Chef Giuseppe Franco, from Rutigiliano in Italy and a teacher at the École Ducasse, works as a volunteer at the Restos du Cœur cooking integration workshops in Beaurains, Pas-de-Calais. “Coming from a poor farming family in Italy, I felt the need to make my cooking more accessible. I wanted to enable families in precarious situations to enjoy good food in a balanced way.” One of his students told him about the Restos, and Giuseppe decided to get involved and help people who were far from employment to acquire culinary skills while promoting an anti-waste approach. In his workshops, he teaches how to sublimate fresh ingredients, sourced from the social inclusion garden. “I teach people how to transform products and use all their parts so as not to waste anything. The challenge is to cook with the bare minimum and without anticipation.” While not all of them will go on to make a career in the kitchen, these moments will have enabled them to regain confidence in their abilities and establish new professional habits. “Ultimately, cooking is a pretext for bringing people together.”
Association
Les Restos du Cœur
Is it still necessary to introduce them? Founded by Coluche in 1985, this association aims “to help and provide voluntary assistance to those in need, particularly in the area of food support through access to free meals, as well as to contribute to their social and economic integration, and to any action against poverty in all its forms.” With 1.3 million people welcomed and 163 million meals distributed in 2023, the task faced by the 75,000 regular volunteers is enormous. They alone provide 35% of all food aid distribution and must cope with the rising levels of poverty and insecurity in France. Beyond food aid, Les Restos du Cœur also offer… support in finding a job, a helping hand with housing, and even vacations for those who’ve never had one! And let’s not forget the local gardens to cultivate social ties, and digital inclusion to ensure that no-one is left by the side of the digital road. Many chefs, such as Giuseppe Franco, are committed to Restos du Cœur, or organize dinners in aid of the association.
