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: Jollof fonio with black-eyed peas

July 2024 - STORY

Black-eyed peas are not only an important ingredient in the local cuisine of The Gambia and Senegal – they are climate-resilient, too. Try them yourself with this delicious fonio recipe.

Recipes for Change: Nsima with chicken casserole and khobwe balls

February 2024 - STORY

Learn how to make a delicious and sustainable Malawian meal with these recipes collected from rural communities by Chef Sophie Grigson.

Recipes for Change: Stuffed vine leaves

August 2023 - STORY

Stuffed vine leaves are prevalent across much of the Middle East and the Mediterranean – in fact, there are countless variations of this dish.

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

Sophie Grigson on how diversifying crops in Malawi cultivates sustainability and resilience

February 2024 - VIDEO

IFAD Recipes for Change chef Sophie Grigson travelled to Malawi to meet local small-scale farmers who are fighting back against climate change by diversifying their crops.

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.

Recipes for Change: Ema Datshi & Millet Momos from Bhutan

December 2019 - VIDEO

In this episode of Recipes for Change, Italian celebrity chef, Carlo Cracco, is in Bhutan to find out how farmers are rediscovering traditional crops that can help them mitigate the impact that climate change is having on their staple cultivations.