Anthony Bourdain, Massimo Bottura, Dan Barber, Danny Bowien, & World Renowned Chefs to Star in Feature-Length Documentary from The Rockefeller Foundation & Zero Point Zero Production
Partnership exposes the magnitude of food waste across the world, & the stark reality that there’s enough food for everyone on the planet – except so much is wasted.
NEW YORK–The Rockefeller Foundation announced today that it is partnering with Zero Point Zero Production (creators of the Emmy Award®– and James Beard Award-winning series The Mind of a Chef) and Anthony Bourdain (the face of CNN’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning culinary and cultural adventure program, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown) to produce WASTED! The Story of Food Waste. This feature-length documentary film will star globally renowned chefs, showcasing the magnitude of food waste in the U.S. and internationally, combining travel, cooking, history, and science to shine a spotlight on one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century: global food waste.
“Food waste is problem that affects people and the planet, yet food waste is also a problem we can solve,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation. “WASTED! The Story of Food Waste, will show how everyone can make changes to minimize what we throw away, inspired by chefs who know that by being creative in the kitchen, we can put more food on our tables and less in the trash. We can help each other save money and reduce environmental impacts, too. It’s a win for everyone, and WASTED! will teach us how to challenge our status quo in a way that leads to delicious meals.”
“This will be an eye-opener of a film that makes people and companies think twice about how they use and discard food,” said Bourdain. “Chefs are experts in this – food is a major cost, time to prep it is another. When we throw food away, we really lose. So we are scrappy about our scraps and create as little waste as possible. This is something everyone can do, too. And we’ll all be better for it. I’m thrilled that WASTED! will make this clear once and for all.”
The film will take audiences behind the scenes for an exclusive look at the personal and professional journeys of prominent chefs who have make it a mission to reduce food waste. Bourdain is writing and narrating the story, while several world-renowned chefs have agreed to be featured in the film, including award-winning Italian restaurateur Massimo Bottura, the chef patron of three-Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, which took the No. 1 spot in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2016. Also featured in the film is Dan Barber, the author of The Third Plate, and the chef and co-owner of James Beard Award winning, Michelin-starred Blue Hill in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, NY. Barber was also appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Additionally, James Beard Award winner Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese and Mission Cantina will be profiled in the film.
“With access to some of the world’s most high-profile and successful chefs, and the expertise of
The Rockefeller Foundation in food waste, ZPZ intends to produce a film that will fundamentally shift the way people think about food waste,” said Joe Caterini, executive producer and ZPZ managing director and partner. “We’re incredibly proud to be partnering with a storied institution like
The Rockefeller Foundation, which through initiatives over the last century has changed the way we live. It’s our hope that with the support they are providing for this film, we will further cement that legacy.”
Earlier this year, The Rockefeller Foundation launched its $130 million, seven-year YieldWise initiative designed to systemically address preventable food waste. In developing countries, 40% of losses occur at the post-harvest and processing level, and while problems in more developed countries like the U.S. look different, they are equally urgent.
“More and more, audiences are craving deeper story-telling about the importance of food in our world. We believe that WASTED! The Story of Food Waste will draw much-needed attention to the promotion of more sustainable ways to grow and maximize ingredients and food sources around the world.
We’re excited to kickoff production of this film and to contribute to The Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts to combat this growing global issue,” added Co-Director and Executive Producer Nari Kye.
WASTED! The Story of Food Waste will be co-directed by Emmy Award winners Nari Kye and
Anna Chai (The Mind of a Chef). Also executive producing the film is Lydia Tenaglia, co-founder of ZPZ and director of the documentary Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (Tribeca Film Festival, 2016 and premiering in theaters in 2017).
For more information, visit: WastedFilm.com.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas—advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities—to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. To learn more, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.
About Zero Point Zero Production
Zero Point Zero Production, Inc. is a television, film, publishing, and digital media company founded in 2003 by Executive Producers Chris Collins and Lydia Tenaglia, with partner and Managing Director Joe Caterini joining in 2009. Since its inception, the company has produced hundreds of hours of critically acclaimed television in over 100 countries around the world, including the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN); the Emmy Award-winning The Mind of a Chef (PBS) and Emmy-nominated The Hunt with John Walsh (CNN).
About Anthony Bourdain – Executive Producer
Chef, author, and raconteur Anthony Bourdain is best known for traveling the globe on his stomach, on his television show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN), a travel docu-series for CNN, which won two EMMY® Awards in 2013, and a Peabody Award and EMMY® Award in 2014, and an EMMY® in 2015. Bourdain is the author of the bestselling Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly,
as well as the travel journal, A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, the non-fiction Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, which he made from 2004 to 2012, was widely popular all over the world, has won two EMMY® Awards, with several other nominations. 2013 saw the premiere of two new television shows hosted by Bourdain: The Taste, a cooking competition series for ABC with Nigella Lawson, which ran for three seasons, and Parts Unknown. In 2017, Bourdain and his partners plan to open Bourdain Market in New York City, featuring a well-curated collection of wholesale and retail food vendors and a Singapore-style hawker market.
Contact:
Maureen Shanahan | SKDKnickerbocker | mshanahan@SKDKnick.com
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[1] Re:FED: Rethinking Food Waste Through Economics and Data, 16. A Roadmap to Reduce Food Waste by 20 Percent