The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been bestowed with the prestigious Global Food Champion Award from BBC World Service. It was received by Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

The award was presented in Bristol at the BBC Food and Farming Awards. This was the third edition of the Global Food Champion. It recognises people or causes, which are contributing to the way the world produces, processes, consumes or thinks about food for the better. An international panel of judges chose Akshaya Patra unanimously among the nominations from the World Service audience.

Appreciating Akshaya Patra, the Iranian-American writer and chef Samin Nosrat, Head Judge of the panel said, “I am really moved by getting school lunches paid for in the States and so to see it being done on such a large scale and in such an incredible way by Akshaya Patra that was a really moving and powerful thing to see. There is nothing more important to me than getting children fed. Several studies have proven that this is fundamental.”

Adding to this, Stephen Titherington, Senior Commissioning Editor, BBC World Service said, “Akshaya Patra is a great winner, and we’re so glad the competition has had such support from the public and from the judges. The need to understand the difficulties for many of finding enough to eat is crucial; understanding the economics and the politics of food is a vital part of understanding the world.”

“It’s a matter of great pride for us to be selected for this award. I would like to thank the BBC World Service, on behalf of 1.76 million children whom we serve every day, day after day,” said Shridhar Venkat, CEO – Akshaya Patra.

WRAP, a UK-based charity aiming to lower down the waste across a wide range of sectors and Food 4 Education, an NGO providing heavily subsidised meals at the elementary schools in Nairobi, Kenya were the other shortlisted projects for the 2019 Global Food Champion Award.