As Miami celebrates one of the best chefs in the world, he contemplates his legacy

Massimo Bottura, one of the best-known chefs on the planet, has lived a life of full of accolades.

His innovative mastery of Italian cooking brought new prominence to an already-beloved cuisine. His restaurant Torno Subito in Dubai earned a Michelin star and is set to open its second location here in Miami sometime in 2024. His restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, has twice been named among the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and also earned three Michelin stars, “reminding us,” the Michelin Guide writes, “that food should not be a boring ritual but instead an enjoyable experience influenced by memory and culture.”

He has made appearances in movies like “Ferrari” and such television shows as “Top Chef” and “Master of None.” He has inspired chefs and dazzled diners around the world.

But now, as he looks at what’s behind him and what lies ahead, Bottura, 61, feels a different sort of pressure: to leave a legacy for positive change in the world.

“Once you receive all the prizes and create one of the best restaurants in the world, what are you going to do?” he asks. “Are you going to translate those prizes into money, or do you want to translate them into something more important? Giving back is some of the greatest success you can have.”

This philanthropic spirit has helped earn Bottura the spotlight at the most prestigious event of the 2024 South Beach Wine & Food Festival. The festival, which runs Feb. 22-25, will honor Bottura at its annual tribute dinner on Feb. 24 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Also being honored is Luca Garavoglia, chairman of Campari Group.

Nadia Caterina Munno, known as “The Pasta Queen,” will act as master of ceremonies, and an impressive group of chefs will be busy behind the scenes: Alain Ducasse, whose restaurants have earned more than 20 Michelin stars; Mauro Colagreco, of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Mirazur in Menton, France; Albert Adrià Acosta of Enigma, a Michelin one-star restaurant in Barcelona; Jordi Roca i Fontané, pastry chef at El Celler de Can Roca, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Girona, Spain; and Antonio Bachour, named World Best Pastry Chef in 2022 and the creative mind behind the Miami restaurants Bachour and Table.

Also joining the chefs is Bernardo Paladini, who will be the chef de cuisine at the Miami Torno Subito. (When it opens, the restaurant, Bottura says, will be “all about Bernardo.”)

With Bottura at center stage, the response to the tribute dinner has been tremendous, said Lee Schrager, South Beach Wine & Food festival founder. Selling the $600-per-person tickets was no problem: The dinner is sold out (net proceeds benefit the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism at Florida International University).

“This is something we’ve never really seen before,” Schrager says. “It’s the star power of one of the greatest chefs in the world. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime dinners. Getting Massimo to come was a coup, but to get him to line up his friends really put it over the top.”

Previous honorees include Alain Ducasse, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Eric Ripert, Maguy Le Coze, Ferran Adrià, Jose Andres, Francis Ford Coppola, Baron Eric de Rothschild and Christophe Navarre.

Though he’s flattered his fellow chefs are joining in the tribute, Bottura says the festival spotlight, like all spotlights, casts a wider glow, highlighting all the people who make a restaurant successful.

“These things are not just about me,” he says. ‘It’s about the whole industry. I’ve always said the way we cook food, the way we explain it, the way we approach it, that’s culture. That’s knowledge. Every day in our restaurants we create culture, we develop knowledge. We open ourselves to consciousness, and from consciousness to responsibility, the step is very short.”

Bottura feels a responsibility to give credit to and support the artisans who make his restaurants possible: the farmers, the fishermen, the cheese makers, anyone who grows or provides the ingredients for his dishes.

“I’m an Italian chef,” he jokes. “Imagine how many food producers there are around me!”

That same need to include everyone in the narrative prompted Bottura and his American wife Lara Gilmore to create Food for Soul, a nonprofit that focuses on eliminating food waste and feeding those in need. The organization’s mission is to strengthen communities, create opportunities for social and economic mobility and build healthy, equitable food systems.

Working with local organizations, architects and community leaders, Food for Soul opens “refettorios,” unused spaces transformed into community hubs (think of them as stylish soup kitchens). The refettorios are spread around the world, from Italy and other parts of Europe to South America, with two in the United States (in New York and San Francisco).

“These soup kitchens are more beautiful than our restaurants,” Bottura says, adding that two more are planned for Los Angeles and Chicago.. “And through beauty, we fight food waste and social isolation.”

Bottura and Gilmore are also ambassadors and mentors for the Tortellante project, created in 2016 by the Modena-based Aut Aut Association. The project uses grandmothers and volunteers to teach autistic teens and young adults to make tortellini by hand in Modena.

The highly-sought after pasta is always sold out, Bottura says, adding, “We need more kids and more grandmothers.”

Bottura hopes to bring the Food for Soul project to Miami once Torno Subito opens (“in a few months,” he estimates). Last year, when he was in town for Art Basel and to promote his cookbook “Slow Food, Fast Cars,” he met a few people who said they’d be interested in helping to set up the project. But he’s realistic about the difficulties of getting it underway.

“We need permits and local partners who really believe in the project,” he said. “People said, ‘We want to help you,’ but at one point you need to act, not just talk.”

Opening a restaurant in Miami wasn’t originally on Bottura’s agenda, and with requests coming in from all over the world, he didn’t think much about the possibility. But over the past couple of years, as Michelin stars were awarded, national publications took notice and the restaurant scene was transformed, he changed his mind.

“The last time I was there, I found an an amazing energy,” he said. “I feel it’s the place to be right now. The city is exploding. I want to be there.”