Dieuveil Malonga, the founder and chief chef of Meza Malonga, is a Congolese entrepreneur. According to CNN, he began his career in some of Europe’s best Michelin-starred restaurants.
Malonga, who grew up in Germany, is on a mission to create an Afro-fusion cuisine and has visited 48 of 54 African countries in order to obtain a thorough understanding of the continent’s unique traditions, foods, and ingredients.
“I would go into the villages and go to meet the grandmothers because they have amazing old techniques,” said Malonga. He fell in love with food through his grandmother, hence the reason he loves learning from grandmothers.
He created his own distinctive cuisine by merging his experience in European cooking with African cuisine; blending flavors and spices, as well as components from various African cultures to create a single dish.
“Food doesn’t have a border,” says Malonga. “Many things are connected, and that helps me to be creative – that’s all in my cuisine.”
According to CNN, he cooks a lot of West African food from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Ghana, as well as traditional foods from ethnolinguistic groups like the Maasai, Bantu, and Zulu.
Malonga’s ambition extends beyond Afro-fusion cuisine. As part of his food revolution, he is also constructing a $1.5 million “culinary innovation village” in Rwanda, which he plans to unveil in late 2024.
Although he intends to use the facility to interact with isolated and marginalized populations as part of his food revolution, it also provides an opportunity for him to further explore and develop his culinary craft.
Because the training school is located on the banks of Lake Ruhondo in Rwanda, he will have access to fresh fish. It is near a three-hectare farm from where Malonga already obtains its veggies.
“I like organic products – it’s very important for me to follow the whole process,” said Malonga, adding, “for me, Africa is the garden of the world.”
“It makes me proud to see what is happening now with African cuisine and the exposure we are getting,” he noted. “The next food revolution is already here.”
Meanwhile, he has launched “Chef in Africa,” a digital platform to network with over 4,000 potential chefs and culinary professionals.