Eating is more than nutrition and culinary enjoyment. Eating together integrates us into a community and thus fulfills a central need of humans. This is lost on those affected by cancer. Because two out of three cancer patients suffer from changes in taste because of the cancer or therapy. Eating is difficult for them, and they lose important social support. Since the topic is little known and affects both cancer patients and their loved ones, the Swiss Cancer League wants to make this medical-technical topic emotionally accessible and demonstrate their core mission to be there for those affected by cancer and their loved ones.

In the culinary experiment “RECIPES rewritten”, three internationally recognized top chefs adapted their best-known signature recipes to meet the taste changes of cancer patients. An emotional short film shows this challenging process and is presented to the media and online. The rewritten recipes along with nutritional and cooking tips are publicly published and can be re-cooked by cancer patients and their relatives.

The medical-technical topic was emotionally charged by involving top chefs, in the concept in a way that attracted public attention. By acting as taste experts to solve a real problem with great empathy for cancer patients, this moved a wide audience, and the issue of taste change became comprehensible. With the media popularity of celebrity chefs, maximum impact was generated with the media.

The culinary experiment of the top chefs is the core of execution and documented on film. In a tasting with people affected by cancer, the chefs adapted their signature recipes to reflect the changes in taste. The rewritten recipes were then made available online for downloading along with tips on nutrition and cooking. The documentary film was sent to the media with a media release. This short film was also shown to key stakeholders at the Zurich Film Festival.

More than 25 Swiss media (consumer and specialist media) reported on the campaign, thus reaching 8.8 million people (Switzerland has 8.5 million inhabitants) with a media equivalent value of 2.3 million. Swiss national TV (RTS) attended the production with their own film crew and devoted 11 prime-time broadcast minutes. At the Zurich Film Festival, the film was shown as an opening film before an internationally selected film series on cancer. A media impact that the donation-funded Swiss Cancer League otherwise can’t afford.