Meet the chefs cooking up signature dishes, blending heritage and innovation

Food is culture, identity, biodiversity and connection. Behind every ingredient are people, places and choices made by many. At the First FAO Global Exhibition: From Seeds to Foods, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the people behind our food. 

From 10 to 13 October, join chefs from around the world who will take to the live cooking stage at the Park of Porta Capena in Rome, Italy, transforming ingredients into dishes that carry centuries of tradition and visions of the future.

Every plate tells a story 

Here’s who you’ll meet - and the dishes they’ll bring to life: 

• Chef Ammar Albarakati (Saudi Arabia) – Infused steak and dates mushroom barley risotto 
   A fusion of Saudi date molasses with steak and creamy risotto, blending tradition with modern flair. 
   

• Chef Antonio Morritti (Italy) – Seafood piadina 
   An Adriatic flatbread made with sea lettuce dough, filled with marinated anchovies, salad and Tropea onions. 
   

• Chef Stephanie Baryluk (Canada) – Gathering flavours of the North 
   Indigenous Arctic recipes highlighting traditional ingredients and sharing stories from Gwich’in culture. 
   

• Chef Jason Howard (Barbados) – Bajan buljol 
   A classic Barbadian dish of salted cod, fresh herbs and bold Caribbean-Island flavours. 
   

• Chef Peppe Guida (Italy) – Essenzialità: From food to culture 
   Discover how the simplest ingredients such as beans, corn, fig leaf oil and herbs can turn into an act of caring, merging health, taste and cultural heritage.  
  
• Chef Francesco Capirchio (Italy) – Pasta with chickling peas 
  The culinary heritage of Southern Lazio captured in a dish featuring grass peas, an ingredient that has been associated with Campodimele’s famed longevity. 

• Chef Andrew Gibbon (Peru) – Adobo & DO pallares: A Mochica-inspired feast 
   A culinary journey uniting Andean and Mochica traditions through adobo and native legumes. 
  
  _{Chefs from around the world will showcase tradition, innovation and sustainability at the Global Exhibition in Rome, from 10 to 13 October.}
   

• Chef David Hidalgo (Spain) – Pella de gofio 
   A pre-Hispanic Canarian staple, prepared in both savoury and sweet forms –  one of the most representative dishes of Lanzarote, a site recognized by FAO’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems.  
  
  
• Chef Lina Jiménez (Mexico) – The chilies that add flavour to the world 
  An exploration of chili peppers as essential ingredients and cultural symbols

• Chef Mona Bakeer (Jordan) –  Mansaf & lazyaqiyat
  This journey into the flavours of the Jordanian desert will featureBedouin classics typically prepared over an open fire, bringing the aromas and hospitality of the Jordanian Badia. 

• Chefs Jedidah Wambui Nderitu (Kenya) and Francesco Soldati (Italy) – Ugali & sukuma wiki 
  Kenya’s iconic cornmeal and greens dish, reinterpreted with local Roman ingredients in cultural and gastronomic exchange. 

• Chef Lucio Andrianò (Italy) – Shepherd’s soup 
   A Molise pastoral recipe rooted in central Italy’s transhumance traditions. 
   

• Chefs Roberto Carcangiu & Giuseppe Crimaldi (Italy) – Pasta all’amatriciana 
   A contest-style session where chefs with disabilities reimagine Rome’s iconic pasta all’amatriciana, celebrating inclusion and creativity. 

Join the fun 

From Saudi Arabia’s use of dates in risottos, to Jordan’s desert flavours, and the Arctic traditions of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples, visitors of all ages will see how food adapts, connects and endures. 

Come taste, listen and learn. Walk through the pavilions, then stop by for live cooking sessions and hear stories and experience flavours you may never have tried before. 

The First FAO Global Exhibition: From Seeds to Foods will connect you to chefs, diverse cultures and agrifood heritage and traditions from across the world. 

From 10 to 13 October, there will be sixteen 60-minute sessions with chefs.

Check the programme here: About the exhibition