With over 200 countries participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic games, we sometimes wonder about the catering logistics involved. Some of us have difficulty hosting a dinner party for 10 at the best of times! So you can imagine the months of planning and execution that takes place in order to feed over 17 000 people every day for close to 3 weeks – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The shear quantity of food served is hard to fathom but so is the amount of waste thereof.
Enter – Massimo Bottura, possibly the most revered chef at the moment and owner of World’s Number One Restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. Bottura has made his way to Brazil to set up Refettorio Gastromotiva, a gourmet-style soup kitchen that will feed the homeless people of Rio de Janeiro using food waste from the Olympic village.
It’s both heart-warming and refreshing to see a chef of such stature and esteem giving of his precious time in such a selfless and altruistic way. What’s more, he’s roped in other big-name chefs to help him like David Hertz, Carlos Garcia, Alain Ducasse and Joan Roca.
“This is about social inclusion, teaching people about food waste and giving hope to people who have lost all hope”, Bottura told The New York Times. Bless him!
This isn’t the first time Boturra has set his sights on feeding the under-privileged. Last year he took on a similar project in Italy during the Milan Expo called Refettorio Ambrosiano and has plans to take the concept to other cities across the world. Incredible.
Have a look at Massimo Bottura’s Instagrams to see what he’s been up to while in Rio…
A video posted by Massimo Bottura (@massimobottura) on
#refettoriogastromotiva #foodforsoul Tables are ready
A photo posted by Massimo Bottura (@massimobottura) on
He even found time to have a pic with gold medal winner, Michael Phelps.