Kitchen Connection started as a project of our founder Earlene Cruz, after she lost her wallet while doing research in Ghana. Earlene was invited into the home of a local family that shared shelter, company, and home-cooked meals with her for the remainder of her stay. To maintain a relationship with her selfless hosts built upon their shared love for good food, Earlene arranged video calls to catch up and prepare traditional Ghanaian meals with their guidance. Her desire to share “gastrodiplomacy” with others grew and gave rise to Kitchen Connection, an organization committed to uniting people using food as a vehicle to greater discussions about the food system.

With the support of our partners, Kitchen Connection has now evolved into The Kitchen Connection Alliance. We maintain that there cannot be a conversation about food without food on the table, so our online and in-person events bring people together to cook, share, and act in support of a better food system for all. Our goal is to meet people where they are: in libraries, schools, markets, and in their own kitchens, using innovative approaches to alleviate some of the biggest challenges to our food system and recognizing the power that we all have to solve them.

At, Youth Representative Earlene Cruz discusses how climate change affects farmers on the ground and speaks about her project on making the most nutritionally effective, culturally appropriate and least wasteful recipe.