Like a Chef is an employment training program that provides underprivileged people with culinary workplace skills with a focus on sustainable cooking.
The ten-week culinary training program, which was developed in partnership with Worldchefs and AIESEC, has the objective to train a new generation of kitchen professionals by providing an extensive overview of cooking techniques. It also aims to make them aware of the importance of sustainability in the culinary industry by emphasizing a sustainable and zero food waste approach.
Launched in late 2017, Like a Chef aims to contribute to the Electrolux Food Foundation goal to educate and train over 12,000 people around the world by 2030. By the end of 2020, almost 300 people had been trained on the Like a Chef program in total.
The Like a Chef Curriculum
The original 8-week curriculum piloted in Brazil includes 112 hours of training and is made up of the following modules:
- Hygiene and Food Safety (1 week)
- Basic skills (2 weeks)
- Cooking techniques (2 weeks)
- Garde Manger/Pantry Chef (2 weeks)
- Bakery and Pastry (1 week)
It also includes one or two weeks of additional soft skill training in order to increase the students’ chance of finding a job.
The curriculum is adapted to each location in terms of content and duration when replicated in other countries.
Culinary training around the world
The Like a Chef training program began in Brazil at the end of 2017 and has since being implemented in several different countries.
Brazil – As of April 2021, the program had trained around 180 people in the cities of Curitiba, São Carlos and São Paulo. During the coronavirus pandemic, the program continued to be implemented through a new blended learning format that includes digital and face-to-face learning and was developed in collaboration with local partners, with a focus on entrepreneurship.
Russia – Like a Chef is active in Moscow and targets young adults about to leave foster care. The program was launched in 2018, but was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic. It is set to restart in Q4 2021 in collaboration with a local culinary school and the Russian Chef Association.
Sweden – The program works through Yalla Rinkeby – a worker-owned social enterprise to help immigrant women in Stockholm. The first students were trained in 2019 and an online version of the program was launched in 2020 following the coronavirus pandemic.
Ukraine – The program was launched at the end of 2019 and trained 14 young people living in in orphanages in Kiev before being suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected to be restarted in Q4 2021.
Poland – In collaboration with the country’s National Federation of Food Banks, the program was held in the city of Olzstyn. A new version of the program is being discussed for 2021/2022.
Egypt – Unemployed women from Cairo were trained in a kitchen specially built in the Electrolux cooker factory, close to the Egyptian capital. The program was suspended when the pandemic began, and the plan is to restart it in the second half of 2021.
Like a Chef participants in Brazil
Like a Chef participants in Egypt
