Oxford Cultural Collective has announced the recipients of its 2026 scholarships, awarding £5,000 grants to two projects exploring the role of food in culture, communities and sustainability.
Diva Garg has received funding for From Their Farms To Our Plates: a journey to India, while Fariya and Sahar Sharif have been selected for Fire In Our Bellies.
The recipients were announced at a reception at Kings Place in London on 26 September following a selection process involving six shortlisted projects.
Fire In Our Bellies will bring together different generations of Glasgow’s Pakistani diaspora to share and preserve traditional cooking techniques and knowledge.
Created by Fariya and Sahar Sharif, the project will use workshops and online publications to support the transfer of culinary knowledge between generations while documenting elements of the community’s food heritage.
Diva Garg’s From Their Farms To Our Plates: a journey to India will create immersive trips to India for food professionals and students.
Participants will explore relationships between farming, food systems, communities, culture and climate change, with the project designed to provide first-hand exposure to the people and practices involved in food production.
Its longer-term ambition is to develop into a financially self-sustaining programme incorporating additional destinations.
Don Sloan, Founder of Oxford Cultural Collective, said: “Diva, Fariya and Sahar presented compelling ideas rooted in a deep understanding of the power of food to connect people, cultures and communities.
“While very different in their approaches, both projects have the potential to create meaningful and lasting impact. They combine ambition with a clear sense of purpose, and we are delighted to support Diva, Fariya and Sahar as they turn their ideas into reality.
“The quality of this year’s shortlist made the selection process extremely challenging. All six proposals demonstrated imagination, commitment and a belief in the potential of food and hospitality to be forces for positive change.”
As scholarship recipients, Garg and the Sharif sisters will join previous winners on Oxford Cultural Collective’s Antonio Carluccio Changemakers Programme.
The programme provides ongoing access to industry practitioners and mentors as recipients develop their projects and careers.
The other shortlisted projects were Dylan Grinker’s Refunkt Starter Packs, Craig McCorquodale’s Please Stay and Kai Meredith’s Veg Business.
Oxford Cultural Collective will now work with the recipients as the two winning projects move into their development and implementation stages.
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