Recipes for change - BANNER

Recipes for change

Finding common ground and tackling climate change through food

Recipes for Change is a collection of recipes from IFAD projects around the world that bring you a taste of other people’s lives through the food they eat—from the Hong family in the Mekong Delta to the Bibutsuwahoze family in Rwanda.

A select group of chefs add extra flavour to these recipes, linking farmers and consumers and creating meals from crops. Recipes for Change chefs tackle barriers to equitable and environmentally friendly food systems by thinking globally and acting locally.

These recipes also examine the devastating impacts the climate crisis is having on rural communities and the essential ingredients they cook with, while calling attention to the adaptation solutions that IFAD offers. Through Recipes for Change, IFAD encourages consumers to buy more sustainably, chefs to cook smarter, and donors to commit to the eradication of rural poverty.

Did you know?

  • One in three people are dependent on smallholder farms for their food security.
  • Smallholder farmers are often located on marginal lands where the impacts of climate change are more strongly felt, reducing crop yields and incomes.
  • Adaptation to climate change increases smallholders' food security and income.

 

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Meet the chefs

Our recipes

Our recipes

Recipes for Change: Rice and beans with jackfruit meat and sautéed vegetables

June 2022 - STORY
The main element in Chef Gil’s vegan dish is jackfruit, a truly sustainable crop. Calorie-dense and nutrient-rich, jackfruit are known for their nutritive value and their resilience against climatic shifts. With a unique texture akin to pulled pork, their versatility in the kitchen is unmatched.

Recipes for Change: Cricket japchae

June 2022 - STORY
Japchae is a traditional Korean dish known for its versatility. Chef Yoon’s version features crickets, a superfood packed with essential nutrients. If you’re looking for a new source of protein with almost no greenhouse gas emissions – or you’re just feeling adventurous – give this recipe a try.

Recipes for Change: Millet upma & jackfruit curry

June 2022 - STORY
Millets – grain-producing grasses that can be found on farms all over the world – were at risk of being forgotten entirely amid the rise of industrial agriculture. They’ve made a comeback in recent years, thanks to a growing awareness of their nutritional and environmental benefits among farmers, chefs and consumers.

Our blogs

Our blogs

Good food and good stories: A conversation with Chef Thomas Zacharias

June 2022 - BLOG
Chef Thomas Zacharias is a big fan of storytelling as a way to get people interested in fixing our food systems. We caught up with him to learn more about what drives him to tell the stories of the farmers he’s met and to champion local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients.

What it means to make “good” food: A conversation with Chef Dhondy

June 2022 - BLOG
Chef Anahita Dhondy is a passionate advocate for Parsi food – the rich cuisine of India’s Zoroastrian community to which she belongs – as well as for the use of local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients. We recently caught up with her to hear more about her work in and out of the kitchen.

Building a bay, one oyster at a time: A conversation with Chef Rob Rubba

March 2022 - BLOG
“At the end of the day, restaurants are a luxury, but having food is a right. Everyone should have access to food.”

Our videos

Our videos

Chef Cracco on how jackfruit is helping rural people in Sri Lanka adapt to climate change

April 2022 - VIDEO
Carlo Cracco, one of Italy’s most famous chefs, is helping IFAD promote jackfruit as a way to adapt to climate change in rural Sri Lanka.

Wishing you season’s greetings from Recipes for Change

December 2020 - VIDEO
Our Recipes for Change chefs Ska Moteane, Lance Seeto, Bela Gil, Pierre Thiam and Mariah Gladstone shared with us their festive wishes for the Recipes for Change community and IFAD in the holiday season.

Thank you, “cocoa doctors”

July 2020 - VIDEO
Chocolate comes in many different forms and varieties, but it always needs one vital ingredient: cocoa. But a decade ago, it was predicted that, by 2020, the world would have a cocoa shortfall of one million tonnes a year.