Montreal chef turns Olympic food waste into gourmet meals

A Montreal chefis travelling to Rio de Janeiro next month for the Paralympic Games, taking on what promises to be a gruelling challenge: feeding 5,000 of the city's less fortunate.

Antonio Park, who runs both the Park andLavanderia restaurantsin Westmount, is part of a group of chefs planning to turn leftovers from the Olympic Gamesinto gourmet dishes.

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Park was invited toRio by Italy's famous chef Massimo Bottura.

With questions swirling over the $12billion US price tag of South America's first Olympics,Botturawanted to make a statement about the Games' sustainability. He decided to tackleone symbol of Olympic waste: the more than 230 tons of food supplied daily to prepare 60,000 meals for athletes, coach and staff.

Botturasaid he was inspired by Pope Francis' advocacy for the poor and modeled his project on a similar one he organized last year in an abandoned theatre during the Milan world's fair.

His aim is to educate people about food waste in order to help feed the 800 million in the world who are hungry.

Park met Botturaearlier this year while the two were serving meals as part of a fundraiser in Montreal.

The famous Italian chef dined at his Westmount restaurant, Park,and invited himto join his team in Rio.

Park will spend nearly two dayspreparing for the meal,then he will feed some 5,000people.

But he can't yet say what's on the menu.

"I have no idea what I am getting," he said."It all depends on the waste and what's the over-orderthat they did over there."