Bvlgari IL Ristorante – Luca Fantin in Tokyo provides lunch boxes for medical personnel fighting COVID-19.
In line with the different activities implemented by Bvlgari to support the scientific and medical community in the fight against COVID-19, Bvlgari Japan and Bvlgari Il Ristorante - Luca Fantin in Ginza, Tokyo, joined forces to help medical personnel who are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 by creating some lunch boxes to be delivered to different hospitals in Tokyo.
Luca Fantin, Executive Chef at Bvlgari Il Ristorante – Luca Fantin in Tokyo, and his kitchen brigade have been working tirelessly to prepare special handy and hygienic lunch boxes containing healthy and delicious food – such as Asparagus salad, Aubergine parmigiana, and Tiramisu tart – that will be delivered twice a week to hospitals and medical institutions that have been designated to fight the infectious diseases in Japan.
On 22 April, the first set of 180 boxes was provided to medical personnel at Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, while on April 23, an additional set of 200 lunch boxes was delivered to the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.
Jean-Christophe Babin – Bvlgari’s CEO stated: “I’m very proud to see Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts joining Bvlgari other divisions to wage war against COVID-19 globally leveraging our expertise in gastronomy in Japan to help protect and support the heroic medical staff fighting on the pandemic frontline. From supporting education to kids in refugee camps through our collaboration with Save the Children, to disaster relief, gender equality with Avrora, and restoration of historical Roman monuments, Bvlgari has always pioneered CSR in the world of luxury. We believe that as responsible worldwide citizens we must donate back to our communities some of the privileges these communities have endowed us with over decades, trusting Bvlgari and building it as a world luxury icon thanks to their trust into the Brand. Japan has been our first subsidiary outside of Europe and one of our most successful markets and we are honoured to participate in the national effort to relieve the incredible pressure under which Japanese medical staff are working”.
Walter Bolognino, President and CEO at Bvlgari Japan stated: “These are very emotionally intense days for all of us, but we know that soon we will overcome them. We are going to make it only thanks to the great contribution that doctors, nurses and researchers give to society, every single day. The Bvlgari Japan donation is a simple act to share our gratitude for those people who, with their work, allow us to have hope. Hope for a future in which we can achieve our dreams. Hope for a future that will see us more united as a group. Hope for a future in which we will be more aware of how connected we are at a global level. These days for us have not to be barriers towards our future, they have to be a lens to a better future.”
Executive chef Luca Fantin who created the menu for the special lunch boxes expressed his thoughts as follows: “We would like to show our respect and gratitude to all the medical personnel who go above and beyond their job responsibilities and continue their enormous efforts at the forefront in fighting this pandemic, to protect lives. I prepared a simple Italian menu, mostly composed of seasonal ingredients with high nutritional content that allows them to experience the current season, in line with the principle that we always strive for at the restaurant. We hope that it brightens their spirits during their busy schedule and gives them a feeling of the spring season in appearance as well as in taste”.
Bvlgari, the magnificent Italian haute jeweller headquartered in Rome, Italy, has been supporting the scientific and medical community in the fight against COVID-19 since inception, with donations allowing the research department of Spallanzani Hospital in Rome to purchase a new state of the art 3D high definition microscopic. In addition, Bvlgari has converted its ICR fragrance factory in Lodi, Italy, to produce hundreds of thousands of bottles of hydroalcoholic sanitizing gel to be provided to medical establishments throughout Italy, Switzerland and the UK.
The ‘Lunch Boxes‘ project activity in Tokyo will be held twice a week during the period of emergency declared by the government. Further deliveries were scheduled for Monday, 27 April to the Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, and for Tuesday, 28 April to the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.
