The Chefs' Manifesto

This mini-season focuses on food choices – and such that are climate-friendly and healthy. We take a close look at what climate-friendly and healthy food actually IS and how it connects to the Chefs’ Manifesto’s thematic areas and the SDGs. And we’ll discuss individual choices and choices along the value chain: how do people choose what to eat, how as chefs can we influence food choices to ensure they are good for both people and planet, and how should we move forward and drive the change the world and its food systems urgently need?

In the second episode, we’ll hear from food systems expert Dr Namukolo Covic and the amazing food system vision prize winner Jian Yi from the Good Food Fund who’ve been developing visions of regenerative and nourishing food systems that they aspire to create by the year 2050. Listen in and find below Dr Covic's beautiful poem.

I am Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

By Namukolo Covic, 7 Dec 2021

I’m Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.

What a long name? Why such a long name?

It is not just a name, there is meaning in the name

You can call me A4NH, my short name

A4NH? There is more meaning in Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

What work do you do, Agriculture for Nutrition and Health?

I use three pathways to impact, policy, programs and value-chains.

That sounds complicated, please explain

I have five teams to deliver nutrition and health from agriculture

Aah now I get the name, nutrition and health from agriculture!

I have a team that produces staple foods, better

Better by increasing micronutrients in these foods

Better, vitamin A maize, cassava and sweet potatoes

Wait, there is more - Iron beans and millets

And more - Zinc millets; it is Biofortification

All nutrients we need more of. We can have more!

I have a team for Food Safety

If it is not safe it can’t be food, they say

Food is supposed to nourish, not make anyone sick

More milk, safe milk; Aflsafe, no aflatoxins

Informal food environments with safe foods, everywhere, is their goal

Human Health, is yet another team

We need to take care, care about health

plant health, animal health environmental health - One Health it is!

Everything is connected and so One Health is what we need

COVID-19 came, what a big lesson for everyone, everywhere

We need good health at every level of food systems, everywhere

Policies and Programs to Enable Action through Research? There they are!

A team worrying about policies everywhere. Policy is what governments do

You want the government to do something? Under which policy?

We must have a policy to tell government what to do

Pass on the evidence please, so better policies can be

Ooh yes better and aligned policies for better nutrition and health

Do all these fit together?

That is the job of another team, Food Systems for Healthier Diets

What do they do? Diet centered they say!

Start with diets to inform food systems transformation

Start with diets to ensure efforts are aligned

Then agriculture will deliver better nutrition and health.

Wait, wait - what about the capacity for multidisciplinary perspectives?

Food Systems Thinking surely needs multidisciplinary perspectives?

I do that too, I teamed up with the ANH Academy!

ANH what? Ooh sorry – Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy

Capacity is their thing – conferences, learning labs, more learning labs

They promote multidisciplinary and, yes food systems thinking!

My name is Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Listen... One CGIAR is coming! Just remember the lesson in me

And you will do fine and even better!

This mini-season focuses on food choices – and such that are climate-friendly and healthy. We take a close look at what climate-friendly and healthy food actually IS and how it connects to the Chefs’ Manifesto’s thematic areas and the SDGs. And we’ll discuss individual choices and choices along the value chain: how do people choose what to eat, how as chefs can we influence food choices to ensure they are good for both people and planet, and how should we move forward and drive the change the world and its food systems urgently need?

The first episode looks at the topic mainly from the perspective of cooking – together with two chefs and one expert. Listen in!

This mini-season focuses on food choices – and such that are climate-friendly and healthy. We take a close look at what climate-friendly and healthy food actually IS and how it connects to the Chefs’ Manifesto’s thematic areas and the SDGs. And we’ll discuss individual choices and choices along the value chain: how do people choose what to eat, how as chefs can we influence food choices to ensure they are good for both people and planet, and how should we move forward and drive the change the world and its food systems urgently need?

In the third episode – the deepdive – host Chef Tom Hunt speaks with the incredibly talented and inspirational Chef Douglas McMaster about his journey pioneering zero-waste cooking in the UK and how that links to the topic of the season, climate-friendly healthy food choices. Listen in!

This Chefs' Manifesto Podcast Bonus Episode is the first-ever episode to be hosted in Spanish. Guided by podcast host Chef Alejandra Schrader, scientists Benedetta Gori and Mauricio Diazgranados from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, as well as Chef Jaime Rodríguez and Chef Charles Michel delve deep into the topic of biodiversity, talking about the Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project and the role of chefs in championing native ingredients on their plates and in their restaurants in the beautiful country of Colombia and beyond.

Este podcast es presentado por Plantas y Hongos Útiles de Colombia (UPFC) un proyecto liderado por el Real Jardín Botánico de Kew en colaboración con el Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt.

UPFC es apoyado por un subsidio de Desarrollo Profesional y Compromiso a través del Fondo NewtonCaldas. El subsidio es financiado por el Departamento de Negocios, Energía y Estrategia Industrial del Reino Unido (BEIS) y el Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Colombia (MinCiencias), e implementado por el British Council. Para más información, visite in-colombia.org www.newtonfund.ac.uk

This podcast is brought to you by the Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia (UPFC) project, delivered by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in partnership with the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute.

The UPFC project is supported by a Professional Development & Engagement grant under the Newton-Caldas Fund partnership. The grant is funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Colombian Ministry of Science, technology and Innovation (MinCiencias), and delivered by the British Council. For more information, visit in-colombia.org or www.newtonfund.ac.uk.

This standalone bonus episode of the Chefs' Manifesto Podcast features a conversation between host Chef Tom Hunt and Dr. Colin Clubbe, Head of the Conservation Science Department at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. In their conversation, which was recorded back in 2019, Chef Tom and Dr. Clubbe discuss biodiversity loss and how to alleviate it from an interdisciplinary standpoint, as chefs, scientists and advocates of good food systems. In the episode, listeners will learn more about the incredible conservation work at Kew and discover some magnificent examples of closed loop systems within biodiversity conservation projects.

The last episode in this Crop Series season is all about the famous crop wheat! Pastry Chef Sahar Parham Al Awadhi from the UAE and Chef Eduardo Garcia from Mexico will share their experience using wheat in the kitchen, as well as talk about the cultural significance of wheat and bread in their parts of the world. Expert Filppo Bassi from ICARDA then joins the discussion to give more context and add a scientific perspective on wheat.

This week's episode features everything you need to know about the great crop millet! Chef Vanshika Bhatia and Chef Mokgadi Itsweng share their experiences cooking and experimenting with millets in their kitchens and make listeners fall in love with this fantastic ingredient. A discussion with Shivali Sharma from ICRISAT follows on how many sustainable benefits millets can bring to the table.

The fourth episode in this season is all about sweet potato! Given its rich nutritional content, the sweet potato is one of the most consumed crops in Africa. Chef Kiran Jethwa and Chef Yi Wen share recipes and stories about this fantastic healthy crop from their respective parts of the world. Maria Andrade from the International Potato Center then joins the discussion and reinforces the importance of sweet potato for many people and communities around the globe.

In this third episode of Chefs' Manifesto Podcast season 3, you will learn about the famous crop coffee! Chef Daniel Kaplan and Chef Aylin Yazıcıoğlu talk about how coffee is an integral part of their respective cultures but explain how it can be produced and consumed in a more sustainable and careful way along the production chain. Experts Rolando Cerda and Sarada Krishnan in the last part of the episode address the urge to act on the coffee production chain in order to produce better and in a respectful way for people and planet, and most importantly, to safeguard biodiversity. Tune in!

Episode 2 of this season focuses on sorghum, an underappreciated crop that is mainly grown in Africa. Chef Ali Mandhry, a sorghum champion, shares recipes and his passion for this crop working from his home in Mombassa, Kenya, whilst Meymuna Hussein shares her journey from East Africa to America and the importance of sorghum in her culture and cooking. Expert Eva Weltzien, pre-breeding consultant from ICRISAT wraps us up by championing the sustainable impact sorghum can have if we produce and use it as an alternative to more pollutant crops. Correction: At about 3min, it should say that sorghum stalks, not roots, are used as fuel for cooking.