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Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow: Worldchefs’ Reflections from the World Food Forum 2026

Post author By Sara Giovenzana
Post date October 28, 2026

Photos: Gian Luca Pallai

Seeds kept in 800-year-old pots, a banana blossom rescued from an urban farm, wild rice from the Great Lakes: at the World Food Forum 2026, young chefs showed the world’s food leaders what is already cooking.

Every October, Rome becomes a meeting point for the future of food. During the World Food Forum flagship event, scientists, policymakers, investors and young leaders fill the headquarters of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to tackle one challenge, summed up this year in four words: “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.”

Among those young leaders was a group of chefs. Through the Young Chefs Programme (YCP), run by theWorld Food Forum in collaboration with Worldchefs, they had spent the past year working with mentors on projects in their own communities: reviving forgotten grains, cutting food waste, keeping culinary traditions alive. In Rome, across three sessions led by Worldchefs and its partners, they brought that work to the stage.

The last of those sessions ended with a signature. On World Food Day, FAO and Worldchefs agreed to take the Young Chefs Programme from a single international cohort to national programmes around the world. From 2027, young chefs in many more countries will be able to find a mentor, join masterclasses and follow an FAO-developed curriculum close to home.

Lessons from the Front Row: Reflections on the World Food Forum

For a closer look at the week, we turned to those who lived it from the inside, from the pavilion stage to the signing table.

Chef Andy Cuthbert, President, Worldchefs

You began your career as a 16-year-old washing dishes in Melbourne. What went through your mind as you listened to the 2026 Young Chefs Programme cohort present their projects?

I was completely humbled. I started out washing dishes in Melbourne at sixteen, became a cook, and there I was at FAO, representing Worldchefs and listening to these young chefs. I can only take my hat off to them. The depth they spoke with was remarkable, from ancient seeds to fermentation to the work they do for their own communities.

And they aren’t waiting to be asked. They’re already going into schools, teaching children online, foraging for ingredients. They hold the local knowledge, and they have the insight to start conversations on a global scale. Seeing them in the front row, right where they belong, leading the way, fills me with hope.

You closed the Custodians of Food Heritage session by signing a new agreement with FAO. Why does this partnership matter for Worldchefs?

It matters a great deal. We need to work with like-minded people, and we need a voice that can be heard around the world. As the Young Chefs Programme moves into its next phase, there is no better place to begin than Rome. After all, all roads lead to Rome.

We hope the partnership will bring more knowledge and more people into the programme. But for me, as President of Worldchefs, the most important thing it brings is awareness, and hopefully more young people choosing our industry. We talk a lot about sustainability and food waste, but what about the sustainability of hospitality itself, from the farmer all the way to the cook in the kitchen?

Training young cooks has been part of Worldchefs’ purpose since our founding in 1928. On 12 October 2028, we will celebrate our centenary at the Sorbonne in Paris, and I want all these young chefs with us for the next hundred years.

What is the one message you want every young chef to take back to their kitchen?

We keep talking about the “young chefs of the future.” They’re not the future. Young chefs are now. If we want everything we heard in Rome to happen, we have to involve the people who will make it happen, and support them in every way we can to turn their dreams into reality.

Food is what brings us together. Not politics, not religion, but food. On our own, each of us holds only a little food knowledge, but a room full of young chefs can multiply it many times over. We need to keep showing the world what collaboration makes possible.

Food is what brings us together. Not politics, not religion, but food. On our own, each of us holds only a little food knowledge, but a room full of young chefs can multiply it many times over.

Chef Andy Cuthbert, President, Worldchefs

Connie Lau, Deputy Managing Director, Worldchefs

What was the highlight of your week in Rome?

Spending a week surrounded by passionate young chefs was a real joy! At the Biocultural Diversity and Food Heritage Pavilion, we brought together young chefs, culinary professionals and partners from different countries, giving them a platform to share their stories, experiences and ideas.

There were several special moments. After months of working closely with our FAO colleagues and the Young Chefs Committee, seeing Worldchefs and FAO officially sign our agreement to expand the Young Chefs Programme was a proud milestone.
I was also delighted to showcase Cook4Climate, part of the EU-funded FoodChoices4LIFE project, which offers free resources and practical ways to encourage healthier, more sustainable food choices. It was equally rewarding to bring our partners, EUFIC and the Electrolux Food Foundation, into the conversation to share their initiatives and demonstrate how collaboration can create positive impact across the culinary industry and beyond.

But what touched me most was seeing young chefs take the main stage, sharing their own projects and the difference they are already making in their communities. It reminded me why investing in people matters so much.

At the Young Chefs Shaping the Future of Food session, your message was simple: act now. What does that look like in practice?

Everyone has a role to play in building better food systems, but no one can do it alone.

For me, it starts with connecting people, bringing different sectors together, trusting science and evidence, and most importantly, turning conversations into action. That means creating real opportunities for young chefs through education, mentorship, international exchange and partnerships. It also means connecting their ideas with the right people and resources to help make them happen.

We often talk about investing in technology and innovation, but we must not forget to invest in our most valuable resource: people.

What would you like to say to the young chefs who joined us in Rome, and to those who will join the programme next?

I want them to know that we are in their corner. Their voices and ideas matter, and they are already making a difference today.

At Worldchefs, we want to help open doors, connect them with opportunities and support them in achieving their ambitions.

We all have our own dreams. Believe it or not, we also have the power to help someone else’s dream come true.

And that, to me, is what makes this work so meaningful.

We often talk about investing in technology and innovation, but we must not forget to invest in our most valuable resource: people.

Connie Lau, Deputy Managing Director, Worldchefs

Ajla Dunga, Project Officer, Worldchefs

You co-moderated Young Chefs Shaping the Future of Food with FAO. What did the discussion focus on?

It was inspiring to hear from such passionate voices across different sectors, each bringing a wealth of experience: Kazuki Kitaoka and David Laborde from FAO, Sara Roversi of the Future Food Institute, YCP chef Mahalia Wilson and Cosimo Scarano of the Electrolux Food Foundation.

The roundtable looked at how chefs can help make big issues like the cost of a healthy diet and malnutrition easier for people to grasp, and how they can be part of the solution. We were clear that chefs can’t be expected to solve these problems on their own, but there is always room for them to get involved, whether by working with ministries to shape policy or by serving nutritious food that helps fight malnutrition.

To create a bigger impact, though, young chefs, and young people in general, need the right tools and partnerships. Providing those tools is what the Youth and Women Office has been doing, and building lasting partnerships was a key thread of the session. We also discussed how a young chef can realistically take an idea and grow it into a well-established project.

Nine Chefs, Nine Plates: The Young Chefs Programme Recipe Book

If our team’s reflections kept returning to one idea, it is that young chefs are already doing the work. Their recipe book is the proof you can taste.

The nine chefs behind it belong to the 2026 cohort of the Young Chefs Programme, many of whom presented their work in Rome. Over the past year, each worked with a Worldchefs mentor to turn a challenge in their own community into a project, and into a dish. The result is the YCP Recipe Book: a journey from Dakar to the Great Lakes, built around ingredients that communities grow, forage or fish, but that the wider world too often overlooks.

Every recipe also introduces the people who keep those ingredients alive: the farmers, foragers, fishers and processors whose knowledge comes with every plate.

Dish	Chef	Origin	Hero ingredient	Course
Banana Heart and Lump Crab Cake with “Ginataang Puso ng Saging” Curry	Safa Nessmarie Rodas	Philippines / Macao	Banana blossom	Main
Black & Green Tagliolini, Sake, Seaweed and Shōchū	Leonardo Ortolani	Italy (Rome)	Spelt and einkorn	Main
Taste of the Lake Soup	Derek Nicholas	USA, Great Lakes Region	Manoomin (wild rice)	Soup
Ugba with Tigernut-Creamed Millet and Greens	Eniola Grace Okeola	Nigeria	Millet, tigernut, ugba	Main
Ackee, Callaloo & Sweet Potato Bowl	Mahalia Wilson	Jamaica	Ackee and callaloo	Main
Sorghum Amaranth with Grilled Sardines and Citrus Coconut Sauce	Lihle Mahambehlala	South Africa	Sorghum and amaranth	Main
Spicy Chorizo Prawn Croissant	Daniel Chio	Macau, China	Surplus croissants	Main
Fonio Temaki Roll	Ndagou Ndiaye	Senegal	Fonio	Appetizer
Pine Ice Cream	Rebecca van Bommel	Canada	Pine syrup and pine tea	Dessert

Old grains, new pride

Some of Africa’s oldest grains have spent too long labelled as hardship food. Three chefs serve them with pride. Ndagou Ndiaye rolls fonio into a Senegalese temaki, brightened with mango and a hibiscus (bissap) sauce. Lihle Mahambehlala plates sorghum as a whole grain beside amaranth leaves — a weed to many — and sardines charred on the braai. And Chef Neeola (Eniola Okeola) coaxes millet into something close to a risotto, creamy with tigernut milk and glossed with atili oil.

One kitchen’s scrap, another’s centrepiece

On an urban farm in Macao, Safa Nessmarie Rodas spotted a banana blossom nobody planned to eat and built crab cakes and a Filipino coconut curry around it. Across the city, Daniel Chio gave yesterday’s breakfast croissants a second life, co-creating a chorizo and prawn filling with participants at the Fuhong Society of Macau. In Rome, Leonardo Ortolani lets time do the work, fermenting kitchen scraps and market surplus into sake, garums and vinegars.

Plates that carry a history

Derek Nicholas’s Taste of the Lake Soup follows an Anishinaabeg prophecy to the food that grows on water: manoomin, the wild rice of the Great Lakes, with lotus root and a dusting of cattail pollen. Mahalia Wilson’s bowl tastes of Jamaican Sunday mornings — ackee, callaloo and gungo peas, chosen as much for iron and fibre as for heritage. And Rebecca van Bommel looks past the maple to Canada’s pines, drawing on the syrup-making traditions of Turtle Island for an ice cream that tastes of the forest.

The future of food will be shaped by decisions made in policy rooms, laboratories, farms, markets and kitchens. Chefs should be part of those conversations…

Chef Neeola, Young Chefs Programme 2026

Download the YCP Recipe Book (PDF) and bring one of these dishes into your kitchen. Read more about Chef Neeola’s work in our World Food Day interview.

From Rome to Your Country: National Young Chefs Programmes in 2027

From policy rooms in Rome to market stalls in Lagos, Kingston and Macao, this year’s World Food Forum made one thing clear: chefs are not only cooking the future of food, they are helping to decide it.

The next chapter opens in 2027, and it could open in your country. Those interested in establishing a National Young Chefs Programme can write to Culture@World-Food-Forum.org.

Our thanks to the team, our partners at FAO and the World Food Forum, and every young chef who joined us in Rome.

Explore more

About the Young Chefs Programme

The World Food Forum (WFF)’s Young Chefs Programme (YCP) equips chefs (aged 18-35) with skills, knowledge and networks to take a leading role in transforming agrifood systems through culinary practices. From advancing better nutrition to promoting food security and biodiversity, its ultimate goal is to create leaders that can inspire and guide other chefs to advocate for more sustainable and healthier consumption habits. Each participant is paired with a mentor from the World Association of Chefs’ Societies network.

About Worldchefs

The World Association of Chefs’ Societies, known as Worldchefs, is a federation made up of 110 national chef associations. A leading voice in the hospitality industry, Worldchefs carries years of history since its founding in 1928 at the Sorbonne by the venerable Auguste Escoffier.

Representing a mobilized international membership of culinary professionals, Worldchefs is committed to advancing the profession and leveraging the influence of the chef jacket for the betterment of the industry and humanity at large.

Worldchefs is dedicated to raising culinary standards and social awareness through these core focus areas:

Education – Worldchefs offers support for education and professional development through the landmark Worldchefs Academy online training program, a diverse network of Worldchefs Education Partners and curriculum, and the world’s first Global Culinary Certification recognizing on-the-job skills in hospitality;
Networking – Worldchefs connects culinary professionals around the world through their online community platform and provides a gateway for industry networking opportunities through endorsed events and the biennial Worldchefs Congress & Expo;
Competition – Worldchefs sets global standards for competition rules, provides Competition Seminars and assurance of Worldchefs Certified Judges, and operates the Worldchefs Global Championships;
Humanitarianism & Sustainability – Worldchefs Feed the Planet and World Chefs Without Borders programs relieve food poverty, deliver crisis support, and promote sustainability across the globe.

Credits

Sincere thanks to Andy Cuthbert, Connie Lau and Ajla Dunga for their reflections, and to the 2026 YCP cohort for their recipes.

WFF Flagship Event 2026 Photos: Gian Luca Pallai

Tags #ThisIsWorldchefs, World Food Forum, Young Chefs Programme

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Giving Food Heritage a Future: Chef Neeola on the Young Chefs Programme & Reclaiming Indigenous Ingredients

Post author By Clare Crowe Pettersson
Post date October 16, 2026

Championing indigenous ingredients with Young Chefs Programme’s Eniola Okeola

To celebrate World Food Day and the International Year of the Woman Farmer, we caught up with Young Chef Programme’s Eniola Okeola (Chef Neeola) en route to Rome for the World Food Forum’s flagship event.

A Nigerian chef, writer, and food advocate working at the intersection of culinary heritage, biodiversity and sustainable food systems, Chef Neeola explores how culinary practice can strengthen local food systems and preserve indigenous food knowledge.

As part of the our 2026 Young Chefs Programme cohort, Eniola is developing Reclaiming Indigenous Fats and Oils for Sustainable Nigerian Food Systems, a project exploring the culinary use of indigenous fats, particularly shea butter, and creating new connections between women producers, chefs, and consumers.

In this interview, we hear how she is bringing indigenous fats back into contemporary kitchens and advocating for new pathways to support the people behind the ingredients.

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of shea in the world, yet it’s often missing from urban kitchens. When did you first become aware of this gap, and what inspired you to put indigenous fats like shea butter and Atili oil at the center of your cooking?

My interest in indigenous fats and oils started with curiosity. Growing up in an urban environment, I was familiar with the fats and oils we used at home, but shea butter was not one of them. My mum had mentioned eating shea butter and I had met other people who cooked with it, but I had never really thought about its place in our food culture. I only began to understand the extent of the gap between its production and its use in urban kitchens when I started researching for this project.

Around the same time, I visited Òfìkì through a Slow Food Farms project. I had been told that shea trees grew there and that shea butter was produced in the community, but I learnt that production had moved to neighbouring Tédé. I saw the trees in Òfìkì and eventually visited Tédé, which further deepened my interest in the ingredient and its significance to these communities.

The more I researched, the more I wanted to understand how an ingredient so deeply rooted in some communities could be largely absent from the everyday cooking of many urban Nigerians. I was also drawn to the history of Òfìkì and Tédé and the importance of shea butter and Atili oil in their food cultures.

This curiosity led to my project, “Reclaiming Indigenous Fats and Oils for Sustainable Nigerian Food Systems”. My work currently focuses on shea butter, while Atili oil remains part of the wider scope of my interest. I want to explore how we can bring these indigenous fats back into contemporary kitchens, reconnect consumers with their culinary heritage, and create greater appreciation for the people and knowledge behind their production.

You’ve worked with shea-producing communities, chefs, and urban consumers. What has been the most rewarding moment so far, and what have rural women producers taught you that has shaped your approach?

Every part of this journey has been rewarding, but one of the things I find most satisfying is being able to connect urban consumers and chefs with the women who produce shea butter. Many of these women supply companies and industries that use shea butter for cosmetics, so creating another pathway through culinary use, even on a smaller scale, has been encouraging. I am beginning to see chefs and individual consumers patronise them, their customer base grow, and the knowledge they have shared with me reach new audiences.

During one of my conversations with Alhaja Ajarat, a shea butter producer in Tedé, she spoke about how delicious shea butter was in their food and how it was one of their major cooking fats. She also expressed how much she would love to see younger generations use it more in cooking and that stayed with me because it reminded me that beyond introducing an ingredient to people who are unfamiliar with it, it is about helping to sustain a food culture that the producers themselves value. Although the demand for culinary shea butter is still small compared with its use in cosmetics, seeing people begin to explore it as food and purchase directly from the producers is a meaningful step.

The women have also taught me the importance of listening to the people who have worked with an ingredient long before I became interested in it. As a chef, it is easy to approach an ingredient through its culinary possibilities, thinking about what I can create with it or how I can introduce it to new audiences. However, speaking with producers has helped me appreciate the knowledge, experience and history that already exist around it. I have learnt that my role is also to help make existing knowledge more visible, connect it with new audiences and ensure that the women behind the ingredient are part of the opportunities that follow.

As a chef, it is easy to approach an ingredient through its culinary possibilities, thinking about what I can create with it or how I can introduce it to new audiences. However, speaking with producers has helped me appreciate the knowledge, experience and history that already exist around it. I have learnt that my role is also to help make existing knowledge more visible, connect it with new audiences and ensure that the women behind the ingredient are part of the opportunities that follow.
Chef Neeola

The Young Chefs Programme paired you with your mentor, Suhair Kilani, expert masterclasses, and an international platform. How has that support helped you grow, and what has it unlocked for your project?

Being paired with Dr. Suhair Kilani has been one of the most valuable parts of the Young Chefs Programme for me. She has been incredibly supportive, checking in on my progress, encouraging me, helping me think through my research and offering practical advice on how to move the project forward. Having someone who takes a genuine interest in what you are building and continues to cheer you on makes a difference, especially when you are still figuring things out and learning as you go. I feel very fortunate to have her as my mentor.

Another significant outcome has been the opportunity to take this work into wider conversations. The international exposure has been significant. It has opened up opportunities to speak on international platforms both physically and virtually, like the African Food Systems Forum in Kigali and the World Food Forum Flagship event. It has also helped me connect with people working across food systems and think more seriously about what the project could become. I have been able to take my work beyond Nigeria and introduce people from different backgrounds to indigenous Nigerian fats, particularly shea butter, and its culinary uses beyond cosmetics. These experiences have helped me see how a project rooted in a local food culture can contribute to wider conversations about biodiversity, food heritage and sustainable food systems.

The programme has also helped me move from having an idea I was curious about to implementing activities and securing grant support for the project. Beyond the visibility, I have grown in confidence and become more deliberate about how I communicate my work and the change I hope it can contribute to. For me, that has been one of the biggest things the programme has unlocked.

At the World Food Forum flagship event in Rome this October, what do you want policymakers, scientists, and investors room to take away from a young chef’s perspective, and what would you ask that they prioritize when they go back to their offices and boardrooms?

When policymakers, scientists and investors return to their offices and boardrooms, I would like them to consider these three questions:

How can we strengthen existing efforts to preserve and promote local ingredients and food traditions that risk being undervalued or lost?
How can we ensure that the producers and communities sustaining them benefit from the value their work creates, while also making room for chefs and young food professionals to contribute to the policies and decisions shaping these food systems?
And what practical investments can help bring these ingredients into more of our everyday kitchens?

From my perspective as a young chef, we already have people doing important work to champion indigenous ingredients and preserve food traditions. The opportunity now is to build on that work and create more pathways for it to have a wider impact. We need to recognise that chefs contribute to food systems beyond cooking. Through our work with ingredients, producers, businesses and consumers, we can influence what people value, what they eat and what creates demand across the food chain.

I would therefore encourage greater investment in women-led food value chains and initiatives that connect producers with chefs, researchers and businesses. I would also like to see policies and funding mechanisms that allow young chefs and other food professionals to contribute to research, innovation and decision making, rather than limiting our participation to advocacy events and cooking demonstrations.

The future of food will be shaped by decisions made in policy rooms, laboratories, farms, markets and kitchens. Chefs should be part of those conversations, alongside the producers and communities whose knowledge sustains our food systems.

You’re putting the 2026 World Food Forum theme into action in your project, reclaiming indigenous fats and oils for sustainable Nigerian food systems through field documentation, sensory tasting sessions, and culinary activation. As someone who is helping to design the future now, what does ‘Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.’ mean to you?

To me, “Innovate today. Nourishing tomorrow” means finding ways to make the knowledge, ingredients and food traditions we have today relevant to the generations that come after us. Innovation should not always mean looking for something entirely new. It should also mean looking at what we already have, understanding its value, and finding new ways to use it to meet the needs of the present and the future.

I am exploring how indigenous fats can be brought into contemporary kitchens and become part of how people cook and eat today. However, I believe this must go beyond creating new recipes or encouraging people to use these ingredients. We also need to understand their nutritional properties and communicate them accurately, so that people can make informed choices about what they eat.

Lastly, innovation should also consider the people who have sustained its use; the knowledge they carry, the food cultures it belongs to and the possibilities it holds for the future. If we can build on that knowledge, make it relevant to new generations and ensure that these ingredients continue to nourish us, then we are preserving our food heritage and giving it a future.

My advice would be to start with what you have, stay curious about the food cultures around you, and do not underestimate the influence you can have as a chef. The ingredients we choose, the people we source from and the stories we tell through our food all influence how people eat and what they learn to value.

For women in particular, I would say that our knowledge and experience deserve a place in conversations that shape our food systems. We can contribute beyond the kitchen, whether through research, community initiatives, entrepreneurship or policy discussions. We do not have to know everything before we begin, but we must be willing to learn, collaborate and create opportunities for other women along the way.

For anyone looking to get started, I recommend a few resources:

Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: Insights on Sustainability and Resilience from the Front Line of Climate Change, published by FAO and its partners, explores traditional knowledge, biodiversity and sustainable food systems.
The FAO publication Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: The Many Dimensions of Culture, Diversity and Environment for Nutrition and Health is also worth exploring.
Slow Food’s Ark of Taste is a useful reference for understanding how traditional food products, their histories and the people who sustain them can be documented and promoted.
I recommend Slow Food and Terra Madre, the World Food Forum Young Chefs Programme, and the Chefs’ Manifesto for learning, collaboration and practical ways to connect culinary work with biodiversity and sustainable food systems.

Beyond these resources, speak to farmers, processors, market traders and home cooks; acknowledge the people who share that knowledge. Build relationships with producers and understand where your ingredients come from. Most importantly, look for ways to turn what you learn into action, whether by introducing indigenous ingredients to your menus, creating demand for local produce or helping pass traditional food knowledge on to younger generations.

The future of food will be shaped by decisions made in policy rooms, laboratories, farms, markets and kitchens. Chefs should be part of those conversations, alongside the producers and communities whose knowledge sustains our food systems.

Follow Chef Neeola on:

About Eniola Grace Okeola

Eniola Okeola, (Chef Neeola), is a Nigerian chef, writer and food advocate working at the intersection of culinary heritage, biodiversity and sustainable food systems.

Professionally trained in culinary arts and patisserie, she worked her way from intern to commis chef, specializing in pastry while gaining experience across both hot and cold kitchen operations. She also managed her restaurant’s garden for a period, ensuring the availability of edible flowers and microgreens for its menus. She has since expanded her work beyond the kitchen to explore how culinary practice can strengthen local food systems and preserve indigenous food knowledge.

A 2026 participant in the World Food Forum Young Chefs Programme, Eniola is developing Reclaiming Indigenous Fats and Oils for Sustainable Nigerian Food Systems, a project exploring the culinary use of indigenous fats, particularly shea butter, and creating new connections between women producers, chefs and consumers. She also coordinates the Slow Food Cooks Alliance Nigeria, championing indigenous ingredients, food traditions and the people who sustain them.

Credits

Sincere thanks to Eniola for this interview.

Written by Clare Crowe Pettersson.

Tags #ThisIsWorldchefs, Culinary Training, Feed the Planet, Learning and Career, Sustainability, World Food Forum, Young Chefs Programe

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Seeds kept in 800-year-old pots, a banana blossom rescued from an urban farm, wild rice from the Great Lakes: at the World Food Forum 2026, young chefs showed the world’s food leaders what is already cooking.

Lessons from the Front Row: Reflections on the World Food Forum

Chef Andy Cuthbert, President, Worldchefs

You began your career as a 16-year-old washing dishes in Melbourne. What went through your mind as you listened to the 2026 Young Chefs Programme cohort present their projects?

You closed the Custodians of Food Heritage session by signing a new agreement with FAO. Why does this partnership matter for Worldchefs?

What is the one message you want every young chef to take back to their kitchen?

Connie Lau, Deputy Managing Director, Worldchefs

What was the highlight of your week in Rome?

At the Young Chefs Shaping the Future of Food session, your message was simple: act now. What does that look like in practice?

What would you like to say to the young chefs who joined us in Rome, and to those who will join the programme next?

Ajla Dunga, Project Officer, Worldchefs

You co-moderated Young Chefs Shaping the Future of Food with FAO. What did the discussion focus on?

Nine Chefs, Nine Plates: The Young Chefs Programme Recipe Book

Old grains, new pride

One kitchen’s scrap, another’s centrepiece

Plates that carry a history

From Rome to Your Country: National Young Chefs Programmes in 2027

About the Young Chefs Programme

About Worldchefs

Credits

Championing indigenous ingredients with Young Chefs Programme’s Eniola Okeola

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of shea in the world, yet it’s often missing from urban kitchens. When did you first become aware of this gap, and what inspired you to put indigenous fats like shea butter and Atili oil at the center of your cooking?

You’ve worked with shea-producing communities, chefs, and urban consumers. What has been the most rewarding moment so far, and what have rural women producers taught you that has shaped your approach?

The Young Chefs Programme paired you with your mentor, Suhair Kilani, expert masterclasses, and an international platform. How has that support helped you grow, and what has it unlocked for your project?

At the World Food Forum flagship event in Rome this October, what do you want policymakers, scientists, and investors room to take away from a young chef’s perspective, and what would you ask that they prioritize when they go back to their offices and boardrooms?

About Eniola Grace Okeola

Credits

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- Qualifiers coming soon

- Judges coming soon

- Worldchefs Culinary Rules & Handbook

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