For its 40th edition, the European Heritage Days focused on “living heritage” : a great opportunity for DIVINFOOD to present its activities and research objectives to citizen-consumers, through three event participations:

• A visit to the Melchior farm in Charly (France) organized by the Centre de Ressources de Botanique Appliquée (CRBA), a Divinfood partner: this farm is located in a nine-hectare agricultural estate hosting multiple varieties of flowers, fruits, cereals and forgotten vegetables, including the meat bean, a NUC studied as part of Divinfood. The Living Lab Bean-Lyon is conducting staking trials there: the aim is to identify which species should be used in association with the climbing bean to minimize staking costs, and if possible which will enable simultaneous mechanical harvesting of the bean and the species in question.

• Participation in events in Castelnaudary (France), where the work of the Living Lab Bean-Cast was presented at a stand in the Musée du Lauragais. This was an opportunity to offer a variety of bean recipes for tasting, to discuss with locals and tourists the issues involved in growing the vegetable in the region, and to present the experiments carried out in partnership with a dozen local gardeners, with a view to resurrecting an industry.

• Organisation of a dissemination event titled ‘Lupins in the Roman fusaie tradition as a resource for plant-based diets’, hosted by a lupin-growing farm in the outskirts of Rome (Italy). The event was meant to discuss the traditional artisanal processing and selling of white lupins, with the goal of reviving its consumption in a modern lifestyle setting in consideration of the greater attention to vegi diets and ‘superfoods’. The event was attended by farmers, citizens, consumers, and territorial development actors who engaged in a lively discussion on lupin value chains’ role, innovations, benefits and barriers.