Book Talk: Executive Chef Pierre Thiam

Join us at Farming Hope to welcome James Beard Award Hall of Fame winning chef, author, restaurateur, and social activist, Chef Pierre Thiam. Chef Pierre will share his culinary inspirations, his journey in building a cross-cultural food justice movement, and more with our community. Small bites and wine included.

About Executive Chef Pierre Thiam:
Pierre Thiam is a James Beard Hall of Fame-winning chef, author, and social activist best known for bringing West African cuisine to the global fine dining world. He is the executive chef and co-founder of Teranga, a fine-casual food chain from New York City that introduces healthy, casual fare directly sourced from farmers in West Africa. Pierre is also the Executive Chef of the award-winning restaurant Nok by Alara in Lagos, Nigeria and the Signature Chef of the five-star Pullman Hotel in Dakar, Senegal.  

His company Yolélé advocates for smallholder farmers in the Sahel by opening new markets for crops grown in Africa. The company’s signature product, Yolélé Fonio, a resilient and nutritious grain, is found in Whole Foods, Target, Amazon, and other retailers across America. 

Pierre has cooked for numerous government officials including the King of Morocco, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Through his devotion to advocacy, combined with his many media appearances, he has become known as a culinary ambassador. His mission is to promote West African cooking throughout the world. His TEDTalk, given at TEDGlobal 2017 in Arusha, Tanzania, has been viewed over one million times. 

He has authored four cookbooks: Simply West African (2023), The Fonio Cookbook: An Ancient Grain Rediscovered (2019), Senegal: Modern Senegalese Recipes from the Source to the Bowl (2015), and Yolele! Recipes From the Heart of Senegal (2008). He has won numerous awards and accolades for his cooking and advocacy.

About Farming Hope:

Farming Hope is a culinary job training and food justice nonprofit. We provide paid transitional job training to individuals overcoming obstacles to employment, offer nutritious culturally relevant meals and groceries free of charge to food-insecure families, and rescue food that would otherwise go to waste.