheva said the young people embraced the idea and a team of municipal administration employees rallied around it. Each contributed ideas and helped develop the event’s original concept. She described the support from local businesses as a pleasant surprise.

Young co-organizer Lyubena Raeva said Generations at the Table gave people of different ages an opportunity to meet, talk and learn from one another.

“I think this event will show how well everyone can get along in such a setting, because people of different ages, from 5 to 50, will come. Everyone will learn something from someone else,” Raeva said.

Raeva said the young people involved in the preparations did not see themselves strictly as volunteers, but rather as co-organizers.

“My friends and I are taking part because we want to and because we want to see how the entire organization and preparation process works. We want to be part of it. I truly believe that what we do together will benefit us,” Raeva said.

Raeva said such an informal gathering could help people put down their phones for a while and communicate directly. “Face to face, we will be able to experience different emotions,” Raeva added.

Family recipes and the stories behind them were among the main themes. Participants presented dishes made from traditional recipes or recipes passed down through generations, with food serving as a starting point for conversation and the sharing of personal and family stories. Troyan Mayor Donka Mihaylova shared her own recipe for homemade banitsa at the event.

The programme included an area for family memories and conversations, board games and activities for young people, and a creative corner for children. Local business owner Elitsa Doseva introduced knitting as a somewhat forgotten handicraft and demonstrated several techniques.

Knitting was an enjoyable hobby that helped people step away from their phones and focus on something creative, Doseva told BTA. She said she had been invited to demonstrate it because people familiar with her hobby had seen the knitted pieces she posted online.

“I think everyone should have a hobby, and one that involves making things or some form of manual work, because it is extremely beneficial for both the mind and a sense of calm. Another benefit is that if your hobby keeps both hands busy, you cannot scroll, so it takes us away from our phones for a while and makes us think about something else,” Doseva said.

Dance instructor Stanislav Anastasov organized a Talk to Me corner to encourage face-to-face communication and sharing between generations away from the digital environment.

The organizers and student volunteers from Troyan will compile the family recipes presented at the event into a digital recipe book.

Generations at the Table was conceived as the possible start of an annual initiative devoted to communication and bonds between generations in the municipality.