A few years ago, Chef Massimo Bottura, whose restaurant, Osteria Francescana, earned three Michelin stars and took first place on the World's 50 Best Restaurants twice over, recruited more than 60 of the world's best chefs to cook at his pop-up soup kitchen called Refettorio Ambrosiano.
When the chefs arrived at the redesigned church in Milan, they left their fine-dining menus behind as Chef Bottura challenged them to prepare delicious meals using only discarded ingredients, what we call "food waste," for the people of the neighborhood.
That project was the beginning of many. It led to a lauded cookbook, Bread is Gold: Extraordinary Meals with Ordinary Ingredients, new refettorios around the world, and a non-profit, Food for Soul, he founded with his partner Lara Gilmore.
This week, on the International Day of Awareness of Food Waste & Loss, the pioneering Italian chef became a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador. Chef Bottura will apply his knowledge of cooking, food systems and agriculture to prevent food from being thrown away.
“If we can use all of the ingredients to the fullest potential, we will reduce the amount of waste we are creating and shop more efficiently," he said in a statement. "In my role as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, I will fight to reduce this global shame.”
For the restaurateur who launched the fashionable Gucci Osterias, the act of cooking and feeding is not just “a question of taste,” but an “ethical choice.”
Over 800 million people suffer from hunger in the world, yet a third of our food goes uneaten each year according to the UN Environment Program.
Chef Bottura will bring exuberance, creative thinking and much experience to the role. This summer, he served as guest editor for the July edition of La Cucina Italiana. His contribution was part of a campaign to recognize Italian cuisine as a significant part of the world’s cultural heritage through UNESCO.