How about using food waste to feed the hungry?

Theater of Life, a documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), follows famous Italian chef Massimo Bottura at the 2015 Milan World’s Fair as he establishes Refettorio Ambrosiano, a soup kitchen than repurposed good food from the Expo pavilions and other eateries into meals for the the poor, homeless and the hungry.

Jan 9th — To celebrate the Vancouver premiere of Theatre of Life, chefs David Gunawan of The Farmer's Apprentice, Brian Luptak of The Acorn Restaurant, and Robert Clarke of The Arbor Restaurant; created innovative dishes with food scraps from their kitchens for guests to try prior to the screening.

Roasted Rutabaga

parsnip mustard, apple gastrique & compressed roots

Presented by
Chef Brian Luptak
The Acorn Restaurant

Piadina

roasted marina de chioggia squash, ricotta & arugula

Presented by
Chef Robert Clarke
The Arbor Restaurant

Presented by
Chef David Gunawan
The Farmer's Apprentice

Squash Tortellini

with squash seed butter & whey, lamb broth

In an extraordinary soup kitchen in Milan, two vastly different worlds have been brought together by a unique social experiment. Theater of Life captures the remarkable relationship forged between the finest haute cuisine chefs in the world and the city’s most disadvantaged groups: refugees, recovering drug addicts, former sex workers, and a host of others with no place else to go. For Expo Milano 2015, renowned chef Massimo Bottura, whose Osteria Francescana was named world’s best restaurant in 2016, invited 60 of his international confrères to join him in transforming food destined for the dumpster into delicious and nutritious meals for Italy’s hungriest residents. But the documentary delves far deeper than this important food story: it captures the moving encounters of guests at the soup kitchen who have found a welcoming community there, showing us glimpses of their heart and soul in the process. A visual feast in itself, Theater of Life puts a human face on its powerful message of social justice while raising awareness about the enormous environmental impact of food waste.

Thanks Milk Creative Communications for the invitation to the premiere