Massimo Bottura of Italy’s Osteria Francescana, the world’s number one restaurant, will host a dinner with OzHarvest at its Alexandria HQ on Sunday, 2 April 2017. Bottura is visiting Australia as part of the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.
The degustation dinner for 130 guests will be prepared and cooked by a hand-selected crew of chefs, including Rob Cockerill (Bennelong), Monty Koludrovic (Icebergs and The Dolphin), Josh Niland (Saint Peter), Matt Stone (Oakridge), James Viles (Biota), O Tama Carey (chef/writer), Aaron Ward (Sixpenny), Clayton Wells (Automata) and Duncan Welgemoed (Africola).
The menu will be designed around food that would otherwise have gone to waste and will be matched with Australian wines. The OzHarvest warehouse will be transformed into a fine dining space by restaurant designer George Livissianis with service to be led by Rockpool Dining Group’s food and beverage director, Jeremy Courmidas, while James Hird from Icebergs Dining Room and Bar will be sommelier. Australian artists such as John Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Chris Antico will donate art to be auctioned and add visual effects on the night.
Guests will gain valuable insights into Bottura’s passion and determination to fight food waste during an intimate talk about his non-profit organisation, Food For Soul, and his experience in setting up the refettorios – soup kitchens – in Milan and Rio.
''Ronni and I are both 100 percent committed to ensuring good food stops going to waste and is given to people who need it most. I am delighted to host this dinner with OzHarvest to help tackle this global issue,” said Bottura.
OzHarvest CEO and founder, Ronni Kahn, said both organisations share the same vision of a world with zero food waste and free of hunger.
“Massimo’s global leadership in the food industry brings much needed focus on the issue of eliminating hunger and food waste. His work inspires chefs, home cooks and consumers to take meaningful action on the social challenges we face today. I am thrilled he is able to share some of his precious time with us,” said Kahn.
The nine chefs have donated their time to cook for the event. Produce and beverage suppliers, service staff, artists and designers have also all donated products and services, allowing all proceeds for the evening to go directly to OzHarvest and Food for Soul.
Read more about Massimo Bottura’s food philosophy here. To keep up to date with World's 50 Best news sign up to Hospitality's newsletter.
Ronnie Kahn and Massimo Bottura.