December 28, 2015
Food and Sustainable Development. An open conversation with the Roca Brothers

The Sustainable Development Goals Fund at UNDP organized a conversation with the internationally acclaimed chefs, Joan, Jordi and Josep Roca and key representatives of the food, nutrition, and development world to discuss how the food industry can contribute to achieve SDGs and make food accessible for everyone everywhere. The event took place on Monday, 18 January 2016, from 1.15 to 2.45 p.m., at the United Nations headquarters in New York (ECOSOC Chamber).  Below you can watch the dialogue.

This January, as a new era of Sustainable Development begins, so too will new levels of engagement and renewed thinking on alleviating poverty and improving livelihoods.

The recently outlined Sustainable Development Goals will work to guide development efforts across the world for the next 15 years. Food is at the core of this integrated agenda, in which economic inclusion, social development and environmental protection, converge in a unique and universal roadmap for global action.

The SDG Fund, a multi-agency and multi-donor mechanism established in 2014 by UNDP, on behalf of the UN System, is aligning the efforts of different actors for its achievement. Food security and nutrition are key areas of work for the SDG Fund.

With this in mind, the SDG Fund is brought to the table the internationally acclaimed chefs, Joan, Jordi and Josep Roca who run El Celler de Can Roca restaurant in Girona, Spain. The Roca Brothers have been consistently recognized as World's best restaurant in 2013 and 2015. According to Restaurant magazine, the ‘collective genius’ of the three brothers, together with their “vibrant family dynamic and a deep sense of hospitality”, has placed them in the zenith of world gastronomy. The conversation will be moderated by Mitchell Davis, food writer and Executive Vice President of the James Beard Foundation.  

Their curiosity and creativity have led them to embark in “gastro-botanical” research and exploration of how their culinary traditions can transcend other areas of food security - as well as intersect with the notion of food security and nutrition. What began as a small family business by their parents in a working class neighborhood has blossomed into a center  of experimentation, innovation and creativity.

What can the Roca Brothers share in terms of sustainable development? What sustainable food practices can make food accessible for everyone everywhere? How can the link between innovative food and farm practices become an engine of inclusive growth, poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and diversity? What culinary traditions from America, Asia, or Africa can contribute to promote food security? How can food education promote better nutrition?

These and other questions were the topic of an open dialogue with key representatives of the food, nutrition, and development world featuring perspectives from the United Nations, academia, private sector, and  civil society.

For more information:

dialogues [at] sdgfund.org and teresa.burelli [at] undp.org

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