World Leaders’ Personal Chefs Talk Clean Cooking in India
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves joined Alliance Chef Corps member and renowned Chef Sanjeev Kapoor to brief the world’s most exclusive gastronomic society, Le Club des Chefs des Chefs, as part of the group’s annual conference in India this week.
The personal chefs to 18 world leaders, including Cristeta Comerford, chef to U.S. President Barack Obama; Mark Flanagan, chef to Queen Elizabeth; and Bernard Vaussion, executive chef to French President François Hollande, were briefed by Chef Kapoor and the Alliance on the impacts of cooking in India, a country where more than one million people die each year from household air pollution.
At a private demonstration held at Delhi’s Imperial Hotel, the chefs learned how sustained use of clean cookstoves and fuels can save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and protect the environment. Local Alliance-supported partners, including BioLite, Envirofit, and Greenway, showcased a range of innovative cookstoves and fuels, giving the chefs the opportunity to see first-hand how cooking technologies can help address this global crisis.
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, the most celebrated face of Indian cuisine today, along with Alliance Regional Director, Arijit Basu and India Country Representative Supriya Kumar, hosted the briefing for Le Club des Chefs des Chefs. The chefs have met annually since the club was first established in Paris in 1977, and this was the first time they gathered in India.