Football’s cooking home to Farm Africa’s football tournament

This August, for the sixth year running, football teams from some of the UK’s top restaurants will come together in support of farmers living in eastern Africa.

Although united in their mission to raise funds for Farm Africa, fierce competition can be expected amongst teams and with last year’s winners, Portland Restaurant, not participating the competition is wide open.

The tournament is annually organised by award-winning chef Paul Foster, who is a long-term supporter of Farm Africa and has raised thousands of pounds for the charity over the last decade.

“The tournament started in 2012,” said Foster. “It was originally organised to gain extra support and sponsorship for an attempt to climb Kilimanjaro with fellow chefs. Since then it has become an annual event and a great way to shout about the important work that Farm Africa do. Having visited some of their projects myself, I recognise the vital mission of the charity and I love that the tournament is able to grow and support them more and more each year.”

This year’s event is taking place at Star City, Birmingham on Sunday 12 August and is kindly sponsored by TRUEfoods who specialise in making and selling top quality, natural products.

All money raised from the tournament will go towards supporting Farm Africa’s work to reduce poverty by helping farmers in eastern Africa to grow more, sell more and sell for more.

Danny Everett, Farm Africa’s Events Manager said: “It’s brilliant to see the food and hospitality community coming together in support of African farmers. The tournament, alongside our new movement, Chefs for Change, demonstrates the food industry’s commitment to tackling poverty in rural Africa. Huge thanks to all of the teams taking part, and particularly to Paul Foster who works so hard each year to put the event on, and to TRUEfoods, our brilliant sponsors. Apparently, football’s not coming home this year – we disagree. May the best team win!”

Teams currently signed up include: TRUEfoods, Adams Restaurant, Alderly Edge Hotel, AM Bailey, Bandana Monkey, Belmont Hotel, Casamia, Corpus Christi College, Flourish, Hampton Manor, John’s House, Lime Recruitment, The Wilderness & Ritter Courivaud.

There are still a few places available, so if you think you and your crew have got what it takes to bring home the trophy, you can register on the Farm Africa website: http://www.farmafrica.org/chefs-football-tournament or contact Paul Foster on Twitter via @Paulfosterchef.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 16 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 560,000 followers across Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.