Announcing Chef Leyla Fathallah UNEP advocate on Food Waste for West Asia

Name: Announcing Chef Leyla Fathallah UNEP advocate on Food Waste for West Asia
Start: 2023-03-21
End: 2023-03-21
Location: United Arab Emirates

21 March 2023

Dubai , United Arab Emirates

Overview

Chef Leyla's Biography

The UNEP Regional Office for West Asia will be announcing renowned Lebanese Chef Leyla Fathallah as UNEP advocate on Food Waste for West Asia region in an event hosted by Hilton’s Conrad Dubai

The event will also include the launching of UNEP’s Sustainable Ramadan Campaign to combat food waste and raise awareness about the adverse impacts of food waste on the environment, on food security notably by intensifying hunger in a region that relies heavily on imports, and on climate change in addition to spreading information on ways to reduce food waste and to promote action towards achieving SDG 12.3

UNEP’s State of Food Waste in West Asia (2021) estimates that food waste increases in the region by 25 to 50 % during religious and social festivities due to the preparation of meals that far exceed families’ needs, with leftovers often being thrown away.

As the world is trying to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 – on halving global food waste per capita at the retail and consumer levels by 2030 – Chef Leyla’s appointment aims to step up the fight against the problem of food waste in a region which relies on food imports and where evidence shows wastage of large quantities of food.

Chef Leyla will be supporting UNEP West Asia’s campaigns on food waste through her social media accounts, recording public service announcements and carrying out speaking engagements or personal appearances at high profile events.

Chef Leyla Fathallah

Chef Leyla, (Lebanon) is a prominent chef in the

Middle Eastern region, who started as a chef and host on the cooking channel Fatafeat TV in 2009, and developed since then a strong presence in the Middle Eastern food scene.

Based in Dubai, Chef Leyla is an influencer on social media platforms and TV shows with a solid 1.4 million followers base on Instagram and 2 million on Facebook. She was also recognized by the Facebook #SheCreates, among the most influential women for 2021 and one of the “leading women in the media industry throughout the Middle East”.

In February 2023, she was appointed UNEP advocate on food waste in West Asia[i] region, for three years.

Prior to that, in 2021, she was the UNEP West Asia voice on the topic of food waste through the Recipe of Change campaign. She conveyed the message on food waste through contributing to awareness raising campaigns, participating in talk shows and sharing zero waste recipe ideas and tips on her social media platforms.

Currently a partner of Sennara sea food concept in Dubai, Chef Leyla is preparing to launch her meal plan company BALANCE in Dubai that prepares healthy meals with zero waste recipes.

Back in 2020, after the Beirut port Blast, Chef Leyla launched a fund-raising initiative through her international connections to assist families affected by the blast. She volunteered and cooked 500 meals per day in her hometown, that were distributed through humanitarian associations to homeless people

Throughout her career, Chef Leyla gave cooking classes at the Lebanese International university in Beirut and has been featured in publications and workshops. She has been the brand ambassador for the most prominent brands in the Arab region including Maggi, Pyrex, Luminarc, Sensodyne, and Shehrazad Rice.

Finally, Chef Leyla is an inspiration for the young women of the region as she represents leadership, commitment, and integrity pushing women to pursue their goals and careers and be active members of society. With her growing network and influence in the industry, she has the power to promote UNEP’s work in reducing and eliminating food loss and waste.

[i] West Asia region includes twelve Arab Countries namely: Kingdom of Bahrain; Republic of Iraq; The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; State of Kuwait; Republic of Lebanon; Sultanate of Oman; State of Palestine; State of Qatar; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Syrian Arab Republic; United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Yemen.