Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura to serve homeless in Sydney gourmet meals from waste food
- Bottura will open his fifth refettorio, a restaurant where celebrated chefs use rescued food to create meals for vulnerable people, in Australia’s biggest city
- A star of Netflix series Chef’s Table, and owner of the world’s best restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Italy, Bottura is renowned for his disruptive cooking
One of the world’s top chefs will open a community restaurant for homeless people in Sydney, Australia, with the help of food rescue organisation Oz Harvest.
Speaking at an event in Sydney on Wednesday night, Italian chef Massimo Bottura praised the OzHarvest founder and chief executive, Ronni Kahn, describing her as “an amazing woman … doing a fantastic job” and said they would soon open a refettorio together.
A refettorio is a restaurant where renowned chefs use rescued food to create meals for vulnerable locals. Bottura suggested that some of Australia’s top chefs would pitch in to help at the Sydney restaurant, saying: “It’s going to be so easy to build.”
In Australia, more than five million tonnes of food a year ends up in landfill, costing an estimated A$20 billion (US$14 billion). OzHarvest collects over 180 tonnes of food each week from food donors across Australia, including supermarkets, restaurants and catering companies.
Kahn confirmed the project would go ahead: “We are definitely going to bring Massimo’s refettorio to Australia. I’m currently looking at locations in Sydney, so if anyone has a space to offer, give me a call.”