It’s 8 p.m. and Italian chef Massimo Bottura is in his kitchen. Sporting thick-framed glasses, a neatly trimmed grey beard and a black hoody, his hands are a blur of movement as he chops vegetables and swipes them into the pots and pans arrayed around him. So far, so normal, you might think. But this is far from normal. Like tens of millions of other Italians, Massimo is under home quarantine as the nation fights the outbreak of COVID-19.
Italians have shown fortitude, patience and creativity to get through this dark period. Massimo—Chef patron of the three-Michelin-star restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Modena, and co-founder of Food for Soul, an organization that fights food waste through social inclusion, with his wife Lara Gilmore—is no different.
He is inspiring and entertaining his viewers by putting his pent-up energy into Kitchen Quarantine, a family-produced online cooking show on Instagram also trying to demonstrate how to make great meals from what’s at home. This cuts down the number of times people need to venture outside for supplies—thus reducing the risk of spreading and catching the virus—and teaches us a few tricks that reduce food waste.
“Kitchen Quarantine is… a fun way to interact with families all over the world, cook together, share ideas, enjoy each other’s company and teach people good practices in the kitchen, such as cleaning out the refrigerator to limit food waste, using leftovers to cook something new and eating a variety of foods,” says Bottura. Read more…
