
Talking Trade and Tasting Food for Better Nutrition
Fatmata Binta or Chef Binta as she likes to be called, hails from Sierra Leone. Her culinary practice is rooted in the Fulani people’s family and community cooking traditions. The first African to receive the Basque Culinary World Prize in 2022, Chef Binta is using the prize money to set-up the Fulani Kitchen Foundation - supporting women farmers and their cultivation of fonio, a type of millet that is resilient to climate change.
With her Dine-on-a-Mat project, Chef Binta combines her nomadic roots, classical training and love for rural life and nature, to create delicious modern dishes whilst maintaining the simplicity and authenticity of Fulani culture. For FAO, she has taken part in numerous projects related to millets, as well as the World Food Forum, successive World Food Days, Junior World Food Day and Sustainable Gastronomy Day.
Cristina Bowerman is an Italian chef, who still holds a Michelin star for her work at Glass Hostaria, Rome. Having studied foreign languages and law and worked as a graphic designer, she turned to food by enrolling at Le Cordon Bleu and studying culinary arts at the TXCA in Austin, Texas. Cristina returned to Italy - gaining practical cooking experience at Il Convivio Troiani, Rome - and joined Glass Hostaria in 2006. In 2010, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star (a recognition maintained to this day).
Cristina Bowerman’s commitment to sustainability and doing social good has been part of everything she has done professionally. In particular, she has championed women in the still male-dominated culinary world. She has received countless awards for her advocacy work, is a signatory of the Chef’s Manifesto (which aims to end hunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture) and, in 2021, contributed to fellow chef Massimo Bottura's Refettorio | Food for Soul initiative with the 'Barbie' project. Since 2016 she has sat on the commission for the creation of the Food Act at Italy’s Ministero dell'agricoltura della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste as founder and President for six years of the national association Ambasciatori del Gusto. In 2018 she was appointed member of the Steering Committee of the degree course in Food and Wine Sciences and Cultures at the University of Rome and she has worked as an Ambassador of the Mediterranean Diet, spoken at the Davos World Economic Forum (on food education) and collaborated as lecturer with many Universities including Bocconi University in Milan, Bologna Business School, University of Illinois and Luiss in Rome. She is currently serving as Ambassador for Rise Against Hunger and Waste Watchers International Observatory helping to launch the Sprecometro application for restaurants.

Ebru Baybara Demir graduated in tourism management in 1999 and returned to her hometown of Mardin in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border with the aim of attracting holidaymakers to the historic hilltop city. Spurred-on by visitors' general disappointment with Mardin’s hospitality offer, Ebru opened her home to paying guests, engaging other women in her family to prepare traditional meals. The initiative grew, and soon Ebru and 21 other women had renovated a traditional Assyrian mansion – opening a fully-equipped restaurant called Cercis Murat Konağı in 2001. The restaurant venture was an instant success and has inspired others to open similar businesses - empowering a generation of local women to earn an income independently, a significant cultural shift in southeastern Turkey.
Following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in early 2023, Ebru established Gönül Mutfağı, an ambitious version of a soup kitchen, which has served millions of meals with the help of over 2,000 volunteers. In the early stages of the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, she secured UN funding to start an agricultural development cooperative - training locals and refugees in culinary and farming techniques. She launched a project which saw thousands of volunteers collecting citrus fruits left on the branches of orchards, composting them before distributing this valuable fertiliser to the region’s farmers free-of-charge. Other ventures include a FAO-backed beekeeping/honey production initiative and a FAO-backed programme growing sörgul, for transformation into flour. Most recently for FAO, Ebru has contributed to Sustainable Gastronomy Day and World Food Day activities.
Victoire Gouloubi, was
born and raised in Brazzaville-Congo but moved to Italy in 2002 to study law at the University of Verona. That same year - and against her family's wishes - Victoire changed career direction, embracing the world of hospitality by training at the ENAIP school of the Federazione Italiana del Turismo. Upon graduation, she embarked on a career in high-end restaurants in Italy and abroad under the guidance of celebrated chefs, such as Claudio Sadler, Fabrizio Ferrari and Marc Farellacci. As an executive chef, she led prestigious establishments in Italy, such as the Mirtillo Rosso and Camperio Luxury Club 4 Stars. She opened her own restaurant, Victoire, which earned her honorable mention in the Michelin Guide in 2015. Subsequently, she has won numerous awards including Emerging Chef at Touring Club Italia (2014), Gambero Rosso (2014), Chef of the Year 2015 at the Africa-Italy Business Awards, Leader of Change (Legacy Category) at the Black Carpet Awards 2022, and Best Foreign Chef at Cuore nel Piatto Gambero Rosso (2024).
Creator and host of programmes such as La Mia Africa and Il Tocco di Victoire on Gambero Rosso Sky since 2019, Victoire Gouloubi is the founder, president, and organizer of the first Afro-Caribbean Culinary Excellence Fair in Italy, UMA ULAFI.

Xinge Liu, is a Chinese chef and entrepreneur who challenges conventions and redefines culinary boundaries. Born in Hebei Province, China, to a policeman father and a chemical engineer mother, her passion for art and fashion was apparent from an early age. In 2008, she spent a year in Australia studying art - before moving to Florence in 2012 to pursue fashion design at Polimoda. After graduating in 2015, Xinge expanded her skillset by enrolling at Le Cordon Bleu to study culinary arts.
In 2019, she launched Il Gusto Dimsum, which has since grown to include two restaurants, and a cocktail bar brand called Drinx. In 2021, driven by a determination to reshape perceptions of Chinese cuisine, Xinge began developing her brand Il Gusto di Xinge. She has received numerous accolades, including the ‘Tradizione Futura’ award from Gambero Rosso and Moët & Chandon, the ‘Cucina del Futuro’ award from Identità Golose, and the ‘Contaminazione’ award from TheFork. Xinge was also named one of Fortune magazine’s ‘40 Under 40 in the Food Industry.’ Her work has been recognized by the Michelin Guide, and she has appeared on television programmes such as MasterChef and Striscia la Notizia. Xinge's work and life story has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Vogue, Rolling Stone, iO Donna, Fortune, and Elle Decor. Beyond her love for cooking, Xinge continues to find inspiration in fashion - but also music, cinema, and literature. She is deeply committed to empowering women in the culinary world and advocates for greater female representation in the food industry.
Rodrigo Pacheco is an Ecuadorian chef, who's passion for regenerative gastronomy has led him to advocate for the urgent restoration of the world’s ecosystems. Rodrigo is involved in developing a ‘biodiversity corridor’ in Ecuador running from the Pacific Coast to the Andean Choco, crossing five different ecosystems and microclimates. The project is an evolution of his on-going work to innovate the culinary and gastronomic sciences and a plan to create the largest edible forest in the world. His restaurant, Bocavaldivia, celebrates the ancestral culinary past of the Valdivian culture using ingredients produced under pristine agricultural conditions in collaboration with fisherman and local permacultures.
Rodrigo participated in Netflix's popular The Final Table in 2018 and for FAO he has been a valued Ambassador for plant health (in 2020), and subsequently amplifying FAO's messages on biological diversity, food loss and waste and taking part in numerous public-facing activities both in Ecuador and FAO HQ in Rome.
World Food Day https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/food-heroes/detail/rodrigo-pacheco/en