About HIH

Mission

Our mission is to support our members & clients in promoting sustainable gastronomy through evocative events, culinary tourism, and educational material. Our farm to fork approach is anchored in HIH’ core values.

Vision

Our vision is to accelerate the transition to sustainable gastronomy and establish HIH as a leading agency that helps members & clients exceed their ESG, CSR, and green goals in Food & Beverage.

Audience

Our members & clients include hospitality companies, tourism boards, DMCs, PCOs, MICE organizers, and educational institutions across EMEA and beyond.

Our Story

Transition from F&B

Our journey is an organic one. After a Food & Beverage career on different continents, Nico Dingemans founded “Hospitality Perspectives” providing executive search services to hotel clients in Europe and the Middle East including Emaar, Four Seasons, LHW, IHG, Hilton, and Fairmont. Nico also placed hotel executives for hospitals and clinics in Qatar, leading to valuable insights on the correlation (and gaps) between health, wellness, food, and hospitality. This unique experience prompted our rebranding to Hospitality in Health (HIH) in 2010.

Returning to our roots in F&B, and driven by a vision that the hospitality industry needs to pivot to healthier menus and enhanced expertise, HIH launched Health Cuisine – the rediscovery of healthy food cultures around the world. Our own learning journey (described in this article) brought us to Chiva Som, The Mira Hong Kong, and SHA Wellness to explore Thai Spa Cuisine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Macrobiotics. In the Netherlands we delved deeper into the value chain From Farm to Fork, highlighting sustainable agriculture and exemplary (Michelin) chefs, marking the beginning of HIH’s transition to Sustainable Gastronomy.

To Sustainable Gastronomy

In 2012, we published our first culinary book From Farm to Fork in Twente. This led to guest lectures at the Cas Spijkers Culinary Academy and Saxion University of Applied Sciences, various guest speaker invitations, eight culinary conferences with renowned Michelin chefs such as Massimo Bottura and Heinz Reitbauer, as well as the publication of two more culinary books. Venturing abroad, he launched a Farm to Fork concept for Avila Beach Hotel in Curaçao in 2018, followed by the launch of From Farm to Fork in Jordan in 2020.

HIH’s culinary tourism strategy in Jordan is aligned with the UN Tourism Guidelines for Gastronomy Tourism. The goal is to position the country as a food destination with a central role for Sustainable Gastronomy at the intersection of Agriculture, Culinary Arts, Heritage, Destination Management, and Responsible Tourism. In 2024, UN Tourism invited HIH to present the culmination of our work at the 9th UN Tourism World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism in Bahrain. Today, the combination of our experiences, values, and global network, makes HIH a reputed Sustainable Gastronomy Agency with an unambiguous Mission, Vision, and Audience.

Four Core Values

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Health Cuisine

Ingredients and dishes addressing: immune system, gut and heart health, essential amino and fatty acids, allergens, lowering vitamin deficiencies, macro minerals, trace minerals, natural detox. Holistic approaches: Ayurveda, Macrobiotics, Mediterranean food traditions, Traditional Arabic Islamic Medicine (TAIM), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Environmental Stewardship

Farmers, fishermen, growers, and shepherds who focus on biodiversity, seasonality, soil health, animal welfare, sustainable fisheries & aquaculture, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, biodynamic farming, permaculture, nature-inclusive farming, GMO-free, antibiotics-free.

Responsible Innovation

Blue economy, circularity, no-waste, traceability, protein transition, food integrity, food tech, future food, urban farming, desert farming, regeneration, water efficiency, renewable energy, and elimination of plastic, microplastics, phthalates, bisphenols, PFAS/forever chemicals.

Socioeconomic Impact

Food security, food sovereignty, indigenous food cultures, heritage preservation, rural development, agricultural inclusion, community, gender equality, generational succession, lowering import dependency, short value chains, fair food, Slow Food alignment, SDGs.

our solutions

our portfolio

Nico Dingemans

Our Managing Director

HIH founder Nico Dingemans has over 25 years of international hospitality experience in seven countries. He has a diverse hospitality background as hotelier, food writer, speaker, consultant, and special events organizer. Since 2012, he collaborated with over 60 Michelin-starred and leading chefs from 12 countries, contributing to his culinary books, campaigns, conferences, dinner events, and food tours to promote sustainable gastronomy.

Previously, Nico worked as an Executive Search Consultant for hotels and healthcare providers in the EMEA region. His operational expertise is rooted in food and beverage leadership roles at five-star hotels in Indonesia, Belgium, the USA, Egypt, the Netherlands, and Curaçao. His parents owned the well-known Indonesian fine-dining restaurant Ramayana in the Netherlands, instilling his entrepreneurial mindset. Nico graduated from Stenden University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Hotel Management, specializing in Conference Management and Training & Development in Organizations.

My passion for cultural cuisines and ancestral food is rooted in my Dutch-Indonesian heritage and upbringing in the East & West. I still recall walking barefoot as a boy in my great-grandmother’s rice fields in Java, the aromas of traditional Jamu, and the rural flavors of Twente in the Netherlands. Contrasting yet complementing worlds. Growing up in an expatriate family also exposed me to various other food cultures, which influenced my career in international hospitality.

While working in commercial five-star settings, I recognized the disconnect between our industry and farmers, artisanal producers, and ancestral knowledge about food, health, and culture. In response, I established HIH before ESG, CSR, sustainability, locavore, and farm-to-fork became buzzwords. Today, my goal for HIH is to serve as a collaborative partner, helping our industry overcome the broader challenges and complexities in the transition towards sustainable gastronomy anchored in our core values.

Yazeed Malkawi

Our Art Director

Yazeed Malkawi has served as HIH’s Art Director for From Farm to Fork in Jordan since 2021. Skilled in videography, photography, graphic design, and motion graphics, his multimedia portfolio boasts collaborations with renowned global brands and acclaimed Michelin-starred chefs. He specializes in event branding logistics and production, including ministerial roundtables, event booths, stage visuals, and marketing collateral for high-profile international conferences.

Retained by Richard Attias & Associates, he managed branding logistics and design execution for the Global Labor Market Conference 2025, a prestigious event held under the patronage of His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Previously, he worked with Bidaya Corporate Communications and Sharx Marketing Agency. Yazeed holds a fashion photography certification from Milan’s John Kaverdash Academy, and a degree in Computer Graphics and Animation from the Princess Sumaya University for Technology.

Get in touch!

Whether you’re ready to start a project or just have a question, HIH is here to help. Please fill out the form, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.