The fact that an alarming 33 per cent of globally produced food is wasted is “insane” and “unacceptable”, said legendary Italian chef Massimo Bottura, adding that it is about time that we, in our own little ways, fight against this global pressing issue. Bottura, founder of the three-Michelin Star restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy that is twice-rated as the number one restaurant in the world, argued against “too much food production” globally, which he claimed, is becoming one of the main causes of climate change. “We produce food for 12 billion people and we are just 7.5 billion on earth. We waste 33 per cent of the production.

 

This is not acceptable, especially because we use water, electricity, human capital to produce food... And this is becoming the second cause of climate change. This is insane and we all see the result. Sicily is dry as ever, Dubai we have crazy storms. That is like killing Dubai, everywhere in the world is like this... We have to reset our mind and see what we can do, even in our life, in our own ways, to change for the better,” Bottura, a goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), told PTI. He was recently in India to host a pop-up dinner at The Leela Palace, New Delhi, in collaboration with Culinary Culture. Interestingly, the 61-year-old chef, widely considered as one of the best chefs in the world, had no complaints about food wastage from India, which like his home country Italy, has a “totally different mentality”.