São Paulo – The city of Campinas, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, will present the third edition of Campinas Coffee Festival from November 10th to 14th. The event, promoted by Jerusalem Institute, has the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and should offer the public a programme that includes cultural, informative and leisure activities with themes involving coffee. The city has its history connected to the problem, as it was one of the great hubs of cultivation and trade of the commodity between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The festival should include an exhibition about the history of coffee and cups, organized by the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (Abic). There will also be scent sampling, in which people will feel the different aromas of the product. The activity will be organised by the Physical Education, Agricultural Engineering and Food Engineering faculties of the University of Campinas (Unicamp). The Integral Technical Assistance Coordination (CATI) should exhibit different kinds of coffee produced in the state.
There should also be an evening of seminars, on the 12th, about coffee and education, coffee and economics, coffee and business, and coffee and health. The activities should take place at the Cultural centre for Social Inclusion (CIS) of Guanabara Station, at Unicamp, but the last day of the programme should be in charge of the Campinas city chapter of the Social Service for Commerce (Sesc), where there will be country music and coffee. The opening of the event should include music, with a show by Margareth Menezes, interpreting popular songs that mention coffee, including some by Almir Sater and Milton Nascimento.
Apart from recalling the history of Campinas, the festival should also promote coffee and its importance in Brazil. "We are the main global producer of Arabica coffee and the second main consumer of coffee," said the superintendant of Jerusalem Institute, Ali Al-Khatib. He also added that coffee is one of the global beverages that promote greatest solidarity, as people tend to meet to drink it. Khatib also pointed out the importance of the Arab Brazilian Chamber for exports of Brazilian coffee to the Arab nations.
The city of Campinas also houses the organisation that, in Brazil, is reference in research into the cultivation of coffee, the Campinas Agronomic Institute (IAC). "Due to coffee, Campinas granted Brazil its second republican president," said Al-Khatib, referring to Campos Sales, as well as bringing up other prominent people from the city, among them opera composer Carlos Gomes. The objective of the festival, according to the superintendant, is to make Campinas into the Brazilian capital of coffee culture and history.
According to one of the directors at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Bechara Ibrahim, support to the festival is a way the organisation has to stretch out of the city of São Paulo, the capital of the state that goes by the same name. According to him, Campinas has a community of Arabs and their descendants that is very active and has tradition in promotion of Arab events, as well as having a very populated metropolitan region. At the seminar before the festival there should be a talk about business with the Arab world. The support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber is through the Cultural Committee, of which Ibrahim is a member.
Apart from the Arab Brazilian Chamber, the festival also has the support of the Campinas City Hall, the São Paulo State Association of Agribusiness Technology (Apta), the Agriculture Secretariat of the state of São Paulo, the Cati, Abic, IAC, Campinas Colleges (Facamp), the Industrial and Trade Association of Campinas, Campinas and Region Convention & Visitors Bureau and Bandeirantes Communications Group, among others. Co-producers of the event are CIS-Guanabara and the Dean’s Office for Extension and Community Affairs at the Unicamp, as well as the Sesc-Campinas.
Service
Campinas Coffee Festival
From November 10th to 13th
Estação Guanabara CIS – Unicamp
Rua Mário Siqueira, 829 – Botafogo – Campinas – SP
November 14th
Sesc-Campinas
Rua Dom José I, 270/333 – Bonfim – Campinas – SP
Further information:
Jerusalem Institute
Telephone: (+55 19) 3243 8329
*Translated by Mark Ament
