In Modena, there is the world's best social restaurant. Here's what it is

In Modena, there is the world's best social restaurant in the hospitality sector. It's called Roots, the project of Caroline Caporossi and Jessica Rosval who have won the Champions of Change award. The award is for those "realities that really make a difference in the future of hospitality," explains William Drew, Director of Content for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, an important global restaurant ranking that awards the prize, this year shared with Brazilian João Augusto Santos Batista, aka Diamante. "The work they are doing to contribute to a better future for their communities is admirable," continues Drew, "we are excited to support the development of valuable projects." William Drew calls them heroes, the "silent protagonists of change in the restaurant and gastronomy industry," and celebrates their commitment which translates into concrete initiatives for the benefit of the community.

Roots by Caroline Caporossi and Jessica Rosval

Roots, in Modena, is dedicated to the work integration of migrant women, co-working during the day and a restaurant in the evening, born in 2022 within the Association for the Integration of Women created two years earlier by American Caroline Caporossi and Canadian chef Jessica Rosval to "provide resources for women to put down roots and thrive." Jessica Rosval herself, chef of Casa Maria Luigia and the more recent Gatto Verde, CML's barbecue (which will soon become a scattered hotel), in the Bottura galaxy (which is also engaged with the Food for Soul Refettorios). Roots creates a self-sufficient social model, where training, job placement, and social support are pillars for social and economic integration, thus contributing to building opportunities, awareness, and autonomy. The association trains 12 women each year in a four-month cycle, during which the gastronomic, cultural, and human background of each one is also valued. "The success of Roots is made possible by the value they bring to our kitchen every day, and this award is further evidence of the human and economic capital of women around the world," say the two founders Caroline Caporossi and Jessica Rosval.

Diamantes Na Cozinha by João Diamante

The other winner of the Champions of Change 2024 is Brazilian João Augusto Santos Batista, aka Diamante, who operates with Diamantes Na Cozinha in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro from which he himself comes and of which he knows the critical issues well. He was able to overcome the difficulties of a disadvantaged adolescence thanks to a social assistance program, then there was the navy and the discovery of cooking that would lead him to gastronomy studies first and then to the court of Alain Ducasse. Without ever forgetting his homeland, its beauty, and the difficulties, starting from organized crime and drug addiction that afflict young people. In 2016 he founded Diamantes Na Cozinha, which helps to give a perspective to adolescents, with training courses in the hospitality, cooking, mixology, and food anthropology fields. After training, which involved over 3,000 people in less than 10 years, it was time to create a real restaurant, the Diamante Gastrobar, which represents a professional outlet for its students: "This project was born to help people in situations of social vulnerability in Rio, accompanying them on a path towards a better future," explains Diamante.

The champions of change

The Champions of Change are - literally - the Champions of Change, those figures who are able to make a positive turnaround in the hospitality world. It is an award established in 2021 by the 50 Best, the ranking of the best restaurants in the world, so influential as to change the fate not only of the restaurants at the top of the ranking (last year it was the turn of Lima's Central), but also of the territories where they are born. In the aftermath of the pandemic, it was decided to give an award to those who - with the tools of food, catering, and hospitality - managed to improve society by enriching the range of special prizes such as those for the best service, the best female chef, the emerging restaurant, or the Icon chef award. Over time, Nora Fitzgerald Belahcen, Damián Diaz, and Othón Nolasco were awarded in 2023, Dieuveil Malonga, Ukrainian Olia Hercules, and Russian Alissa Timoshkina, Koh Seng Choon in 2022, Deepanker Khosla, Kurt Evans and our Viviana Varese in 2021.