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Italian chef uses Olympics food waste to feed homeless

With three Michelin stars to his name and a restaurant recently crowned the world's best, Italian chef Massimo Bottura is used to serving the wealthy in his Modena restaurant.

Italian chef uses Olympics food waste to feed homeless
Italian chef Massimo Bottura (centre) is feeding the homeless in Rio. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

But as part of his ongoing project to eliminate food waste and help tackle social issues through food, Bottura is currently working in Rio de Janeiro, serving meals to the homeless.

The restaurant, Refettorio Gastromotiva, is housed in a building made of corrugated plastic in a lot in the city's Lapa district; its customers are members of Rio's large homeless population.

Meals are made from leftovers from caterers working at the Olympics and other local businesses, with filling, healthy dishes on the menu including aubergine parmigiana and a twist on classic carbonara which used banana skins, La Repubblica reported.

The project is the result of a collaboration between Bottura himself, whose social organization Food for Soul aims to eliminate food waste and build community, and Brazilian chef David Hertz, who runs the non-profit organization, Gastromotiva, to promote social integration.


Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

Around 5,000 meals a day are prepared both by top international chefs, and graduates of Gastromotiva's cooking school, which teaches people from Brazil's neglected favelas how to cook. The restaurant will stay open throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games, after which it will become a social project.

Bottura says his inspiration comes from Pope Francis's dedication to help the poor, and he was involved in a similar project providing food to the homeless during Milan's Expo last year, which saw an abandoned theatre on the city's outskirts transformed into a kitchen.

Bottura's Modena-based restaurant, The Osteria Francescana, was crowned the best eatery in the world in this year's prestigious World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards. The restaurant also boasts three Michelin stars and a meal doesn't come cheap, with the tasting menu setting diners back €220.

READ MORE: Meet the Italian genius behind the world's best restaurant

His dishes, including 'Yellow is bello' and 'Memory of a mortadella sandwich', offer a creative twist on traditional Italian cuisine, and Bottura doesn't take himself too seriously. He also devotes a lot of time to social projects around eliminating food waste, an issue which has become a hot topic in Italy recently.

Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

Earlier this month, Italy introduced a set of laws aimed at eliminating unnecessary food waste by incentivizing shops and restaurants to give away food waste for free. Donating food which has passed its official sell-by date has been made easier, and a €1 million campaign has been rolled out to encourage the use of 'doggy bags' in restaurants.

A study by the University of Bologna earlier this year suggested that the food wasted by Italian households and businesses amounts to some €13 billion each year, equivalent to 1.1 percent of the country's GDP.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Do Italians really eat pasta every day?

Pasta is the foundation of Italian cuisine and Italians have a reputation for eating it nearly every day. But is this reality or myth?

Do Italians really eat pasta every day?

Pasta is the cornerstone of Italian cuisine and an essential staple of Italians’ diet, hence the popularity of the adage Toglietemi tutto ma non la pasta! (‘Take everything away from me except pasta’).

But there is a widespread belief among foreign nationals that people in the bel paese eat it every single day of the week. 

Is this reality or myth?

According to a survey from research platform YouGov Italia, ‘only’ 17 percent of Italians eat pasta every day or at least six days a week. 

The majority of Italians (37 percent) consume pasta two to three times a week, while 30 percent say they eat it four to five times a week. 

Finally, 8 percent eat pasta just once a week.

While the survey seems to disprove the claim that Italians generally eat pasta every day (only a minority does), does that mean that they are not as big pasta eaters as we may have originally thought?

Not really. 

Italians are still the leading pasta consumers in the world as the average person in the country eats some 23.1 kilograms of it every year (that’s nearly two kilograms a month).

READ ALSO: Ask an Italian: How do you sauce pasta properly?

For context, people in neighbouring France and Germany only consume 8.3 and 7.9 kg per capita a year, whereas the average American eats about 9 kg every year.

Further, yearly per capita consumption in the UK stands at an average of just 3.5 kg, according to a report from pasta maker Barilla.

So, while they may not have it every day, Italians do eat quite a lot of pasta over the course of a year. 

But how do they never get tired of it? 

One of the main reasons behind Italians’ unbreakable bond with the high-carb food is variety. 

Italians are extremely creative when it comes to pasta and they rarely eat the same dish twice in a row as they like to experiment with a wide range of recipes and sauces.

READ ALSO: Ten golden rules for cooking pasta like an Italian

Further, there are over 350 types of pasta in Italy, which means that you could potentially eat a different pasta shape almost every day of the year.

Another reason why most Italians have pasta multiple times a week is that they tend to eat it in moderation, steering well clear of potential carb overloads. 

While they may have a large, high-calorie pasta dish (for instance, lasagne or pasta al ragù) on weekends or on special occasions, people in the country generally go for lighter recipes and sauces on normal days, with portions generally going from 80 to 120 grams per person.

Also, Italians very rarely eat pasta twice a day, with the majority of people having it for lunch and then opting for a non-carb-based dish in the evening.

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