Bruno Loubet and Paul Foster join Ashley Palmer-Watts to raise more than £25k for Farm Africa

21-Nov-2012 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 07:23 GMT

Related tags Farm africa Chef Heston blumenthal Africa

Ashley Palmer-Watts has announced he is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Farm Africa and has challenged other chefs to join him as Bruno Loubet and Paul Foster joined the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal head chef last week to help raise more than £25k for the charity.

Farm-Africa-0868 — Following Ashley's Chef Africa challenge, he cooked a fundraising meal for Farm Africa last week

At a fundraiser dinner held at the Sainsbury's HQ, the Michelin-starred chef and executive chef for The Fat Duck Group confirmed he would be tackling the world’s tallest free-standing mountain next year.

Ashley will be using the trip as a chance to show the chefs joining him for the climb where he spent a week in Kenya on his Chef Africa challenge.

The chef had first mooted his desire to take on Kilimanjaro at The Restaurant Show last month where he explained why he had decided to visit a Farm Africa project in the East African nation and why he thought the restaurant industry should get involved with the charity's work.

You can get a taste of Ashley's discussion by watching the video at the top of this page.

£25k dinner

Farm-Africa-0928 — Ashley was joined by fellow chefs Paul Foster and Bruno Loubet

Fellow chefs Bruno Loubet from Bistrot Bruno Loubet and Paul Foster from Tuddenham Mill joined Ashley last week to produce a spectacular meal for a room full of diners from the restaurant, food production and charity worlds.

Guests tucked into a meal including Ashley's signature Meat Fruit dish before an auction of prizes, including a day's cooking with the chef at his Knightsbridge restaurant. The auction helped raise more than £25k to support the charity in its aim of developing a prosperous and sustainable rural Africa.

Speaking at the dinner, Ashley said of Farm Africa's work in Kenya: "They are transforming people’s lives – helping them to feed their families, produce

Farm-Africa-1205 — Bruno Loubet cooked the starter - flame grilled mackerel

an income, send their children and grandchildren to school and finally move away from food aid – for good.

"I really hope that I will be able to communicate just how much this project means to people like Joyce and share some of the fun we had learning from each other," he added.

For more on Ashley's 'life-changing' trip including his online diary, a photo gallery and a mini-documentary video of his Chef Africa challenge, click here. Keep checking BigHospitality for updates in the build-up to the Mount Kilimanjaro climb and for details on how you can support the charity.

Photography courtesy of Farm Africa and Jonathan Banks.