Happiness is on the Plate

Arnaud Daguin has set up his guesthouse “Hegia” in a superb 18th-century Bastide. One might think he would be happy just to welcome guests from all over the world, but he also throws himself heart and soul into promoting organic farming and sustainable agriculture.

In the province of Zhejiang, in Hangzhou, Dai Jianjun is passionate about preserving the ancient dietary doctrines of Chinese food knowledge - an art form he is seeking to salvage. Dai’s project involves protecting endangered farming produce, by setting up restaurants that serve traditional cooking.

Head of the restaurant at Manresa in Los Gatos, California, pioneer of earth-friendly haute cuisine David Kinch learned cooking in France, Spain, Germany, and Japan. His restaurant is located close to the electronic chips of Silicon Valley.

Luke Burgess’ endeavors to reconnect cooking with the soil. In the space of a few years, this young chef has managed to create, for his restaurant “Garagistes”, a network of producers that provide him with exceptional ingredients, from the smooth-shelled oysters of Bruny Island to the Wagyu beef.

Father Godfrey Nzamujo has set up the Songhaï Centre in Porto-Novo, the capital of Benin. The center plays several roles. It features a system of organic agriculture, it provides accommodation and houses a restaurant, and food production is carried out there, with a sales outlet.

As a young chef, James teamed up with other free spirits, to create a cooking collective The Young Turks, and a series of pop-up restaurants. Their idea was to establish a collaborative, generous, helpful and adventurous cuisine.