Here’s one more reason to look forward to WDCD São Paulo: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is now serving meals designed by prize-winning Brazilian chef, Rodrigo Oliveira, on its flights from Brazil to Amsterdam. A contemporary of WDCD speaker and fellow Brazilian Alex Atala, Oliveira’s holistic approach to food has taken Sao Paulo by storm.

At past WDCD events we have seen (and tasted) just how powerful food is as a medium – at once universal and provocative – and in the cases of both Atala and Oliveira, it can ask important questions about cultural heritage and sustainability. Oliveira’s São Paulo restaurant Mocotó, for example, is famous for keeping faithful to traditional, northeastern Brazilian cuisine and for only using local, seasonal ingredients. Dishes once written off as unsophisticated for using cheap cuts of meat or forgotten techniques are reinvented. In Atala’s words, “Rodrigo is perhaps the most authentic Brazilian experience at the moment.” Small wonder that this once unassuming neighbourhood restaurant has been named the 16th best restaurant in Latin America.

Today his dishes can also be found in both the Business and Economy Class menus onboard all KLM flights from Brazil to Amsterdam. Of this partnership, Oliveira explains that “My biggest motivation was the challenge to translate our cuisine to the universe of aviation… The possibility of developing the menu for the Economy class was another fundamental point, aligned with our philosophy of inclusiveness.”

See more on this story, including a video, here, and read up on what else is in store at WDCD São Paulo here.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is a sponsor of WDCD Sao Paulo.

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