About the African Food Summit & Expo
The policy and thought leadership platform for Africa's food ecosystem; Now in London.
What Is AFSE?
The African Food Summit & Expo (AFSE) is the policy-facing, thought leadership platform within the African Food Network ecosystem. It is designed to move food conversations beyond celebration into structured coordination. The Summit brings together governments, development institutions, agricultural leaders, culinary professionals, food entrepreneurs, media voices, and cultural organisations, from Africa and internationally, to advance a shared agenda for Africa's food future.
AFSE UK 2026, hosted in London during Black History Month, is the first international edition of the Summit. It marks a deliberate expansion into diaspora markets and global institutional networks, connecting African food leadership with one of the world's most influential cities.
Food systems and sustainability
Culinary heritage and cultural identity
Entrepreneurship and value-chain development
Youth and diaspora participation
UK-Africa institutional collaboration
Gastronomic tourism and soft power
The Summit Within the Movement
AFSE is an initiative of the African Food Network, the continental media, events, and ecosystem platform dedicated to documenting, promoting, and globalising African food culture. Within the AFN ecosystem, the Summit is the institutional layer. Where the African Food & Drinks Festival creates cultural energy, AFSE creates structured dialogue. Where United by Food tells the story, AFSE coordinates the response.
In London, that coordination gains new strategic dimension. The UK is home to over 1.5 million people of African heritage, a mature African food and hospitality sector, and institutional infrastructure well-positioned to accelerate African food enterprise globally.
AFSE UK 2026 provides a space for:
- Policy engagement between African and UK governments and institutions
- Enterprise visibility for African food brands in the UK and international market
- Cross-sector collaboration spanning agriculture, culture, and investment
- Strategic conversations that produce outcomes, not only declarations
Our Vision
African food is not only heritage. It is strategy.
Our vision is to build a connected, sustainable African food ecosystem that is globally respected, institutionally supported, and community-rooted.
We work toward:
- Preserving culinary traditions and intergenerational food knowledge
- Strengthening youth, SME, and diaspora participation across the food value chain
- Building institutional alignment between African and international food stakeholders
- Elevating African cuisine globally as a force of culture, commerce, and soft power
- Creating durable frameworks for cross-border food system collaboration
Through AFSE, that vision becomes action, in structured dialogue, in measurable partnerships, and in long-term institutional relationships.
The First of Many
AFSE UK 2026 is the Summit's first international edition, the first step in a deliberate programme of global expansion, taking Africa's food leadership platform to diaspora cities and international institutions where that leadership needs to be heard.