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One of the leading personalities from the London restaurant scene has joined top UK chef Ashley Palmer-Watts in the challenge of a lifetime to help tackle hunger in Africa.
Paulo de Tarso, winner of Best Front of House 2010, is the senior Maître D’ at Knightsbridge’s restaurant Bar Boulud but he will soon be swapping the elegant surroundings of his dining room for the mountain slopes of Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro.
De Tarso has joined forces for the climb with another powerhouse of the London restaurant scene, Ashley Palmer-Watts, who is head chef at Dinner by Heston Bumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park.
Ashley travelled to Kenya last year with the leading UK charity Farm Africa to see for himself its work to help tackle hunger in the country. The charity supports farmers living at subsistence level and helps them to build food and income security, so they can grow a better and reliable future for their families.
Explaining what got him involved in climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro which stands at 5,895 metres above sea level, Paul said: “My friend Ashley Palmer Watts asked me to be part of it. We had coffee at Bar Boulud and he told me about his last trip to Africa. He was so emotional about it, so moved by the experience of being there, I had to be part of it.
“I love what Farm Africa is doing. They are helping with funds and raising awareness, but what I love is that they also teaching self-reliance and sustainability. This can be passed on to future generations and have lasting meaning. Hopefully with projects like this, we can end hunger!”
Paulo and Ashley will be joined for the climb by two other leading UK chefs: Paul Foster (head chef at Tuddenham Mill in Suffolk); and John Freeman (head chef at Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham).
You can follow the chefs in real time as they train for, and take on Kilimanjaro, via their dedicated blog:www.farmafrica.org/chefswithaltitude
You can also follow all the action on Twitter via #Chefkili
To support Ashley, Paulo, John, Paul and Paul, please visit:http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/chefskilimanjaroclimb or text CHEF13 followed by £(amount) to 70070
