Massimo Bottura, the chef and co-proprietor of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, needs no introduction. His restaurant has won every award given by the culinary world. If you want a reservation at his restaurant you have to book months ahead, and they can be as difficult to get as an audience with the Pope. However, he is now using his fame and influence to tackle, and hopefully solve, two of the world’s biggest problems namely hunger and food waste. He has published his next book “Bread Is Gold”
Currently one third of the food that is produced globally is wasted. Many famous traditional recipes were born out of necessity, using food that will have been left over from previous meals. This is where “Bread Is Gold” comes from. Massimo’s idea was to show something that Italians know well. “Salvaged food, overripe or bruised and beyond expiration dates, as well as scraps and trimmings that otherwise would be thrown away, were not only edible, but even delicious. Cooking with ingredients that otherwise would have been thrown away draws out the resourcefulness of a cook, any cook.”
Massimo Bottura
Bread Is Gold, and the story that it tells, stems from his earliest childhood food memory. As he says in the book “Every morning over breakfast my brothers and I fought for the leftover pieces of bread from the previous night to dip in warm milk with a splash of coffee. We called this mess zuppa di latte, milk soup. Then, to my delight, I poured in the sugar, lots of it. Then my mother would yell, “Massimooooo — that’s too much sugar!” She loved to tell this story to strangers with the additional comment, “And look at him now — a famous cook!” . A version of this is now served in his restaurant using the same ingredients, and is his signature dish.
Refettorio Ambrosiano
In 2015, Bottura established Refettorio Ambrosiano, a community soup kitchen, to coincide with the Milan Expo. The idea to call it a refettorio, after the Latin word reficere. It means to rebuild or to restore. He asked leading Italian designers and artists to help him refurbish an abandoned theatre in a disadvantaged suburb in Milan. They turned this into an inviting space where disadvantaged and underprivileged guests could feed both their body and soul. He also invited over 60 of his chef friends, such as Daniel Humm, Mario Batali, René Redzepi, Alain Ducasse, Joan Roca, Enrique Olvera, Ferran & Albert Adrià and Virgilio Martínez to cook at the Refettorio throughout the run of the Expo.
Each visiting chef prepared three-course meals out of surplus ingredients from the Expo, markets delivered every morning to Refettorio Ambrosiano.
Every ingredient can be used
One thing to note is that not only is this the story of the first six months of the project. The book also includes contributions and memories from the many world famous chefs that helped Massimo realise his vision. It is also full of over 150 recipes created during that time using ingredients that would have been wasted. It includes fish soup with bread gnocchi, banana peel chutney, burnt lime stew. Other recipes include strawberry gazpacho, honey and toasted millet ice cream.
In conclusion
Bread Is Gold will make you think again about throwing away that piece of day old bread. This book will show you how even the home cook can be more resourceful with “waste” ingredients. As Bottura says in the book “These dishes could change the way we nourish the planet, because they can be cooked by anyone, anywhere, at any budget. To feed the planet, you first have to fight the waste.”
Our first taste of an Italian Christmas Eve meal. A huge thank you to Tommaso and Elisabetta for your wonderful hospitality and incredible food! You welcomed us into your home at this special time! #melitodiportosalvo #calabria #calabriafood #calabriafoodporn #eatcalabrisi #instadaily #instatravel #italy #italia #calabria #igerscalabria #vivocalabria #travelblog #worldtraveler #italytravel #madeinitaly #italy #vivo_calabria #igersitaly #ig_calabria #hub_calabria #vivo_it #bloggersofinstagram #bloggerlife #blogger #blogitalia #reggiocalabria #calabriacontatto #welcometocalabria #yallerscalabria...
After a day of torrential rain and storms we've been rewarded with a stunning view of Mount Etna from our apartment. #melitodiportosalvo #calabria #calabriafood #calabriafoodporn #eatcalabrisi #instadaily #instatravel #italy #italia #calabria #igerscalabria #vivocalabria #travelblog #worldtraveler #italytravel #madeinitaly #italy #vivo_calabria #igersitaly #ig_calabria #hub_calabria #vivo_it #bloggersofinstagram #bloggerlife #blogger #blogitalia #reggiocalabria #calabriacontatto #welcometocalabria #yallerscalabria...
Monument of Athena and ampitheatre in Reggio di Calabria. From our latest blog post: Reggio di Calabria - The City Of Contrasts- Link in Bio!
#melitodiportosalvo #calabria #calabriafood #calabriafoodporn #eatcalabrisi #instadaily #instatravel #italy #italia #calabria #igerscalabria #vivocalabria #travelblog #worldtraveler #italytravel #madeinitaly #italy #vivo_calabria #igersitaly #ig_calabria #hub_calabria #vivo_it #bloggersofinstagram #bloggerlife #blogger #blogitalia #reggiocalabria #calabriacontatto #welcometocalabria #yallerscalabria #reggiodicalabria #reggiocalabria #reggiocalabriaphoto...
Our first taste of an Italian Christmas Eve meal. A huge thank you to Tommaso and Elisabetta for your wonderful hospitality and incredible food! You welcomed us into your home at this special time! @ Melito di Porto Salvo
As you may know, we in Italy have now gone back into a virtual full lockdown which means that we are not able to travel to the UK to see our family. We are going to try and make Christmas and New Year here as good as it can be. We have started off by inviting our friends to a real British Christmas lunch (had pork instead of turkey!) which I think was enjoyed by all. Having to explain what Pigs in Blankets, stuffing balls and gravy stretched our limited Italian to the max but we somehow got there. They have invited us down to their apartment for Christmas Eve and we have been told not to eat anything all day! The Christmas Eve celebrations here come under the name of The Festival of the Seven Fish so really looking forward to that.
Christmas Day will be really quiet with just the two of us and our great friend Sheryl who, because her father can't come over to spend the time with her as he normally does, she will be spending the day and Boxing Day with us slobbing in our PJs, drinking, watching cheezy films and drinking copious amounts of the local fizz.
Not sure what happens in Calabria for New Year as last year (our first down here) we spent in the UK so looking forward to what is to come. I know we wont be allowed to celebrate normally because we are not allowed to leave our apartment (except for emergencies) so watch this space.
I want to finish off by wishing you all a safe, healthy and hopefully Happy Christmas and fingers crossed for a better New Year.
In the current situation, we can't travel around Italy. However, that doesn't mean we can't read about it. I've just finished reading Eating Up Italy by Matthew Fort. It has certainly given us more ideas of where to visit once everything back to as normal as it gets in Italy!
Just back home after teaching English in Italy. Here we wear full face visor, face mask and gloves. No wonder teachers in England are worried about the lax rules that the Government are trying to roll out. Schools are not safe.
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