Gastromotiva receives $1.5 to build the Social Gastronomy Movement

With an emphasis on culinary skills, David Hertz - Ashoka Fellow from 2011 - offers a program for personal and professional development among marginalized young people from the favelas, enabling them to join the working world and even become entrepreneurs in their communities.

Gastromotiva uses the food and gastronomy to address social inequality, fight hunger, improve nutrition education, create a sustainable food system and local jobs. Gastromotiva participants, who range in ages from 18 to 35, are encouraged to reach their potential and expand their creativity, adopting the skills to become professionals and even start their own restaurants or other small businesses in the favelas. As young entrepreneurs, they can serve as role models to other youth and champions for the development of their community.

In the last years, Ashoka supported David’s project through the Ashoka Globalizer Acceleration Program in which he went through a tailored process aimed at initializing and implementing his System Change Journey. The participation to the program gave him the opportunity to strengthen different partnerships, fostering effective collaborations which co-created the Social Gastronomy Movement (SGM). 

We are proud to announce that, in January 2018, during the World Economic Forum in Davos the Movement was officially announced and Gastromotiva received $1.5 in support to the creation of the Social Gastronomy Movement.