WHATZ COOKING
Inspiring Tasty, Healthy and Sustainable cooking
‘Why is it that in rural areas, where trees abound with avocados, bananas, and guavas, we don’t see more recipes or traditions involving blending these fruits with other ingredients, or using methods like frying, baking, or fermenting?’
-Chef Cola.
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This initiative stems from a successful cooking tour in Masvingo province in July, featuring Chef Cola and other chefs. During the tour, we interacted with local communities, sharing and preparing around 30 dishes together.
The aim: To empower vulnerable communities by teaching them how to utilise locally available, affordable, and drought-resistant ingredients in everyday cooking, thereby creating healthy, sustainable, and delicious meals.
Relevance: knowledge of cooking and nutrition not only reduces vulnerability but can also prevent diseases and save lives. This includes understanding what and how to cook, how to preserve food, and which methods are both healthy and sustainable.
Traditional Zimbabwean cooking, while hearty, relies on a limited range of ingredients, with many meals dominated by a large portion of the starchy and filling Sadza. Although most households have a predominantly plant-based diet, cooking oil is used excessively, greens are often overcooked, and food is prepared over open fires in enclosed spaces (leading to many respiratory diseases). As incomes rise, dietary choices tend to shift towards highly processed foods and increased meat consumption.
In Zimbabwe, high levels of stunting among children under five (23%, UNICEF) coexist with rising diet-related obesity. While malnutrition presents itself in various forms, but a common issue is the challenge of providing a sufficient and balanced diet prepared in a healthy manner.
Food insecurity is a recurring problem and is likely to worsen with climate change. For example, white maize, commonly used for Sadza, often suffers during dry spells. As a result, the government and other stakeholders are promoting the cultivation of more drought-resistant and traditional grains, such as sorghum and rapoko. However, these grains are generally less popular due to taste and affordability concerns.
Approach: Whatz Cooking seeks to address these challenges through food and cooking education, with a focus on community interaction. It complements supply-side initiatives, such as food production and crop promotion, by influencing, stimulating curiosity, and educating the demand side—everyday cooks and professional chefs. Whatz Cooking adopts a community-based approach, identifying what is available, affordable, and how it is being used, then collaboratively creating new or adapted traditional dishes.
For example, lemons are abundant in Bikita district but often go unused and rot. We made simple lemonade, marmalade, and incorporated lemon juice into traditional dishes. The lemonade became an instant hit. Other examples include using less oil, cooking outdoors, baking bread on the stove, and mixing sorghum flour with regular flour when baking.
A key aspiration of Whatz Cooking is to inspire everyday cooks by offering basic tips and tricks, encouraging them to explore, seek knowledge and ideas, share recipes with neighbours, and find joy in cooking—both men and women alike.
To our knowledge, this is an innovative initiative in Zimbabwe, addressing nutrition, food security, and climate change adaptation.
How: Recognising that cooking and food knowledge, even among professional chefs, is often basic, we plan to bring in a knowledgeable and reputable chef to help draft a curriculum in collaboration with local nutritional, agricultural, and culinary experts. A dozen chefs will be trained to become trainers based on this curriculum, with some of them contracted to conduct both physical and virtual cooking courses.
In parallel, we will continue to offer online cooking demonstrations, disseminate knowledge, encourage recipe sharing, and support the creation of cooking clubs. Additional training may include food preservation techniques, nutrition courses for individuals with special needs, and the construction of efficient and healthy stoves.
We anticipate partnerships and collaborations with the Zimbabwe Chef’s Association, academic institutions, relevant NGOs, food companies, and media outlets to reach a broad audience.
Where: Our current presence and strong community network are based in Masvingo province, but there are no geographical limitations, including the possibility of expanding to neighbouring countries
Who we target: While our primary focus is on vulnerable communities, we believe that including less vulnerable groups, such as urban populations, is also essential to influence positive change.
Who we are: This initiative is part of Hope Tariro, founded in 2003 in Masvingo province, which has a strong community connection and supports vulnerable households, including the promotion of organic farming and gardening. The project management is led by a Swede with 20 years of experience in UN and NGO startups, supported by a senior nutrition lecturer at Masvingo University.
