In 2014, David Hertz met Massimo Bottura at an event in Copenhagen. Now, less than two years later, the two chefs renowned for both their culinary prowess and social advocacy have teamed up to open a community kitchen in the central Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Lapa.
During the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the facility will serve free, chef-prepared meals daily to the city’s homeless.
Hertz, the Brazilian founder of the nonprofit Gastromotiva, approached Bottura about adapting his Refettorio Ambrosiano model for Rio. Bottura and his nonprofit,Food for Soul, built the Refettorio Ambrosiano soup kitchen in an abandoned theater in Milan and recruited more than 65 international chefs to prepare meals for the city’s poor community using surplus food from the five-month 2015 Expo Milano.
"I wanted to contribute to the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympics Games and, when I saw Refettorio Ambrosiano, I realized this would be my way of helping the community,” Hertz said.
Bottura kindly agreed to collaborate, and the RefettoRio Gastromotiva partnership was born.
Dozens of renowned chefs and organizations from around the world will take part in the venture, which is co-organized by food journalist Alexandra Forbes. Each day during the Games, a different chef will create a delicious and nutritious dinner menu using surplus ingredients sourced by catering company Behind before being sent to the Olympic Village, media center, or Rio 2016 staff dining facilities.
RefettoRio Gastromotiva will offer both food and dignity to Rio’s underprivileged and social vulnerable citizens with strategic support of Coca-Cola Brazil, World Vision and other partners.
During a press conference on Aug. 3, Massimo insisted that RefettoRio Gastromotiva is not charity.
“It’s a cultural project,” he said.
One key pillar of the program is to reduce food waste. Refettorio (reficere in Latin)literally means "to remake” or “to restore.”
"There are many people in need and, the lesson taught by the RefettoRio Gastromotiva project is ‘to fully benefit from all raw materials’,” said participating chef Thomas Troisgros. “Excess ingredients will be used in the preparation of the meals. Everything will still be entirely usable and of good quality. We’re just going to use the food in a smart way."
This text originally ran on the Coca-Cola Journey website and has been republished with permission. To learn more about the campaign and the shoot, see the full version of the story here.
