experience
Meza Malonga Dieuveil Malonga is one of Africa’s most
to this is nurturing the next generation of African chefs. The Village offers a two-year programme teaching everything from kitchen craft to leadership. Many students are orphans or refugees. Others are simply following a passion. Then came the meal. Eight courses tracing the diverse culinary traditions of the continent, each paired with a wine or non-alcoholic beverage, and introduced by the chef who made it — a defining spice passed around the table, its origin and story told before the first bite. It’s a world- class experience. Four hours you’ll savour long after the last delightful mouthful. Much of the produce used in the kitchen is grown at the Village or sourced seasonally from local farmers. This ties in with Dieuveil’s vision for food to act as a climate solution and empower African communities to preserve the environments they call home. We ended the afternoon on the balcony with him. As the clouds rolled in, he pointed to the horizon, to where Kwitonda is. “I hope you felt home,” he repeated to us. By then, we did.
impressive, innovative chefs. Born in Linzolo, a village near the DRC’s capital of Brazzaville, he moved to Germany as a teenager, trained in the culinary arts, and worked his way through three Michelin-starred kitchens. Drawn to return to his roots, he moved to Rwanda in 2020 to open Meza Malonga in Kigali, soon recognised as one of the world’s 50 best restaurants. In 2025, he closed it and relocated here. The Culinary Innovation Village is a largely self- sustaining ecosystem, comprising a farm, school, accommodation, and restaurant with views over the lake and five volcanoes on the horizon. We were met at the door with a “Welcome, feel home,” and given a tour of the facility. Some of its rooms house more than 400 fragrant spices from Egypt to Nigeria to Cameroon, in calabashes and clay pots. “We want to share the culinary heritage of the continent,” Dieuveil told us. “Blending cultures, mixing tradition and innovation. That’s what Afrofusion means to me.” Central
Right For Chef Dieuveil Malonga, food is a means to nurture both people and land.
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