About
About
Chefs for Development (Chefs4Dev) is a collective of culinary artists, food producers, agripreneurs, national, and international organisations working to promote stronger linkages between the gastronomy and agriculture sectors. Chefs for Development’s primary goal is to increase access to healthier, locally sourced foods for culinary establishments in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. Chefs4Dev also aims to position chefs from these regions as global ambassadors elevating the status of indigenous cuisine, and as advocates of sustainable agriculture.
Tourism is the primary economic driver for islands in the Caribbean, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Hotels and resorts are the main pillars of the tourism industry, and chefs play a decisive role in determining where the food served inside these establishments comes from. Consequently, chefs are pivotal to the growth and sustainability of local food producers.
Chefs for Development aims to function as an information hub connecting chefs, farmers, fishers, and other food producers via the internet. It is an online ecosystem where they can share success stories, solutions to common challenges, recipes, and connect with counterparts in other ACP countries. It is also a platform for celebrating and promoting the work of chefs whose impact extends beyond the kitchen in service to the greater good of their countries.
What We Do
Enable Access To Local Ingredients
Enable access to local ingredients, support capacity building, value addition, and policy development impacting chefs and food producers in ACP states.
Connect Experts In Various Sectors
Connect experts in various sectors – gastronomy, agriculture, and health primarily – and showcase successes and best practices in facilitating synergies among stakeholders in the agriculture, gastronomy, and tourism value chains.
Publish and Maintain A Directory
Publish and maintain a directory of organisations that support stakeholders in the gastronomy, agriculture, and tourism sectors, as well as a glossary of indigenous foods and traditional techniques that constitute the culinary heritage of ACP countries.
Encourage Knowledge Sharing
Encourage knowledge sharing among chefs in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific; and facilitate institutions, businesses, and individuals wanting to deepen their understanding of best practices and local sourcing.
Promote Farm-to-Table
Promote farm-to-table initiatives, innovative uses of local products, and the talents of chefs and restaurateurs from ACP countries who are contributing to the global rise of gastronomy tourism.
Chefs for Development aims to position African, Caribbean, and Pacific chefs as global ambassadors elevating the status of indigenous cuisine, and as advocates of sustainable agriculture.
Photo by Tarique Eastman/ Our Moving Table
Background
Tourism is the primary economic driver for islands in the Caribbean, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Much of the food served in the hotels and resorts that host these visitors is imported. Imported produce is often cheaper, so very little is purchased from local food producers. Farmers and agribusinesses in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries struggle to compete with suppliers of imported food, which is the fastest-growing import segment in these island states.
Local food producers lack economies of scale, infrastructure is often haphazard, and transportation costs are increasingly high. The lack of wealth creation in the agricultural sector results in pressure on local farmers, especially youth, who leave rural areas in search of employment outside of agriculture. Enabling local farmers and agribusinesses to scale up their market share and tap into tourism markets would present a huge opportunity for economic growth, sustainability, and resilience.
“Where the cuisine goes, the agriculture follows.”
Increased involvement of local food producers in the culinary and agricultural value chains would also increase general accessibility of local foods, and elevate the culinary heritage of ACP states in ways that could yield other social and economic benefits. For example, increased local food production would better position ACP countries to leverage the global rise of gastronomy tourism. Reduced reliance on cheap, overly processed imported food could also lower incidences of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension, which are prevalent among Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Caribbean islanders.
These are the possibilities and realities that inspire the ethos of Chefs for Development, an online ecosystem designed to function as a hub for sharing success stories and solutions to common challenges faced by the peoples of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
Photos contributed by Chef Jason Howard
