We, the participants of the African Chefs’ Gathering and Policy Convening on African Food Systems, representing 23 countries across the continent have come together in a spirit of unity, purpose, and solidarity to issue this collective declaration.
- Celebrating Our Heritage
We affirm the beauty, dignity, and sacredness of African food systems, which have nourished bodies, sustained cultures, and connected communities across generations.
We celebrate:
- The integral role of indigenous foods in ceremonies, healing practices, and spiritual life.
- Traditional dishes, that have carried ancestral wisdom and nourishment.
- Food rituals that honour ancestors, foster community cohesion, and protect biodiversity.
- Culinary festivals, traditions, and media campaigns that promote pride in “eating African.”
- The ecological knowledge embedded in seasonal cycles, communal preparation, and sacred farming rhythms.
- The work of chefs, elders, and communities who innovate while remaining rooted in cultural identity.
- Youth-led enterprises and creative adaptations of African fast food that honour local ingredients and stories.
- Acknowledging Our Challenges
While we honour our food heritage, we also confront the profound challenges threatening its survival and vitality.
We acknowledge:
- The increasing disconnection of youth from food traditions, often perceiving farming and cooking as punishment.
- Culinary education systems that marginalize African knowledge and elevate Eurocentric practices.
- Structural exclusion of African cuisine in global gastronomy and mainstream markets.
- The effects of climate change, land degradation, and policy neglect on seed sovereignty and traditional crops.
- The persistence of colonial narratives and extractive development models that erode our food cultures.
- Policy contradictions where agroecology is embraced rhetorically but sidelined in practice.
- Infrastructural gaps, lack of cold storage, poor transport, insufficient investment, that disadvantage chefs and small producers.
- A deep-rooted social stigma that portrays African food as inferior or unfit for modern hospitality settings.
- Recognising Our Opportunities
Despite the challenges, we see immense possibilities for restoration, revival, and reimagination of African food systems.
We envision:
- Strengthening intergenerational knowledge through schools, culinary networks, and digital storytelling platforms.
- Documenting and celebrating ancestral food wisdom via cookbooks, media, and food festivals.
- Policy innovations that prioritise local sourcing, seed protection, and community-led research.
- Empowerment of women and youth as central agents of agroecological and culinary transformation.
- Framing African food systems as scientific, sustainable, and adaptable to contemporary needs.
- Strengthening regional collaboration between chefs, policymakers, researchers, and cultural institutions.
- Institutionalizing continental platforms, such as an “African Culinary Day” and national culinary roadmaps.
- Reforming educational curricula to decolonise knowledge and uplift African food traditions.
- Our Commitments and Calls to Action
We commit ourselves to:
- Centre African values of sharing, dignity, and healing in all our food systems work.
- Challenge dominant narratives and advocate for food sovereignty in policy, media, and education.
- Foster regional collaborations that amplify culinary knowledge, seed diversity, and inter-African exchange.
- Champion inclusive curriculum reforms that elevate African foodways in culinary and agricultural education.
- Support storytelling that uplifts local chefs, farmers, and food healers as guardians of our heritage.
- Demand the implementation—not merely the drafting—of national and regional food sovereignty policies.
- Call on African legislators to harmonise climate, agriculture, and education policies with indigenous food systems.
- Protect small-scale producers and culinary traditions from exploitative external influences.
- Promote public and private investment in community-based chefs, food innovators, and cultural food hubs.
- A Living Declaration
We leave this gathering with a united spirit, a shared purpose, and a collective vision to nourish Africa through our hands, our hearts, and our heritage. We move forward rooted in ancestral knowledge, cultural pride, and the unwavering belief that African food systems are not only a legacy but a future.
Let this declaration not be words on a page, but a living commitment, moving from our kitchens and farms to policies and classrooms, from the stories we tell to the futures we shape.
