Fresh and delicious food on a plate accompanied by mushrooms

Cook for Change! Challenge: Where Innovation Meets Sustainability

Innovative Cooking for a Better Tomorrow

The Cook for Change! Challenge celebrates culinary innovation, passion and Sodexo’s commitment to sustainable eating. Each year, hundreds of chefs from North America compete in a unique, plant-based culinary competition to inspire change in food services. Each chef creates a zero-waste dish that reduces carbon emissions and uses sustainable, nutrient-rich ingredients. Finalists are selected based on creativity, flavor, and a dedication to responsible cooking, culminating in an exciting global finale in Paris. This challenge is an opportunity for Sodexo’s top talent to redefine responsible dining by showcasing sustainable recipes that will be featured across Sodexo restaurants worldwide.

Chef Perspectives: Cook for Change! 

  • sustainable-chef-challenge

    How Our Chefs Cook for Change!

    Read the blog to see how our chefs inspire sustainable dining.
  • sam-blackburn-competition

    Chef Sam on Sustainable Dining

    Get Chef Sam Blackburn's insights on Cook for Change!
  • Sodexo’s Sustainability Culinary Competition Crowns Its Winner

    The Cook for Change! Finale

    Read more about the culmination of the challenge in Paris.

How Our Chefs Cook for Change!

Read the blog to see how our chefs inspire sustainable dining.
Get Chef Sam Blackburn's insights on Cook for Change!
Read more about the culmination of the challenge in Paris.

Meet the 2024 Global Finalists

The Cook for Change! Challenge celebrates Sodexo’s talented chefs worldwide, giving them a chance to showcase their skills on a global stage. These eight eco-conscious superstars have impressed judges at the regional heats and been named the best sustainable chef in their region.

male chef white uniform

Chef Ryan Hickey

Sodexo USA 

Secret Ingredient: “Innovation! Fresh perspective on classical techniques always results in fun outcomes.” 
female chef white uniform

Chef Nabila Kerbout

Sodexo UAE

Secret Ingredient: “My passion for cooking and my creative ability to combine different cuisines together.”
male chef white uniform

Chef Christopher Paredes 

Sodexo Chile

Secret Ingredient: “Precision cooking. It’s the skill I’ve been improving the most lately.” 
male chef white uniform

Chef John Oliveira Da Conceição 

Sodexo Brazil

Secret Ingredient: “My creativity, combined with my boldness in using ingredients.”
male chef in uniform

Chef Adam Collison

Sodexo UK & Ireland

Secret Ingredient: “My love of competitions. I got the bug from competing in the Sodexo Chef of the Year, that I won in 2018.” 
female chef white uniform

Chef Sandrine Leriche 

Sodexo France

Secret Ingredient: “Wild plants. They provide me with a wide range of sensational flavors to work with.”
male chef blue uniform

Chef Gaurav Pawar

Sodexo India

Secret Ingredient: “A roasted mix of millet and legume flour with spices. It’s an inspiration from my mother and a deep connection to my roots.” 
male chef white uniform

Chef MichaŁ Fabiszewski 

Sodexo Poland

Secret Ingredient: “Telling a Story. I’ve learned that every dish can tell a story about people, cultures and emotions.”
salmon with vegetables on a blue plate

Chefs competed from around the world.

350

Sodexo is committed to one-third of our menus being 100% plant-based by 2025.

 1/3

Cook for Change! Has made a huge impact in a short amount of time.

2022

vegetables

The threshold set by Sodexo for each chef's low-carbon meal.

> 0.9 kg CO2e 

global cook for change! finalists.

8

of our main dishes to be low carbon by 2030.

70%

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