BackHow Osteria Francescana’s Massimo Bottura is feeding the world’s homeless
The Italian restaurateur's latest project is at the Rio Olympics
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A month after his three-Michelin-star restaurant Osteria Francescana was adjudged the world’s best by the Restaurant magazine’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, Massimo Bottura continues to be a busy man. His new project with David Hertz of the non-profit, Gastromotiva, is called Reffetto-Rio and will take surplus food from the Olympic village during the 2016 Rio games and deliver it in the form of nutritious meals to the poor and homeless in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The project will involve 45 chefs from around the world, and will also include cooking and nutrition classes for the youth.
This is far from being Bottura’s first effort at community service. In 2015, at the Milan Expo, his project, Refettorio Ambrosiano, took leftovers from the event and had 60 international chefs—such as Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, US and Ugo Alciati of Guido, Italy—convert them into food for the homeless. The catholic church also contributed to this endeavour by donating Teatro Greco, an abandoned theatre, to the project as its venue. The theatre was converted into a restaurant-style space with a well-equipped kitchen and comfortable seating. The project was a success and was applauded for following the Expo’s theme of ‘feeding the planet’. More than 15 tonnes of food was redistributed. The project continues to operate in Milan.
In February, Bottura launched the Food for Soul organization to fight food waste through redistribution. Through this, he plans to open soup kitchens around the world. Food for Soul also collaborates with Antoniano Onlus—an organization that works in the name of St Francis of Assisi to serve the poor—to help a soup kitchen in Bologna. Called Mensa Padre Ernesto, the soup kitchen already serves close to 130 meals every day.
What’s next for Bottura and Food for Soul?
Plenty. There are already plans for a Refettorio Torino in Turin, Italy, along the lines of his Milan project, and another soup kitchen in New York’s Bronx area in collaboration with Hollywood actor Robert de Niro.
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