SGM Summit | Annual Report 2021

CONNECTION | SGM SUMMIT

Global gathering, local action.

The Summit has been a staple of SGM since our founding.

After going fully virtual in 2020 due to COVID-19, SGM tested a hybrid model for 2021 consisting of global engagement opportunities and local action. This allowed us to expand our reach and engage members as local conveners and catalysts of the Movement,

This year, the SGM Summit brought together over a thousand participants and their local communities. People joined in from 69 countries.

Dialogue, celebration, and knowledge sharing were the highlights of our virtual Summit. In between these connection points, members mobilized their kitchens, local volunteers, and partners in their neighborhoods as part of the #UniversalPlate Campaign.

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+870K

Meals served through the #UniversalPlate campaign

1247

Participants of online events

69

Countries represented

23

Host Chefs from 14 countries

03

Days of Action

27

Online engagement opportunities offered

The Universal Series

Because food is a universal language.

#UniversalPlate

Collective action campaign, mobilizing solidarity toward SDG:2- Zero Hunger

Universal Table

Meaningful dialogue to kick off the Summit. Uniting stakeholders from across sectors at a table to discuss the 3C's: COVID, Climate, and Conflict

Universal Kitchen

23 Chefs from 14 countries demonstrated the power of the kitchen as a classroom their learnings via virtual cooking classes

#UniversalPlate

Serving in solidarity.

The #UniversalPlate campaign was born as a community-led action in 2020 as part of SGM's Food Solidarity Gathering. While in 2020 we served about 90,000 meals collectively, this year we served a record of almost 880,000 in just three days.

The goal of the campaign is to engage people in the fight against hunger, familiarize budding practitioners with the concept of social gastronomy, and demonstrate the power of food to transform realities.

Individuals, restaurants, organizations, private companies, municipalities, and universities participated in this worldwide effort at the local level, sharing their of action on social media, engaging volunteer, and partnering to expand their impact.

Mobilizing participation for the #UniversalPlate in 2021 consisted of three months of planning and engagement, incorporating learnings from last year.

In order to incentivize action and allow for ease of communication, we also provided all interested parties with a promotion toolkit, press kit, and best practices for getting involved.

While everyone in our network is shaping their local food system on a daily basis, this campaign is an umbrella activity. Having a special moment to celebrate collectively, take action, engage communities, and work with local partners is a demonstration of what we can do when we #ConnectGlobal and #ActLocal.

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Collective action in Nepal

#UniversalPlate Stories

Canada

Griffith Foods demonstrated the power of global partnerships as the sponsor of the SGM Summit 2021. In addition to supporting the event, hosting two classes of the Universal Kitchen, the organization served 207,100 during the #UniversalPlate campaign, including 100,000 by the team in Canada.

Peru

A wave of solidarity took the streets of Lima during World Food Day weekend. USIL University joined the global action with 850 meals and Semáforos Solidarios, a local SGO, delivered 550 meals to people in need by the city’s traffic lights. Community member Magali Silva, who helped distribute said action also supported the efforts of Padre Omar, serving a total of 3,000 meals.

Mexico

Gastromotiva’s students gathered in the kitchen to cook 900 meals of pasta salad to distribute in different Colonias of Mexico City. They could also bring food home, replicate the recipe to cook for their neighbors and join in solidarity throughout the weekend.

Venezuela

Alimenta la Solidaridad is a network of community kitchens that empowers women across Venezuela to cook and serve their neighbors, ensuring that children are fed and have a safe space to learn. During the weekend of World Food Day, the organization served an extra 1,000 meals on top of their daily average of 14,000.

United States of America

From the Twin Cities to Austin, Texas, SGM members in the USA were able to serve their local communities during the #UniversalPlate. Appetite for Change, an organization working with food and racial justice in Minneapolis served 34 solidarity meals in partnership with their local collective Northside Fresh, and Breaking Bread MN, a local bakery.
Food writer, recipe developer, and former SGM intern, Ariana Diaz also made sure to serve her community, delivering 85 meals to a local community fridge in Austin, Texas.
In addition to supporting the event, Griffith Foods hosted two classes of the Universal Kitchen, the organization served 207,100 during the #UniversalPlate campaign, including 160,000 by the team in the US.Chef Sandra Rocha shares “...we went to deliver the food for two shelters here in Bremerton, Washington State. It was heartbreaking. The first shelter was for +30 men who have experienced prison, drug dealing, or unemployment.
The second delivery was for a shelter for women and children who have experienced domestic violence. They live in a place without any windows, looks like a box. But when we arrived with the food all the women came out to welcome us and they said: Thank you for making our day a sunshine day. It was cold and raining. The kids ran to the kitchen to see what we brought. Fresh fruits and cookies and the most important, love. We couldn’t take pictures because it was prohibited.
But I want to tell each one who was out there organizing, cooking, delivering, no matter what you were doing, this shelter received all the love- thank you!”

Guatemala

Bibi La Luz Gonzalez and the team at Eat Better Wa’ik use food and education to fight the triple burden of
malnutrition. During the #UniversalPlate, the organization delivered 100 plates and gave a workshop on nutrition to 100 women. In addition, they also distributed 100 Improved Food Baskets with fruits, veggies, and grains for the participant’s families, in total estimated reaching 500 people for numerous meals to make at home. On the same day, 200 children received workshops, bento boxes, and artistic and creative
storytelling homework.

Dominican Republic

Fogones Gastronomía Solidaria, a local SGO spearheaded by Chef Tita, served 300 meals for a Children’s home, the Cristo Rey neighborhood, and people without homes in the Colonial area of Santo Domingo. Fogones is an initiative born from the Food For All roundtable hosted by SGM in April 2020.

Colombia

Over 40 organizations joined together to build longer
tables instead of higher walls, serving 10,000 meals at
the Plaza de Bolivar in the historic center of Bogotá.
A table set to serve over 100 people was the focal
point of the collective action in the capital, where
individuals from different backgrounds sat together,
shared a meal, and engaged in conversation.
Connection was core for the development of a
collaboration model that fostered cross-sector
participation. In the first #UniversalPlate planning
meeting, local members gathered to dream big; three
weeks later, the number of collaborators tripled, over
140 volunteers offered to serve, and a Zero Hunger
manifesto was signed by organizations, chefs,
activists, and citizens.

In Medellín, Platos Sin Fronteras joined the cause from
a school in the locality of Moravia, where they handed
out 2000 portions of a rice-based vegan dish cooked
with the help of Griffith Foods chefs Davide Bossi and
James Maya.

Chile

The Comida Para Todos school and community garden in Villa
Arauco had more than one reason to celebrate World Food
Day. Not only this was their second collective action for the
#UniversalPlate campaign, but their first class of students had
just graduated. With a Tomatican stew and freshly baked
bread, people gathered around the Olla Comunitaria (a
community pot) to share a meal and harvest the fruits of their
dedication.

Brazil

In Brazil, the #UniversalPlate was active in cities and
rural areas and engaged participants from many
different backgrounds. In addition to the participation
of Social Gastronomy Organizations, the campaign
engaged delivery companies, city governments, and
mothers that are part of the SGM Family. The
Municipalities of Salvador, São Paulo, and Curitiba, for
example, donated supplies for several food banks
across the cities that reverted those in 13,773 meals.

The campaign "People are meant to shine, not to
starve" worked on different fronts, not only distributing
meals all over Brazil but also on a collective cultivation
session promoting the planting of tree seedlings in
several cities. They also performed an artistic
intervention that brought earth, seeds, plants, roots,
and other elements of nature to break the aridity of
the asphalt. It was the Mandala of the Transmutation
of Hunger, a collective work that awakens our eyes to
the potential we have in generating food abundance
for our population and denouncing that the current
lack of food on people's plates is the result of a
perverse economic model.

Gastromotiva and its 81 solidarity kitchens took part in
the campaign as well as RefettoRio.

The action engaged community cooks, the Refettorio
Gastromotiva team, volunteers, and partners in all the cities
where they operate. The solidarity kitchens not only distribute
food but also prevent food waste through partnerships with
local institutions and a methodology for waste management
Saude e Alegria, a Social Gastronomy Organization based in
Brazilian Amazon also provided over 300,000 meals and
improved food baskets to communities. The organization,
founded in 1987, focuses on inclusion, education, and
communication that is focused on people as agents of their
health and collective well being.

Argentina

One year after their Social Gastronomy program
kicked off, students, teachers, volunteers, graduates,
and staff at the University of Córdoba were supported
by the municipality, public/private institutions, and
organizations to cook and serve lunch and dinner for 11
community centers.

Switzerland

Andi Handke, one of SGM’s first members, organized a
mass-scale action for the #UniversalPlate campaign,
serving over 23,000 meals in collaboration with Essen für
Alle Schweiz & Incontro Zurich.

We are honored to be part of this amazing community who is doing such an amazing work every year to celebrate World Food Day with a purpose. It’s not the number of meals each one is making, but it’s really how we are all coming together to unite and share our passion on food and how we can influence others to learn more on how to value food.

-James Leyson, SGM Member, Managing Director of Scholars Of Sustenance (Thailand)

Ensuring everyone has a seat at the table.

The Universal Table, the opening event of the SGM Summit is strategically designed and facilitated to ensure that everyone has a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation. While the event begins with a diverse, cross-sector panel of table guests (see figure below) who set the context for our discussion, we break out into smaller groups of 3-4 so that all 100+ participants were able to connect with others and share their ideas and questions.

The Universal Table

Identifying possibilities in the face of the three C’s: Covid, Climate, and Conflict

This year, it was widely accepted by the international community that the nexus of the ‘three-Cs’ COVID, climate, and conflict, pose an unprecedented threat to food security. Together in this conversation a multistakeholder panel engaged individual expertise and experiences to focus on possibility and potential ways forward. In addition to drawing the attention of SGM’s global audience, the event was spotlighted as part of the Global Minnesota World Food Day Symposium.

Table Guests

Charles Holmes

Master Facilitator (Canada)

Mariana Vasconcelos

CEO of Agrosmart (Brazil)

Tulsi Giri

Co-creator of Nepal Food Network (Nepal)

Carina Nilsson

Mayor of Malmö (Sweden)

Maureen Muketha

Youth Activist and Founder of Tule Vyema (Kenya)

Charles McNeill

Senior Advisor, Forest, and Climate at UN Environment Program (USA)

Michelle Grogg

Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development at Cargill (USA)

Mauricio Rodas

Former Mayor of Quito (Ecuador)

The Universal Kitchen

Food is the great uniter and the kitchen is the classroom. On October 17th, 23 chefs from 14 countries hosted virtual cooking classes for our community, sharing recipes that tell a story of family, tradition, culture, and respect for the natural world.

Their support and commitment made it an inspiring session learning and inviting in new faces to the community. In addition to these classes, Jurgis DID, an impact musician from Lithuania serenaded the group, reminding us that music, like food, is a universal language.