From the kitchen of the Brazilian Ana Lucia Costa escapes the aroma of appetizing roast pork marinated in lemon and ginger, prepared for a hundred people suffering from hunger in Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio.

It is in his little house at the top of the Rocinha hill that one of Gastromotiva’s solidarity kitchens operates. This association has 52 in total throughout Brazil, to fill stomachs, but also delight the taste buds and restore the taste of quality food.

“Why can’t the poor eat well?” asks this 45-year-old black woman, while pouring a tomato thyme sauce into her dish.

To access his modest home, you have to climb steep stairs in poor condition.

Almost all of the space in the house is taken up by the kitchen, where appliances and food donated by the association are stacked. All she has left is a tiny room where she sleeps with her teenage son.

Thanks to the Gastromotiva project, launched in 2020, Ana Lucia Costa also received training as a cook, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today, she prepares around 400 packed lunches a week, especially for families whose children “only eat in the school canteen”.

No need to look far to find people suffering from hunger: “there are everywhere, 100 meters around”, says the cook, who also feeds the homeless.

A paradox in a country like Brazil, a leading agricultural power, often nicknamed the “breadbasket of the planet”, but with abysmal inequalities. Nearly 59% of Brazilians suffer from food insecurity, according to data from the Penssan association.

“Where is all this food, why is everything so expensive?” says Ana Lucia Costa.

In his kitchen, there is no question of wasting: the peelings of beets, carrots and lemon skins are used to make juice.

Ana Lucia Costa has a whole network of neighbors who help her distribute the packed lunches.

A homeless man lives under a bridge in the lower part of Rocinha, feasts on his lunch which arrives hot, in biodegradable packaging provided by Gastromotiva.

“Ana has a heart that big!” said the man with a large scar across his chest who calls himself Anderson.

“Some say I’m crazy to give my time to others. But the crazy ones are those who sit idly by”, says the cook, who derives her main source of income from this activity, in particular thanks to a scholarship paid by the association.

Previously, she had worked for a time in the protection services for minors in Rocinha, a favela plagued by violence linked to drug trafficking.

“I’ve seen so many horror stories that cooking has become therapy,” she says.

It is also a form of therapy for Carlos Alberto da Silva, a former drug addict who relapsed into drugs after the death of his 20-year-old son, killed during a police operation.

By preparing dishes such as saffron rice with sesame and a “shandy” of vegetables, the 52-year-old black man feels he can “stay away” from his addiction.

Packed lunches prepared at dawn on behalf of Gastromotiva are distributed to homeless people in the city center.

He devotes one day a week to solidarity cooking, in his small restaurant located above a sports field in the favela of Chapeu Mangueira, which overlooks Leme beach, near Copacabana, one of Rio’s top tourist spots. .

Customers are rare in his restaurant in this working-class district, but he does not give up.

“I’m going to knock on all doors in search of funding,” says this cook who dreams of taking classes at a renowned French school of gastronomy based in Rio.

05/04/2023 08:09:57 –         Rio de Janeiro (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP