World Disco soup day is a global event created by Slow Food Youth Network to promote the discussion on the topic of food waste, cook dishes from food scraps and enjoy the process of learning and being together. It all started from the need to fight food waste together while having fun, gathering and dancing. Every year, the world produces 2.24 billion pounds of waste. If we piled it all together, it would be taller than Mount Everest. Every year, year after year. 15% of the world’s food is lost once harvested and it never reaches the shops. Another 17% of food is wasted at retail and consumer level. (data: FAO) Reducing food waste means redistributing our resources to be able to feed the entire world population – we already produce enough food for 10 billion people! Food loss and waste also account for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions! This means addressing food waste also means reducing carbon emissions and their dramatic consequences on our planet’s rising temperature. World Disco Soup Day is a global event created by Slow Food Youth Network to promote the discussion on the topic of food waste, cook dishes from food scraps and enjoy the process of learning and being together. It all started from our need to fight food waste together while having fun, gathering and dancing.

The National Museums of Kenya hosts the Indigenous Seeds and Food Culture Harvest Fair Indigenous Seeds and Food Harvest Culture Fair, a multi-day exhibition celebrating seed diversity and food sovereignty News – ISFAA. Held in October, this fair features agroecological farming demonstrations, indigenous food tastings, and cultural performances News. The fair typically serves as a pre-event for World Food Day national indigenous seed and food culture harvest fair, Nairobi. The event is organized in collaboration with partners such as PELUM Kenya, BIBA Kenya, and the Seed Savers Network. It brings together local farmers, researchers, and policymakers to showcase traditional crops like colored maize, local tubers, and medicinal herbs.

Nicodemus representing the Food Innovation Studio joined other alliance members to discuss the food and agriculture situation in the country. The Food Culture Alliance (FCA) is a global initiative co-led by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), EAT Forum, and the Global Business School Network (GBSN).

TITLE – Nic conducting a culinary audit onboard BBC-Chartering CAPTION – Nicodemus together with colleagues from IFS conducted a culinary audit onboard a vessel docked at the port of Mombasa. A culinary audit onboard a vessel or ship is a comprehensive evaluation of the food service operations, galley, hygiene, provisioning, inventory management, and nutritional standards. Given that ships are isolated environments where crew members and passengers cannot simply “order takeout,” these audits are critical for safety, compliance, and morale. Here is why culinary audits are absolutely essential at sea: 1. Compliance with International Maritime Regulations Maritime catering is strictly regulated to protect the rights and health of seafarers. A culinary audit ensures the vessel complies with international laws, most notably the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006). MLC Regulation 3.2: Dictates that shipowners must provide food and drinking water of appropriate quality, nutritional value, and quantity, free of charge to the crew. Flag State Standards: Audits ensure the vessel passes inspections by port states, avoiding costly detentions or fines due to galley deficiencies. 2. Food Safety and Health (Preventing Outbreaks) A foodborne illness outbreak on a ship can disable an entire crew or ruin a cruise vacation, creating a genuine emergency at sea. Audits evaluate adherence to HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) principles by checking: Temperature Logs: Ensuring freezers and chillers are operating at correct temperatures to prevent bacterial growth. Cross-Contamination: Verifying that raw and cooked foods are stored and prepared separately. Galley Hygiene: Inspecting deep cleaning schedules for ventilation hoods, drains, and cooking surfaces. 3. Financial and Waste Control (Provisioning Management) Food is one of the highest operating expenses (OPEX) on a vessel. Culinary audits look at the business side of the galley to prevent bleeding money: Inventory Rotation: Ensuring a strict FIFO (First In, First Out) system to reduce food spoilage and waste. Menu Planning: Auditing whether menus are designed to use ingredients efficiently before they expire. Port Procurement: Analyzing ordering habits to ensure the ship isn’t over-purchasing in expensive ports or running out of essentials during long ocean transits. 4. Crew Morale, Mental Health, and Retention In the maritime industry, there is a famous saying: “A well-fed ship is a happy ship.” Food is often the only highlight of a seafarer’s grueling 12-hour workday. Cultural Diversity: Audits check if the menu accommodates the diverse nationalities onboard (e.g., European, Filipino, Indian crew preferences). Nutritional Balance: Ensuring the food provides the high-calorie, nutrient-dense fuel required for heavy manual labor, preventing fatigue and long-term health issues (like diabetes or cardiovascular disease). 5. Waste Management and Environmental Compliance Marpol (The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) has strict rules about what can be disposed of at sea. Annex V (Garbage): Audits ensure that food waste is properly segregated from plastics and other garbage, and that macerators/composters are functioning correctly before food waste is discharged according to legal distance-from-shore limits. The Bottom Line: A culinary audit isn’t just about checking if the food tastes good. It is a vital risk-management tool that safeguards crew health, ensures legal compliance, cuts unnecessary operational costs, and keeps the vessel running smoothly. Are you looking at this from a commercial shipping perspective (cargo/tankers), or are you interested in the hospitality side of luxury cruise ships?

Nicoedemus was invited by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Kenya as well as Kenyatta University’s food, nutrition and dietetics department to be the lead chef for the VegetablesforAll, FoodFiti brand project. He led the recipe development and testing phase, resulting in 15 vegetable recipes pending approval for national rollout. The VegetablesforAll project by GAIN has adopted a Market Facilitators (MF) driven approach to supply vegetables to mama mbogas (last mile vegetable vendors). The MF model aims to establish assured supply through collaborations with profiled Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) while incorporating traceability and safety mechanisms to ensure quality and reliability.

Nicodemus together with other IFS colleagues welcomed IFS co-CEO Esther Pattenier to Nairobi Kenya. The trip focused on among other things the exploration of vertical farming at scale to plug food deficits in Kenya and the wider region. The promise of vertical farming in Africa lies in its ability to decouple food production from the unpredictable rhythms of climate change. As sub-Saharan Africa faces accelerating desertification, unpredictable rainfall patterns, and rapid urbanization, traditional horizontal agriculture is under immense strain. Vertical farming – the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers, often utilizing controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) technology—offers a hyper-efficient alternative. Through utilizing hydroponic or aeroponic systems, these indoor farms can yield up to 20 times more food per square meter than conventional fields while using roughly 95% less water.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) invited Nicodemus to lead an experiential training session for their staff focused on the fascinating concept of Food Imagineering. The premise was simple, yet the results profoundly inspiring. He presented six of nine enthusiastic individuals, with identical, seemingly limited pairing: beans and cucumbers. Their challenge? To collaboratively create six unique dishes. Food Imagineering is essentially culinary innovation – looking at food through a creative lens to generate novel ideas and solutions. It’s about pushing beyond traditional recipes and exploring the untapped potential of even the most basic ingredients. (Disclaimer: This is not the only definition) Why embark on such an exercise? Our global population is expanding at an unprecedented rate, placing immense pressure on our planet’s natural resources. The need to rethink our relationship with food, to discover sustainable and resourceful ways to nourish ourselves without further environmental impact, is paramount. This training aimed to foster that very mindset.

The Fortify Forward Innovation Challenge 2024-2025 (FFIC) was a transformative regional competition designed to help combat hidden hunger and tackle malnutrition in all its forms, while improving public health in Africa.  In search of innovative solutions for large-scale industrial food fortification (LSFF) and biofortification, entrepreneurs, researchers, innovators, and organizations were invited to join this mission to address micronutrient deficiencies affecting nearly 500 million people on the African continent.

Chef Nic was invited to present elevated bean dishes to mark PABRA’S achievement. He made: Bizzetta – a pizza-like bean starter and Deconstructed Sweet githeri perched on Dark Chocolate and Caramel sauce The Africa Food Prize began as the Yara Prize, and was established in 2005 by Yara International ASA in Norway to honor achievements in African agriculture. Moving the Yara Prize to Africa in 2016 and rechristening it the Africa Food Prize gave the award a distinctive African home, African identity and African ownership.

FIS’s Chef Nico led ten mid-to-senior career professionals to successfully complete a grueling 2.5-hour experiential leadership assessment program, but they didn’t do it in a boardroom. Instead, they traded their spreadsheets for chef’s knives in a high-stakes, competitive cooking environment designed to strip away polished corporate personas and reveal authentic leadership behaviors. Unlike traditional corporate assessments which often rely on predictable multiple-choice questionnaires or role-play scenarios – this immersive experience leveraged the chaotic, fast-paced nature of a professional kitchen. Through forcing participants to collaborate under strict time constraints and unfamiliar conditions, the program created natural pressure situations where true communication styles, decision-making flaws, and leadership strengths emerged organically.

Somo operates Tengeneza na Somo, a pay-per-use shared production facility for grassroots MSMEs. Its flagship hub is located in Githurai, Kiambu, offering small business owners access to commercial-grade equipment, raw material sourcing, and hands-on guidance to achieve formal Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certification. The Githurai hub provides several services tailored to local entrepreneurs: Pay-per-use machines: Eliminates upfront capital costs for equipment. Product formulation: Technical training for food, beauty, and hygiene products. Compliance support: Direct facilitation through the KEBS certification process. Business tools: Access to their DigiKua platform for data tracking and financial reporting. Somo also recently established a public-private partnership to roll out similar agro-processing production infrastructure in the Molo region to support rural farmers and cooperatives.

In a move set to shake up the regional dairy and wellness market, Kenya’s premier Food Innovation Studio, led by Nicodemus, officially welcomed the leadership team of Nigeria’s fast-growing Zayith Yogurt company to Nairobi this week. The high-profile visit, led by Zayith’s CEO and Founder, Chidimma Uzoma, marks the beginning of strategic exploratory talks aimed at introducing the premium Nigerian yogurt brand into the vibrant East African economic hub.

FIS CEO Nicodemus Omundo invited to the inaugural Here Africa Food and Drink Festival to discuss and analyse the current and future food ecosystem in the continent of Africa. Organized by Abze Africa, HERE AFRICA is more than a food festival. It is a platform that showcases the people, ingredients, cultures, businesses, and innovations shaping Africa’s evolving food ecosystem. The festival creates opportunities for meaningful conversations around food culture, local supply chains, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and the role of innovation in building resilient food systems. Together with him were Food Culture Alliance members Laura Wekesa of GAIN and Dr. Patrick Maundu of the National Museums of Kenya

The World Food Prize Foundation’s inaugural DialogueNEXT Africa conference just concluded in Nairobi, Kenya. The high-level convening took place from June 30 to July 1, 2026, bringing together agricultural leaders, policymakers, scientists, and young agripreneurs. Nicodemus Omundo played a direct role in the DialogueNEXT Africa conference as a chef, a member of the Chefs’ Manifesto network, and the Founder and CEO of Food Innovations Studio FIS