(ANSA)- New York, July 19 - Italian chef Massimo Bottura,
whose Modena restaurant was recently ranked the world's best,
has launched a joint venture with American movie star Robert De
Niro to bring his fight against food waste to the United States.
Bottura launched the Ambrosiano Refectory project at the
Milan Expo World Fair in 2015.
It gathered leftover food from various restaurants and food
stands at the fair and turned it into meals for the poor and
homeless at a soup kitchen run by Catholic charity Caritas.
During the Expo Milan soup kitchen, 60 of the best chefs
in the world worked hard to turn 15 tonnes of leftover food into
meals for the homeless.
On Tuesday, the celebrity chef announced the new project
on Twitter: "Planning the new refectory in the Bronx. With Bob
in 2017," he wrote.
For the Rio Olympics, food waste from the Olympic Village
will be used to feed inhabitants of Brazilian slums.
The largest favela in Rio, Rocinha, will benefit from the
project, which will include cooking and nutrition classes for
those in need.
Overall, 45 chefs from around the world and volunteers will
contribute to the initiative, which will provide thousands of
meals for the poor.
Oscar winner De Niro, who also owns the Tribeca Grill, Nobu
and Locanda Verde restaurants in New York, paid Bottura a visit
in Modena last weekend to discuss the plans to replicate the
project in the U.S.
Bottura, who has carried out a similar event in
Bologna, has also launched the cultural foundation Food For
Soul, which was approved by Pope Francis to raise global
awareness of the fight against hunger and food waste.
In June, Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena was ranked
the world's top restaurant in the World's 50 Best Restaurant
Awards List compiled by the British magazine "Restaurant" and
based on the votes of hundreds of chefs, critics and food
lovers.
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