What does the world’s best restaurant, a soup kitchen and your next trip to the cinema have in common?
In his documentary , coming to Australia this month, revered Italian chef Massimo Bottura brings together 60 of the world’s best chefs to turn wasted food into gourmet meals for those in need.
Bottura, whose restaurant Osteria Francescana was voted into the number one slot at the prestigious this year, cooked up the concept after opening up a soup kitchen in 2015 to feed Milan’s homeless and hungry.
The film brings together top chefs and Italy’s vulnerable in the Refetterio Ambrosiano soup kitchen, and tackles concepts around food rescue as well as the stories of those who visit the venue (watch the trailer ).
Chefs like Rene Redzepi, Jeremy Charles, Daniel Humm, and Joan Roca are on the bill, lending a hand to cook and serve nutritious meals to vulnerable locals and new refugees.
Food waste from the 2015 Expo in Milan was used to create high-quality meals for vulnerable locals. Source: Paolo Saglia
Theater of Life will premiere around Australia between Sunday, November 13 and Thursday, November 17, supported by Aussie food charity OzHarvest. (Find details of the 16 locations and how to book on the OzHarvest website .)
For each ticket bought to see the documentary, OzHarvest will be able to provide 14 meals to those who need them most around Australia.
“Massimo Bottura’s global star status within the food industry brings much needed focus on the issue of eliminating hunger and food waste,” CEO and founder of OzHarvest Ronni Kahn tells SBS.
Australians currently throw out between $8-10 billion worth of food every year, and OzHarvest hopes that Theater of Life will shed some further light on the massive issue.
“This film showcases Massimo’s extraordinary leadership on global issues which we hope will inspire chefs as well as home cooks to take meaningful action on the social challenges that we face today,” says Kahn.
Bottura’s goal with Theater of Life is to inspire conversations about food waste and raise awareness about the plight of the more vulnerable in society.
In Australia, OzHarvest collect over 87 tonnes of excess quality food waste per week from supermarkets, shopping centres, food venues, farmers and wholesalers, and deliver it to more than 900 charities across the country.
“We are determined not to let good food go to waste and make sure it gets to people in need,” says Kahn.
Since opening Refetterio Ambrosiana in Milan last year, Bottura has been part of a similar venture, , which opened in Rio this year for the Olympics, and has plans to open one in Brooklyn. His influence doesn’t stop there: Bottura’s non-profit organisation aims to encourage the creation of community kitchens around the world to promote the rejuvenation of food, spaces and people. Next up: , a soup kitchen due to open in Turin this year.
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