At left: Gilmore with the staff of Refettorio Felix in London FELIX LONDRA
Page 33: A bustling dinner at the Refettorio Gastromotiva Gilmore with husband Massimo Bottura at Casa Maria Luigia
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Northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, known for its balsamic vinegar and Ferrari sports cars, was not prepared for the destruction caused by an earthquake that hit Modena in 2012. The local dairy-farming community was pulverized and hundreds of thousands of damaged cheese wheels were destined to be thrown away— until Bottura and Gilmore stepped in, masterminding what is now known worldwide as “The Great Parmesan Rescue.” Featured in the opening episode of the Netflix documentary Chef ’s Table, Bottura developed a technique for cooking risotto in cheese to get chefs to buy the damaged wheels. With Gilmore’s communications savvy, they hosted an online fundraiser since dubbed the “biggest Italian dinner in history” on social media. The easy-to-make and delicious recipe made it into home kitchens and culinary hotspots alike all around the world. Every cheese wheel was sold and the industry was saved. “It was eye-opening,” Gilmore says. “Chefs are realizing they have a voice,
and with that voice is an opportunity to make change.” She points out that we’re at a critical moment. Almost one billion tons of ready-for-sale food gets wasted every year, most of it at home, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, for which Bottura is a goodwill ambassador. “We want to communicate that wasting food is not ethical and show people how they can get creative and have real impact,” Gilmore says. The first refettorio was born as a pop-up concept at the 2015 Food Expo in Milan. Housed in an abandoned theatre, the community kitchen brought together more than 60 international chefs to cook using food leftovers from the Expo. During the six months of the event, 100 volunteers washed dishes, mopped floors, and served over 10,000 meals cooked from 15 tons of salvaged food. Today, the Milan refettorio still serves healthy meals in a beautiful space five days a week. The project has grown and flourished in cities across the globe, with each location—a historic colonial house
MARCO PODERI
how to make tortellini. Paired with veteran Italian pasta makers, students ages 16 to 25, including their son Charlie, produce tortellini daily for local restaurants, cafeterias, and businesses (including a Maserati car factory). The students gain both skill and pride for contributing to their town’s culinary identity. When the pandemic made it impossible for the U.S. refettori to open their doors to the public, both locations— along with established refettori around the globe—transformed into brown bag delivery services for the most vulnerable. In Harlem, an average of 600 meals a week are still being delivered to those in need. “The past couple of years has reminded us how strong we are when we work together,” Gilmore says. “We will always be a community gathering around a table of family, friends, and strangers who will become friends. Food is the binding force that draws us together and reminds us of our collective humanity.”
A TWIST of FATE The day Lara Gilmore stepped inside her French classroom at Andover, it changed the course of her future. “I just didn’t click with my teacher,” Gilmore says. “Sometimes it happens.” So she switched to Italian, taught by Vincent Pascucci, whom Gilmore describes as an elegant, older gentleman from Como, Italy, who came to class every day in a beautiful suit and tie. “Before we even learned the language, he made us fall in love with the culture—the food, the landscape, the art and music. It really opened my mind up to Europe and European history. And with that, at age 15, began the beginning of the whole rest of my life.” As soon as she graduated from Andover, she visited Italy, knowing that someday she’d be back. Years later, when living in New York and studying art, she replied to an ad for a bartender at the Caffé di Nonna in Soho. “I told them I could speak fluent Italian, make a good cappuccino, that I had traveled and knew a little bit about wine. They asked me to start working the next day.” Massimo Bottura, an Italian who was learning his way around New York City kitchens, also happened to walk into that same café, looking for a job. The pair became fast friends. Bottura would eventually return home to Italy. In 1993, Gilmore took a leap of faith and left New York for Modena to be with her future husband. “I feel both American and Italian,” she says. “But when I’m in the kitchen, I feel more Italian.”
ANGELO DALBO
Food for Soul restores and renovates neglected spaces, transforming them into inspiring community hubs. By partnering with artists, architects, designers, and musicians, Gilmore and Bottura are building a movement in which people in vulnerable situations— as well as the whole community—can feel welcome and valued. “Imagine a beautiful space, filled with art, music, and good conversation,” Gilmore says. “This sparks social connections. Not just for the people in need, but for the volunteers, the chefs— everyone walking through the doors and joining the gathering. It brings them all together in an equal way. And everybody is raised up a little bit. That is the power of food. We think of food as delicious meals, but food—and the act of coming together around a table and creating a dialogue—transforms how we feel about ourselves.” Food is both a teacher and a storyteller. One life-changing lesson—and quite possibly the genesis of Gilmore and Bottura’s food revolution—harkens back to 360,000 wheels of ParmigianoReggiano cheese.
in Yucatan, Mexico; an ancient crypt in the heart of Paris; a 100-year-old Gothic-style church in Harlem—boasting its own unique character and style. “Like the finest dining rooms in the world,” adds Gilmore, a fine arts major, “the refettori are places where food and hospitality combine with art and culture. It is also about bringing dignity to the table, which can be done in many ways—through the power of beauty, the quality of ideas, and the value of hospitality—something we’ve learned over our 26 years of experience at Osteria Francescana.” The wild success of the Modena restaurant, a 12-table, 34-seat intimate affair in a small town, has allowed Gilmore and Bottura to wield influence over issues they care most about and combine their love of community, art, and food to lead the charge on social impact entrepreneurship. Three years ago, Gilmore and Bottura launched Tortellante, a project that teaches people with special needs
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