The restaurants who took part included Alimentum (Cambridge), Birmingham Hippodrome (Birmingham), Casamia (Bristol), Corpus Christi College (Cambridge), House of Tides (Newcastle), Paul Ainsworth Number 6 Restaurant (Padstow), Purnell’s Restaurant (Birmingham), Restaurant Sat Bains (Nottingham), TRUE foods, Wellocks (Lomeshaye, Lancashire), and The Dining Room at Mallory Court Hotel (Royal Leamington Spa).
The winner of the tournament was Great British Chefs, a digital publisher that releases recipes from great British chefs.
The tournament, sponsored by fresh and dried produce supplier Wellocks, was part of Farm Africa’s Food for Good campaign, bringing restaurants and the food industry together to help tackle hunger in east Africa.
The football idea came from Paul Foster, currently head chef at The Dining Room, and who previously worked at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire, French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley, Tuddenham Mill in Suffolk and Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham.
He said: “After visiting Farm Africa projects in Kenya last year it was an honour to organise the football tournament for a second year. The interest has been massive and it is amazing how many teams have got involved. Hopefully this will help raise even more awareness about the brilliant work that Farm Africa does.”
The first tournament took place last year in Cambridge and was won by Colchester-based Direct Meats, and the next event will take place in Slough on 21 September.