2017 ECKART donation: BMW Group supports “ÉPICES” organisation. Cooking as a means of cross-generational integration, Dr. Peter: “At the BMW Group, we encourage innovation.”

Munich. The BMW Group is providing 50,000 euros for the “ÉPICES” organisation founded by Isabelle Haeberlin in France. The aim of the project is to integrate people from different generations and social classes through cooking – leveraging differences between cultures, generations and backgrounds as a source of mutual enrichment. The BMW Group is making the endowment as part of the renowned ECKART award for enjoyment and responsibility.

“At the BMW Group, we encourage innovation. The project created by the Haeberlin family is an innovative approach to integrating very different people with a lasting impact,” said Dr. Nicolas Peter, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Finance, and patron of the ECKART, explaining the endowment. “Openness and integration are also an integral part of our corporate culture at the BMW Group. That is why we are supporting “ÉPICES” with this cash award.” 

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“ÉPICES” was founded in 2009 by Isabelle Haeberlin, wife of the renowned chef Marc Haeberlin. The programme uses cooking to bring mostly young people back into the heart of society. To this end, national institutions in France identify around 300 school drop-outs, unemployed youth, and young people with problems every year. “ÉPICES” uses cookery to teach the basics of nutrition and cooking, but also to promote a sense of responsibility, self-organisation and forward planning. In this way, the programme improves the young people’s chances of finding a job and integrating into society.

The Haeberlin family won the ECKART for “Art of Cookery” back in 2004. Last year, “ÉPICES” was nominated for the ECKART Alumni Award. Through the new endowment, which was introduced in 2017 and provides 50,000 euros in each of the four award categories, as well as for the project of a previous award-winner, the BMW Group seeks to send a signal with the ECKART and take responsibility. The donation is not paid directly to the award-winners: Instead, they each propose a social or sustainable project of their choice to be endowed in the name of the BMW Group. The selection is made in conjunction with the ECKART Jury.

The ECKART

Partners since 2012, the BMW Group and the Eckart Academy jointly present the Eckart Witzigmann Award for outstanding achievements in the categories: “Art of Cookery”, “Innovation”, “Art of Living” and “Creative Responsibility”. The partnership is based on the joint aim of creating an international platform for healthy eating, sustainable cuisine and responsible use of resources. The total endowment of €250,000 reflects the prestige and importance of the ECKART as a top international culinary award. In 2018, the award will take another step towards becoming more international, with the presentation of the ECKART 2018 at an official ceremony in New York. Last year, Eckart Witzigmann presented the award in Versailles: https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0274687EN/eckart-2017-presented-at-palace-of-versailles-prize-money-for-sustainable-projects-at-high-international-level