Students Push the Envelope in Raising Awareness of the Global Hunger Crisis
October 4th, 2018
By: Kassandra Jones
A Recipe for Success
On the evening of September 25th, to celebrate this years United Nations General Assembly, Nutrition Without Borders in collaboration with Kitchen Connection hosted a Cook Off between three international award-winning chefs from South Africa, Senegal, and Nigeria followed by a panel discussion with UN members. The lack of understanding of African cuisines and knowledge of the crises threatening food systems across the continent has encouraged campaigning from WFP, the SDG2 Advocacy Hub and Global Citizen to bring awareness to these issues. Thanks to the Public Health Nutrition Department for sponsoring and through the use of multiple online platforms, this event was used to increase momentum behind the upcoming campaigns and focus in food for 2019.
Chef Karabo Moeng, Chef Pierre Thiam and Chef Grace Odogbili teamed up with NYU students, acting as their sous chefs, to create a culturally appropriate nutritious dish using a staple ingredient from their respective nations. The Challenge? To create these dishes with only a cup of water (addressing the severe climate changes and drought in their nations) and have only 30 minutes to do so using a staple grain as a surprise ingredient. After the Cook Off, Paul Newnham from the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, Charlotte Salford from IFAD, Florence Sibomana from the University of Rwanda and Hawa Diallo Head of Unit in the NGO Relations joined Earlene Cruz, founder of Kitchen Connection and NYU alumn, in a panel discussion centered around Zero Hunger (SDG2).
Disrupting Hunger with WFP – at UNGA
While preparing for and enjoying this event, Nutrition Without Borders sent its members to attend the United Nations General Assembly last week and volunteer at the World Food Program’s latest exhibition ‘Future on a Plate’ highlighting the technological advancements being made to solve the hunger crisis. Through the use of augmented reality and virtual reality, attendees were able to see and feel what it was like to be on the ground in Nigeria alongside humanitarian aid workers utilizing some of the new technologies WFP is bringing to nations all across the globe. Nutrition Without Borders’ mission this year is to continue collaborating with these organizations and bringing events as well as unique opportunities such as these to the GPH and NYU community.
