The VA TourismPodcast

Using Gastronomy to empower communities: the story of Chef Fatmata Binta

My Guest today is the Founder of Fulani Kitchen Chef Fatmata Binta. Chef Binta who has become the first African to win the Basque World Culinary Prize opens on her journey to achieving this noble prize in gastronomy and set sights on expansion of her projects aimed to bring change to the people of her community and also help grow the knowledge of African gastronomy in the world.
Founder - Fulani Kitchen Foundation / Executive Chef - Dine on a Mat
Chef Binta is an award winning chef born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone to first-generation Sierra Leonean Fulanis of Guinean descent. She is a modern day nomadic chef. Like her ancestors, Binta has traveled to many countries to explore different cooking techniques, ingredients and ways of life. At Fulani Kitchen, she combines her nomadic Fulani roots, classical training and love for rural life and nature to create modern dishes, while maintaining the simplicity and authenticity of Fulani culture.  By creating a traditional setting, discussing Fulani culture and serving ancient grains, indigenous spices and other exciting West-African ingredients in an interactive way, Binta triggers all senses and takes you to a whole new world. 
Food for Sustenance
Her passion to share African nomadic cuisine is based on her experiences as a child growing up during the darkest period of Sierra Leonean history- the civil war. She experienced first hand how food brings people together and pulls down walls. Many times during the conflict no one could go out to buy food or food was simply not available. She saw neighbors from different backgrounds contribute, share and prepare meals together to make something out of nothing.  The rice they could afford was filled with cockroaches which they had to hand pick, repeatedly wash and blend with bulgur in order to get enough to share for everyone. What she calls creating food for sustenance; learning to create totally new dishes with just a handful of ingredients, sharing and working together, was not only a life-saving skill in a war zone, it has actually made her the chef she is today. 
Fulani Cuisine Ambassador
Chef Binta presents herself as an ambassador for Fulani cuisine and she promotes fonio, an ancient super grain, traditionally grown and consumed in West Africa. Over the last couple of years, fonio, as a result of its similarity to quinoa, has gained more attention in international culinary circles. And rightfully so- it’s gluten free, extremely nutritious, requires minimal water to grow, has a shorter life cycle than its similar foods, is more disease and drought resilient and gives back more nutrients to the soil than other staple crops like rice and maize. This little grain might possibly be one of the answers to food security and climate challenges to come. Binta’s menu almost always features this super grain, fonio, as she continues to promote its value to her guests on the mat.

Instagram Teams up with UNWTO to empower Destinations in Tourism Recovery efforts

Following the renewed partnership between Meta and UNWTO and the launch of their latest program dubbed ‘’See the world through my eyes’’ the policy program manager at Instagram Asya  and Elizabeth Instagram‘s manager of politics, government, and civic engagement says  the project is expected to train young people and creators around the world on how they can become tourism ambassadors for their hometowns, and countries using Instagram's smart glasses Technology called Ray-Ban Stories.

Tourism is becoming extremely relevant for young people -UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth

In today’s episode, the United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake is my Guest. At the recently held Global Youth Tourism Summit in Sorrento, Jayathma implored the youth not to wait to be invited to the table but take the initiatives they feel strongly about it since it’s the surest way to effect change. She applauded the UNWTO for organizing the landmark youth summit.
Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. She is the youngest senior official in the UN and the first woman to hold this position. In this role, Jayathma works to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of the organization’s work — sustainable development, human rights, peace and security, and humanitarian action — and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General.
In 2019 Jayathma was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the “Time 100 Next: Rising stars shaping the future” and in 2020 she was recognized by Forbes magazine as part of its “30 under 30” list.
 
Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, including playing a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country.
Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women, in Sri Lanka through the “Hashtag Generation” movement. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day.

GYTSers reflect on First Global Youth Tourism Summit

At the recently held first Global Youth Tourism Summit in Sorrento, Italy I sat down with eight delegates who expressed profound appreciation to the UNWTO and its partners for creating a platform to help them understand the issues around tourism, public speaking, and most importantly the simulation of the UN General Assembly. In an enthralling end to  5 memorable days in Sorrento, Gytsers from Spain, Chile, China, Cabo Verde, Cook Island, DR Congo, Seychelles, Ukraine, and Qatar in their languages pledge to stand for sustainable tourism on the podcast

Africa’s Struggle for Its Art: History of a Postcolonial Defeat Conversation with Dr Bénédicte Savoy

In today's episode, Dr. Bénédicte Savoy, Author of ''Africa's struggle for lost Arts, a history of post colonial defeat'' unpacks her works and research on Africa's lost arts. She tells me nearly a million African arts and ornaments are in European museums and is optimistic today's adult generation will witness the return of very important pieces of art to the continent.
Bénédicte Savoy is a professor in the Department of Art History at the Technical University of Berlin and was a professor at the Collège de France in Paris from 2016 to 2021. She is the coeditor of Translocations: Histories of Dislocated Cultural Assets; Acquiring Cultures: Histories of World Art on Western Markets; and The Museum Is Open: Towards a Transnational History of Museums. She is the author (with Felwine Sarr) of The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics, known as the Sarr-Savoy Report. She lives in Berlin.
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The impact of Plastic Pollution on Tourism: A Conversation with Founders of Kids against plastic Amy and Ella Meek

At the ongoing First Global Youth Tourism Summit in Sorrento, Italy, I caught up with Founders of Kids against plastic initiative Amy and Ella Meek. They tell me it is idealistic and over-ambitious to target plastic-free world, instead, they believe in Plastic Clever, a concept which is attainable even if it means doing small things to minimize the impacts of plastic pollution.

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa sheds light on TBCSA’s Maiden Tourism Leadership Conference

In today’s episode the CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa sheds light on the council’s inaugural Tourism Leadership Conference scheduled to take place in Sun City Resort in the Northwest Province, South Africa from the 14th-16th September 2022.
 

Accra City Hotel Targets 5 SDGs to scale up sustainability credentials

My Conversation today is with the Acting General Manager of Accra City Hotel Divine Matey. He tells me the premier 4-star hotel is poised to deepen its credentials as an environmentally conscious and sustainable hospitality provider by adapting five of the UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs)