Nourish. Regenerate. Empower.
The Gap
There is a stark disconnect in Africa between the nutritious indigenous foods that once flourished and the imported goods and one-sided diets now dominating supermarket shelves, farms, and plates. This shift has disrupted health, reduced incomes, degraded the environment, and eroded cultural traditions.
The Challenge
Displaced Diets, Disconnected Systems
Although Africa is home to more native cereals than any other continent, many traditional staples have been displaced—first through colonization, then by global trade and policies. Today, imported wheat and rice dominate diets, while maize—though locally grown—has replaced many traditional foods. These three crops now form the base of most meals, filling bellies but offering little nourishment. Despite agriculture employing over half the population, much of Africa’s food is still imported. This disconnect between land, labor, and nutrition has depleted soils, unbalanced diets, caused illness, and put traditional knowledge at risk.
Imported foods are often seen as superior—symbols of status and modernity—while indigenous plants are overlooked, even when they grow wild in home gardens. Many people are unaware of their nutritional or medicinal value. As this knowledge is largely passed on orally, it continues to disappear, along with access to the seeds that sustain it.
Small-Scale Farmers, Big Barriers
Besides being unable to afford school lunch for their children, many small-scale farmers face a range of interconnected challenges. These include limited access to safe processing technologies, proper facilities, and quality equipment to extend the shelf life of their products. Many also struggle with the effects of climate change, limited arable land, and no access to reliable market linkages. As a result, they often experience high post-harvest losses or are forced to sell their goods below value due to unmet quality standards. At the same time, large companies pressure farmers to buy hybrid seeds tied to chemical-based value chains, further increasing their dependency and undermining long-term sustainability.
When Aid Undermines Self-Reliance
At the same time, NGO feeding programs have unintentionally promoted one-dimensional diets. These donations have shifted the responsibility of feeding children away from parents, fostering dependency and limiting self-sufficiency.
Breaking the Cycle
BODY&SOIL is born from a deep passion to change a system that makes both people and nature sick—and dependent.
We empower people with hands-on, practical solutions to break free from this cycle. With a team of experts in soil health, hygienic processing, and cooking for nutrition, we are implementing these solutions directly with children and parents in two community schools. At the same time, we’re integrating nutrition and practical food knowledge into the curriculum of RUCID Organic Agricultural College—where BODY&SOIL is based—ensuring the next generation is equipped to grow, prepare, and value nourishing food.
How We Work
A seed in the soil. A skill in the hands. A future reimagined.
Weekly Learning Clubs
In two community schools, we run weekly clubs for children in regenerative farming, food processing, and cooking for nutrition. Children choose their club leaders and actively shape what they learn—planting a diversity in crops, creating healthy recipes, and testing local food products.
Each club is guided by a team of chefs, nutritionists, soil health and processing experts from BODY&SOIL. Children learn real-world skills in hygienic food processing, healthy cooking, and agroecology. Those interested can also choose to receive an official assessment and certificate—a first step toward future income-generating opportunities.
Hands-On Education
As part of their coursework, students from RUCID Organic Agriculture College spend several hours a week at our partner schools. They guide the children in planting the school gardens we are developing, teach sustainable farming methods, and gain hands-on experience to become future extension workers—equipped to support other farmers with practical skills and deep community knowledge.
Students Teaching Students
Taste, Test, Transform
Flavour Meets Future
Our energy-saving kitchen classroom is a food innovation space where children, students, and farmers taste-test nutritious dishes, share feedback, and help shape new ways of preparing food.
With limited access to daily meals—some relying only on starchy staples, others unable to afford lunch at all—many children struggle with undernourishment. Our approach connects what grows in the fields with what ends up on the plate, making healthy food both accessible and enjoyable.
A New Kind of Nutrition Class
At RUCID, students now attend a weekly Soil to Plate session led by BODY&SOIL — where they gain hands-on nutrition knowledge by cooking and learning with real food. Together, we explore what we eat, why it matters, and how common issues like ulcers are linked to diet. We trace the roots of ingredients to understand what’s truly local and nourishing. This practical approach — new to RUCID — is preparing students to become changemakers in their communities, teaching others how to grow and eat for health.
As we develop our regenerative agriculture and nutrition education programs in Uganda, we are documenting everything—from hands-on farming to practical nutrition teaching. This allows us to create online training videos and an offline academy, providing scalable learning tools for other communities and schools across Africa.
By co-creating this knowledge with local communities, we offer real-world examples of how to grow food regeneratively, cook for better health, and strengthen local food systems.
Alongside our digital tools, we will also host in-person training programs in regenerative food and farming at our BODY&SOIL base in Mityana, Uganda, in partnership with RUCID Organic Agriculture College.
Scaling Education
Growing Our Indigenous Seed Bank
We are expanding the indigenous seed bank originally established by RUCID, with a renewed focus on preserving traditional seeds, medicinal plants, and local biodiversity. We collect and multiply seeds brought in by local farmersand by the students who attend the RUCID Organic Agriculture College from across Uganda.
Through community-led research, we identify and document indigenous varieties, and when needed, send them to labs for nutritional testing and official recognition. This helps validate and reintroduce forgotten foods into local diets. The BODY&SOIL seed bank is open to all farmers free of charge—in exchange for multiplying the seeds and contributing to a shared, regenerative future.
From Fields to Homes: Nurturing Knowledge, Growing Communities
What we teach doesn’t stay in the classroom—it’s already changing homes and habits.
Parents have begun telling us remarkable stories: their children come home, head straight to the garden, and cook blackjack greens, once thought of as a useless weed. Others report that their children are showing them how to make natural pesticides, or how to grow more food on their land using sustainable methods like better spacing and regenerative practices. This knowledge-sharing is exactly what we aim for—transformation through participation.
To support this, we’re intentionally involving parents in the process. The children who can't afford school fees and even the parents are welcomed into after-school clubs, where they learn side by side with their children and receive a certificate at the end of the year. We're also inviting families to bring the local foods they don’t usually prepare, so we can rediscover and cook them together. We’ve started offering community courses in crop processing to help parents reduce waste, extend shelf life, and gain new income opportunities. Many have told us that despite working hard, they still can’t grow enough to feed their families or cover the cost of school meals.
This is why we believe in more than just growing school gardens.
We’re growing a culture of shared responsibility—where students, parents, and schools work together to nourish both body and soil for lasting change.
Reaching Families, Not Just Students
Food is where healing begins. That’s why we’re co-creating a community cookbook—a living collection of meals that are not only delicious, but also nutritionally rich, culturally rooted, and locally sourced. Everything we cook at BODY&SOIL is tested together with our students at RUCID and the children in our school programs. We explore which dishes they enjoy most, which ones they don’t, and how we can improve the flavors, textures, or presentation—without compromising on health.
Together, we experiment with affordable, garden-based alternatives to staples like rice, maize, and other starch-heavy meals. The goal is to find options that taste good, are easy to grow, and honor local traditions—proving that healthy food can also be joyful, familiar, and satisfying. Our most loved and successful recipes are being written down and compiled into the BODY&SOIL cookbook—a resource for communities in Uganda and beyond. It will be shared freely at the local level, but also the goal is to be published internationally, so people around the world can learn, be inspired, and join this movement for health, dignity, and regeneration.
Cooking Together, Growing Together: The BODY&SOIL Cookbook
This is a story of what’s possible when we grow and cook with care, learn, and remember the power of our own foods.
Want to Be Part of the Movement Toward Holistic Health?
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Donate to Educate
Help us co-create the BODY&SOIL cookbook by funding tools from seedlings to kitchen gear. Your monthly gift supports also our local salaries—and you’ll receive recipes and updates to nourish your own table.
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Companies for Change
Are you a company driven by purpose and sustainability? Support a cause that reflects your values. In return, we welcome you to visit—get your hands in the soil, stir the pots, and experience the impact you’re helping to grow.
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Share Your Expertise
Are you an expert in nutrition, regenerative farming, or food processing? Come to Uganda, stay at our BODY&SOIL guesthouse, and share your knowledge with hands-on training. Your expertise will help deepen our impact.
How It All Started
