Tinkpa ng Foundation
Tamale · GH
§ 01 — Mission

We cook
to remember.
We cook to renew.

The future of West African food is not somewhere else. It's in the millet our grandmothers stored, the calabash a child carries, the slow sauce a woman has cooked a thousand times.

Tinkpang exists to make that future legible. We work with women, youth, farmers and chefs to celebrate indigenous ingredients, preserve ancestral techniques, and prove — meal by meal — that heritage and innovation belong on the same plate.

We are based in Tamale and rooted in Dagbon, but our kitchen borrows from every corner of the Sahel and the coast.

Outcome

A vibrant, sustainable food ecosystem that honors tradition and empowers the communities who built it.

§ Mission 01

What we do

  • ·Promote sustainable farming
  • ·Celebrate indigenous foods
  • ·Empower women
  • ·Engage the youth
  • ·Preserve cultural stories
§ Vision 02

Where we are going

  • ·Sustainable food systems become the norm
  • ·Indigenous foods celebrated for nutrition & culture
  • ·Women lead the West African kitchen
  • ·Youth carry ancestral knowledge forward
  • ·Stories preserved across borders
§ Outcome 03

What we leave behind

  • ·Communities feeding themselves better
  • ·A larger market for indigenous crops
  • ·Women earning fairly for their craft
  • ·Schools teaching real food literacy
  • ·A living archive of West African cuisine
§ Behind the kitchen

Founded by Chef Dee.

Khadijatu Yussif Iddi — better known as Chef Dee — is a Tamale-born chef reinterpreting the foods of her childhood into what some have called nouveau cuisine du Sahel. She trained in culinary arts, runs a small-batch bakery, and has spent the last years working with local women and mostly hyperlocal ingredients to prove that Northern Ghanaian cooking deserves a place on any table.

Tinkpang Foundation is how she scales that work outward — into farms, schools, festivals and the next generation of cooks.

Based
Tamale, Northern Region
Trained
Culinary Arts · Pastry
Focus
Indigenous West African food
An innovative hub celebrating West Africa’s culinary heritage through sustainable farming, indigenous ingredients, and the women who keep our recipes alive.
IG FB LI
Programs
Women's Culinary Empowerment
Youth & Sustainable Agriculture
Indigenous Food Innovation
Cultural Storytelling & Archive
Get in touch
info@tinkpan.com
Tamale, Northern Region
Ghana, West Africa
© 2026 Tinkpang Foundation · A Chef Dee initiative Cooking the future of West African food.