On this episode, Ragnar speaks with Raphaël Reynard, co-founder of Chaleur, a socially engaged restaurant in Marseille. With 15 years of experience working in professional kitchens and a passion for serving people in precarious situations, Raphaël co-founded Chaleur, officially opening its doors in June 2025. The restaurant builds its menus around rescued and unsold ingredients from local producers and distributes roughly 15% of its meals free of charge through a trust-based model. By welcoming people from vastly different backgrounds at shared tables, Chaleur uses food as a powerful tool for community connection. Tune in to hear Raphaël’s perspective on socially engaged gastronomy, building creative menus from rescued ingredients, breaking away from toxic kitchen culture, and how restaurants can evolve to become spaces for social change on Episode 139: Cooking with Purpose with Raphaël Reynard.
Tune in and LEARN:
- Building Community through Food: Discover how Chaleur uses shared tables, trust, and food as a social connector to bring together people from vastly different backgrounds, breaking down stereotypes and fostering genuine human connection.
- Why Place Matters in Socially Engaged Gastronomy: Learn how Marseille’s social and economic realities shaped Chaleur’s model. Hear why Raphaël believes understanding your city is essential when building purpose-driven food businesses.
- Creativity through Rescued Ingredients: Explore how working with rescued ingredients pushes culinary boundaries and serves as inspiration for Raphaël and his team.
Resources
“Eating is the best moment to connect with eachother. We use it as an excuse to make it a link between people who wouldn’t otherwise meet.”
Food as a Tool for Social Connection
At Raphaël’s restaurant Chaleur, by seating guests from different social and economic backgrounds at the same tables, the restaurant creates space for conversations and understanding. Over time, these shared meals help dismantle clichés around precarity and homelessness, offering a different way of seeing one another. In a city like Marseille, France, where social inequality is part of daily life, Chaleur demonstrates how restaurants can respond meaningfully to their environment and play an active role in strengthening community ties.
Watch the episode:
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Raphaël for joining us. Follow Chaleur on Instagram to learn more.
World on a Plate is supported by Nestlé Professional and Electrolux Food Foundation.
