On Thursday morning, Sept. 24, Food Tank will host “Chefs Save the World” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with The James Beard Foundation and CARE. The morning will highlight how culinary leaders are using their platforms to drive meaningful impact in their communities and beyond.
Chefs are far more than culinary innovators. From reducing food waste and supporting regenerative agriculture to championing local producers, improving nutrition, and responding to humanitarian crises, they are helping shape a more sustainable and equitable food system.
Discussions will feature voices of global farmers, explore the barriers facing women farmers, and highlight the solutions—including those in partnership with chefs—driving meaningful change.
“Every meal served today starts with a farmer, and in much of the world that farmer is a woman working land she does not own, in a climate she did not destabilize, with less access to credit, seed, and training than the men farming beside her,” says Maria Hinson Tobin, Executive Director of Agribusiness Partnerships at CARE.
“Women are feeding their families, their communities, and contributing to the world’s food resources. Their resilience is the most undervalued asset in the global food system, and events like this exist to make sure it stops being invisible.”
The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances, followed by a reception including lunch until 12:45pm.
Speakers and performers include Chef Fariyal Abdullahi, Executive Chef and Partner, Hav & Mar; Chef Bleu Adams, Executive Chef, Black Lamb Group, and Director, IndigeHub; Fernando González, Co-Founder and Pitmaster, 2Fifty Texas BBQ; Roman Goron, French-Filipino-American jazz pianist, composer, and producer at Juilliard; Erica Helms, Chief Growth Officer, James Beard Foundation; Emily Janoch, Associate Vice President for Evidence and Learning, CARE; Ellie Krieger, Dietitian and Nutritionist, Host of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger on Food Network and Ellie’s Real Good Food on PBS, and Columnist, The Washington Post; Anne E. McBride, PhD, Vice President of Impact, James Beard Foundation; Taylor Montgomery, James Beard Award-Winning Chef, Farmer, and Co-Founder, Montgomery Sky Farm; Liz Murray, Chief Operating Officer, The Marlow Collective; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Chris Noble, Associate Vice President, Corporate Partnerships, CARE; Chef Grace Ramirez, Chef, La Latina Cocina and Aramark Collegiate Hospitality; Nishant Roy, Chief Impact Officer, Chobani; Deena Shanker, Writer, Bloomberg Businessweek; Chef Sean Sherman, Founder and Executive Director, NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems); Janae Yates, New York-based drummer, composer, and bandleader who studied at Juilliard and has performed at Lincoln Center and internationally; and Andrew Zimmern, Emmy- and James Beard Award-winning chef, television host, author, and food advocate.
“Chefs Save the World” will feature a special musical performance by Nick T. Daly, an actor, singer, and dancer currently appearing Off-Broadway in The Heart; previously in MJ the Musical on Broadway. He will be joined by Elijah Caldwell, an OBIE Award-winning actor, singer, pianist, and music director whose credits include A Strange Loop Off-Broadway and the national tour of Shucked.
This summit will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2026.
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