>> Students Violeta Morell and María Durán presented their participation in a project based on service learning, focused on the study and nutritional analysis of the military in the 18th century, within the framework of Manuel José de Timoteo Barranco’s doctoral thesis.
The students of the Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Violeta Morell and María Durán, have participated in the XII National and VI International Congress of University Service-Learning, which took place in the GM Jovellanos building of the campus of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).
This session of the congress was specially designed for students engaged in Service-Learning (SL), where they shared experiences, projects and innovative ideas with other young people from different universities.
The students of the ADEMA University School explained their participation in the framework of a project based on service-learning, focused on the study and nutritional analysis of the military in the 18th century, within the framework of the doctoral thesis of Manuel José de Timoteo Barranco.
This task was carried out by the first year students of the 23/24 course, within the subject “Food and Culture”, under the supervision of Dr. Giuseppe Russolillo, Dr. Nora López and Professor Pilar Soler. To carry out this collaboration, they had to resort to the interpretation of ancient texts from the Simancas Archive, 1756-1799, provided by Dr. Joan March, director of the doctoral thesis of Manuel José de Timoteo Barranco. An essential part of this research focused on the study of the diet of the military in hospitals in Mallorca during the period between 1700 and 1800.
Some conclusions indicate that “at that time, the military presence in Mallorca provided the first health services to the population, leading to the creation of the well-known Military Hospitals. In these establishments, following the military tradition, all the supply of medicines, food, drinks, sanitary resources and weapons was subject to strict control and was recorded in detail in various books (Archivo de Simancas, 1756-1799)”.
In addition, it was regulated through contracts specifying the purchase at a given price over a generally annual period. This information is essential to understand the dietary patterns of the military who were in hospitals or associated internment centers. Knowing the eating habits, the most frequent pathologies and the drugs used in that period can shed light on the nutritional situation of the population in Mallorca, especially the diet and eating habits of the resident military population. The collection of this data is due to the asentistas, who managed the contracts for the supply of food (Archivo de Simancas, 1756-1799).
In order to know and analyze the diet (energy and nutritional intake) in the group of soldiers in hospitals in Mallorca in the eighteenth century (1700 to 1800), it was proposed the participation of ADEMA students in a research from different perspectives in order to have an overview of how was the food in the group of soldiers in Mallorca in the eighteenth century. A very enriching academic experience for both students and faculty of the University School ADEMA.