Redefining Sustainability

Italy

Antonia KLUGMANN

Fifteen years ago Antonia Klugmann left her studies of Law at the University of Milan, to go back to her native region in order to try to become a cook.

After five years of apprentice, she opened her first restaurant in 2006 close to Udine, in Friuli Venezia Giulia region. In 2010 she bought together with her husband a piece of land in Dolegna del Collio and they started building their dream restaurant. It took them four years. Meantime she worked for  two years  in Venice where she earn a Michelin star.

Restaurant “L’argine a Vencò” opened its doors at the end of 2014. Located in the countryside, on the border with Slovenia, the building is a modern synergy between wood and glass, next to an old stone mill that dates back to the end of 1600.

During its first year, the restaurant was awarded with one Michelin star (that it holds since), with the Premio Novità (best newcomer) by the Italian magazine “Gambero Rosso” and ranked 16/20 points by the Guida “Espresso”.

She was nominated as “Chef of the year” at  the Italian congress “Identità Golose” and she took part to Masterchef Italy as a guest judge.

Antonia was awarded as “Best woman Chef 2017” by the “Espresso” Guide.

Slovenia

Ana ROŠ

‎In Kobarid, a small village in Slovenia close to the border with Italy, Ana Roš runs the Hiša Franko restaurant together with her husband and sommelier Valter Kramar.

Entirely self-taught, her has developed an eclectic cooking style, combining an avant-garde approach with local and seasonal ingredients from her home country. 

She was recently recognised, among others, by the Slovenian state president for her achievements as a culinary ambassador of her country. 

Ana is fluent in five languages and has a degree in diplomatic studies.

She was awarded as “2017 Best Female chef in the world” by “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”.

Catalunya

Fina PUIGDEVALL

Since May 1990 Fina Puigdevall has been managing the Restaurant “Les Cols” in Olot, her own birthplace.

The culinary proposals which this restaurant offer are rooted in the land and the landscape surrounding it. For this reason Puigdevall has initiated a process of research and recuperation from the area’s traditional vegetable growing. She works with a very particular vision of products which we can find in the Garrotxa area: buckwheat, the Vall d’en Bas potato, sweetcorn, poultry (chicken and duck), “fesols de Santa Pau” (a small white bean), ratafia, the Olot “tortell” (a kind of ringshaped cake or doughnut), pork and sausages, wild river trout, snails, wild boar, truffles, sweet chestnuts, turnips, wild mushrooms, herbs and even flower.

She likes to offer the most intimate and familiar but with an up-to-date language. The philosophy that has inspired the architectural refurbishment of the restaurant is the same philosophy that inspires her cuisine.

“Les Cols” is awarded with 2 Michelin stars.

Ireland

Dr. Lynn Gilmore

Dr Lynn Gilmore is a marine biologist working with the seafood industry in Northern Ireland.

Her role is varied working with all sectors of the industry from fishermen, processors and aquaculture producers to fishmongers, Fish and Chip shops and seafood restaurants for a sustainable, profitable and socially responsible future.

A keen cook, who likes to catch, forage and hunt for local seafood, seaweeds and game, Lynn also judges the Irish Quality Food Awards and the Seafish National Fish and Chip Awards; appears on local radio and writes regularly for the fishing and aquaculture press.

She holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in aquaculture of Palmaria palmata (an edible seaweed) from Queens University Belfast.

United Nations

Dr. Cristina FRANCHINI

Cristina Franchini holds a law degree and a PHD in international law.

She started working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2007, as a legal officer, at the beginning in the area of arrivals by sea and reception of asylum seekers and then, for many years, in the Italian procedure for the determination of international protection.

Now she works for UNHCR in the area of communication and external relations.

Denmark

Dr. Afton HALLORAN

Dr. Afton Halloran is a Canadian researcher at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen. She is a part of the GREEiNSECT research group (www.greeinsect.ku.dk), a group of public and private institutions investigating how insects can be utilized as a source of food and animal feed in Kenya. 

Her research focuses on the socio-economic, nutritional, and environmental impacts of cricket farming in Thailand and Kenya. She formally worked as a consultant with the Insects for Food and Feed Programme at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. 

She is a co-author of the FAO’s most popular publication “Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security”.

Afton holds a BSc (honours) in Global Resource Systems from the University of British Columbia, Canada and a MSc in Agricultural Development from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 

USA

Dominique CRENN

Dominique Crenn transforms memories into food in her poetic, modernist and imaginative restaurant, Atelier Crenn, which was the first restaurant with a female head chef to be awarded with two Michelin stars in the USA.

She lectures widely, including at Harvard, and attends many conferences all over the world.

Dominique Crenn received the “2015 Augie Leadership Award” from the Culinary Institute of America and she was awarded as “2016 Best Female chef in the world” by “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”.

She holds a degree in Business and Administration.

Turkey

Mehmet GÜRS

Mehmet Gürs, chef and partner of 19 successful restaurants and cafés including the unique “Mikla”, one of the world’s 100 best restaurants by “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”.

He is credited by many to be the one “kicking off the contemporary restaurant scene in Istanbul” when he returned from the US to start his first restaurant in 1996. He is most known for his recent introduction of the visionary “New Anatolian Kitchen”.

In addition to Mikla, Gürs is running the casual restaurant chain “numnum café & restaurant”, the casual Italian eatery “Trattoria Enzo”, the innovative fresh casual self service restaurants “Terra Kitchen” and the groundbreaking “Kronotrop Coffee Bar & Roastery”. Kronotrop is considered the leader in the specialty coffee movement in Turkey. Its roasters and baristas are representing Turkey at the World finals for the past two years. Buzzfeed listed Kronotrop as one of the 25 coffee shops in the World to see before you die.

His company, the Istanbul Food & Beverage Group, continues to be at the forefront of the culinary world in Turkey.

South Africa

Margot Janse

Dutch born and self-taught chef Margot Janse moved to Zimbabwe in 1989. She started working in the kitchen of a well-known Johannesburg restaurant in 1992,  pursuing her dream of becoming a chef.

Margot has been the Executive Chef at the award winning, “Le Quartier Français” Hotel and “The Tasting Room” Restaurant in Franschhoek, South Africa for the last 21 years. She is known for her African inspired cuisine, celebrating the indigenous and often unknown ingredients of Southern Africa. Her surprise menu is presented by storytellers.

Margot started her charity Isabelo “Feeding Hungry Minds” in 2009 and now feeds 1300 children every school day within the village of Franschhoek.

“The Tasting Room” has been recognised as one of the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” for 12  consecutive years, with 4 years being “The Best Restaurant in Africa and the Middle East”.

USA

Kimberly JUNG

Kim is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rumi Spice, a for-profit social enterprise importing saffron from Afghan farmers.

By giving farmers access to markets and an alternative to growing opium, Rumi Spice hopes to lay a long-term foundation for peace in Afghanistan.

Before cofounding Rumi, Kim served as a U.S. Army Engineer Officer stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany. In 2010 she deployed with her platoon of soldiers to clear roads of IEDs and ambushes in eastern Afghanistan.

Kim is a graduate of West Point, Class of 2008, as a distinguished honor graduate.

In 2015, she earned her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kim is a Tillman Scholar, HBS Social Enterprise Fellow, ultra-marathoner, former Girl Scout troop leader, and volleyball player and coach.

Canada

Joshna Maharaj

Joshna Maharaj is a busy chef with big ideas about good food! 

Joshna’s strong social justice and sustainability ethics are rooted in her time at The Stop, a community food centre where she built innovative and delicious community food programs. Recently, Joshna has been working with institutions in Toronto building new models for institutional food procurement, production and service, proving that the institution is a viable tool for social change. Joshna is currently an expert panelist on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin and makes regular appearances on CBC radio. 

She is also a two-time TEDx speaker and recently made the shortlist of nominees for the inaugural Basque Culinary World Prize recognizing chefs who use gastronomy to make social change.

Joanna Savill

Joanna Savill is a longtime journalist and events director who specialises in food, travel and gastronomy. She has written for most major food publications in Australia, edited the country’s most prestigious restaurant guide and presented a long-running TV series on Australia’s many diverse food cultures, farmers and artisan producers.

She is widely known for her support of all aspects of the food and restaurant industry – from the farm to the table – and for her deep concern for our food future.

She has supported Parabere Forum since the first edition in Bilbao and is a strong champion of its objectives.

Catalunya

Joan ROCA

He was just 9 years old when he decided to put on a cooking coat and help his mother in the family traditional restaurant and house.

Nowadays he runs with own restaurant project along with his two brothers, Josep –sommelier- and Jordi – pastry chef. At El Celler de Can Roca, the authentic creative triangle formed by the three Roca brothers, keeps in continuous research committed to innovation and creativity, enhancing traditional flavors with cutting edge technics in an original balance.

Through a transversal vision of the creative process, his restaurant project dialogues and engages both with science and peasants, technology and sensitivity, product and sensorial anthropology.

El Celler de Can Roca is awarded with 3 Michelin stars and was voted “Best Restaurant in the World” in 2013 and 2015 by “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”.

Catalunya

Sara PEREZ

In 1996, after finishing her degree in Biology, Sara Pérez decided to return to the wine region of Priorat as a winemaker. 

There, under her father’s guidance, she took part in that year’s harvest and started the adventure in the “Cims de Porrera” winery.  Since then not only she has established herself in the Priorat county but also has been advising world renowned wineries especially on the subject of recovering the forgotten varieties. 

In 1999, jointly with her partner René Barbier, she launched the organically grown Venus La Universal wine which effectively has become her trade mark. 

Passionate about the native varieties,  Sara received her masters degree from the University of Barcelona in 2007. 

Brazil

Samantha AQUIM

For Samantha Aquim extraordinary creations are only born out of passion and tenacious work. Youngest of an award winning Brazilian catering family, Samantha is graduated originally in psychology assuming the head chef position at the family business after studying and training at the prestigious Ecole Lenôtre in Paris.

In 2009, Samantha started an endless and obstinate journey to discover the cocoa genesis in Brazil. That lead her to develop the prestigious Q0, and later the Q Collection. In 2013, she lectured at Harvard University (for the Academic Nutrition Department) on the Q Process, and exposed the Q0 box during the American Art Latin exhibition of Sotheby’s in New York.

In the same year, the packages of the Q Collection were awarded with the Bronze Lion at the Cannes Festival.

Brazil

Roberta Sudbrack

Sudbrack’s determination to make haute-cuisine with simple and local ingredients made dining at her former restaurant “Roberta Sudbrack” (Rio de Janeiro) one of the best experiences Brazil.

Her keyword is respect and her cuisine has only 3 ingredients: hands, fire and brains.

That says it all.

Roberta was the first chef cooking at Brazil’s presidential palace and her former restaurant “Roberta Sudbrack” was ranked N°25 in 2016 by the “Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants” and holded a Michelin star.

She was awarded as “2015 Best Latin American Female chef” by “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants”.

UK

Roberta SIAO & Niki KOPCKE

Nikandre Kopcke

Born in Berlin and raised in New York City, Nikandre uses food to practice feminism. She is a proud daughter of the Greek diaspora, raised and fed by women whose strength, resilience, and glorious cooking ignited her passions for food and gender equality. Nikandre is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and Sciences Po Paris, and holds an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics.

In 2012, inspired by her own Greek godmother’s immigrant story, Nikandre founded Mazí Mas, a roaming restaurant that celebrates the rich culinary legacies of migrant and refugee women in London. Mazí Mas came to life when Nikandre met Roberta Siao, whose indefatigable spirit and irresistible pão de queijo won her a place as one of Mazí Mas’ first chefs, and have fueled the company ever since.

Roberta Siao

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Roberta has been cooking since she was a child. Though her early career was spent working in a bank, food has always been her real passion, and working at Mazí Mas has allowed her to fuse her love of cooking with her commitment to the fight for women’s rights. Through her work as General Manager, Roberta has become a vocal advocate for the rights and visibility of immigrant mothers, and continues to help women translate their exceptional culinary ability into jobs, new opportunities, and wider social recognition.

Catalunya

Nani MORE

Nani Moré transformed the world of children’s diet with a pioneer project in Spain taking place at “Guarderia El Rial” (El Rial Pre-school). The project created a culinary concept that is economically competitive and socially responsible, boosting the local economy and increasing the consumption of fresh seasonal food among children.

The project l’Acte alimentari (The Alimentary Act) was awarded with the Frist Prize at the II Premi Escola, Agricultura i Alimentació Ecològica (Award given by the Government of Catalonia)

Director and scriptwriter of the documentary “El Plat o la vida” (Your plate or your life) on 2012 with the motto “the difference between filling up bellies and feeding people”.

Founder of the Catalan Association of organic dinners of Catalonia. Nani works with all the agents in the food chain (producers, managers, cooks, etc.) with the goal to achieve the necessary changes to transform the alimentary model promoting a healthy, sustainable and fair model.

Nani belongs to CHEF2020 a group of cooks networking across Spain with the MENÚ2020. Their goal is to Change the menu to Transform the model.