From food chains to food networks.
खाद्य शृङ्खलाबाट खाद्य सञ्जालतर्फ
We connect the people who grow, prepare and share food in Nepal, so that the system that feeds us becomes fairer, stronger and more our own.
Illustration: Ubahang NembangFood in Nepal moves through chains. We think it should move through networks.
In a chain, each link knows only the next one. The farmer rarely meets the cook. The cook rarely meets the people who eat. And when one link breaks, everything after it stops, as the lockdowns showed us.
In a network, people are connected in many directions. When one road closes, another opens. Knowledge travels, and value is shared more fairly.
Nepal Food Networks is a not-for-profit company that weaves these connections, across districts, sectors and generations.
A chain: food passes from one hand to the next. Try breaking a link.
Growing, preparing, sharing
Growing
Farmers, seed keepers and cooperatives, and the soil, water and forests they look after.
Preparing
Cooks, kitchens, processors and food entrepreneurs, and the knowledge held in Nepal's many food cultures.
Sharing
Markets, schools, homes and festivals: the tables where food becomes community.
Our work happens where these three meet.
How we work
We connect before we build
Many answers already exist somewhere in Nepal. We find them and link them.
We go where food is
Conversations happen on farms, in kitchens and in community homestays, not only in meeting halls.
We work with others, not over them
Everything we do is shaped together with partners.
What we learn is open
Our knowledge and content are shared under a Creative Commons licence, free for anyone to use.
Where we have been
Our team came together in 2019 to plan Nepal Food, a national fair and summit for 2020. We registered Nepal Food Networks in 2020, just as the pandemic arrived. The fair went on hold, so we did what the moment asked of us.
- 3,600+warm meals cooked with farmers' produce during the 2021 lockdown
- 200+food system actors mapped across Nepal
- ~50 haof flood-damaged paddy recovered by 100 students and 50 farmers
- 3provincial food system gatherings, in Sudurpaschim, Koshi and Gandaki
- 5national dialogues contributing to the UN Food Systems Summit 2021
We are weaving again.
After a pause, Nepal Food Networks is starting again, slowly and with care. We are rebuilding with new people and a simple aim: to connect those already doing good work with food in Nepal, and see what grows from there.
If you grow, cook, sell, teach, research or fund food in Nepal, or you simply care about it, we would like to know you. And if you want to help build Nepal Food Networks itself, tell us in your message.