A short 15 minute walk up the curving street connecting Leme and the favela of Babilonia brings us to the front door of local resident João, where he will lead us inside to his one of a kind vertical urban garden. This garden is part of the municipality’s initiative to stimulate the development of vegetable garden spaces in favela communities.  

We will then descend through the community to visit a collection of community garden spaces, where we will assist in preparing the soil and plant new vegetable seedlings for residents to enjoy in the future.  

After a quick cleanup we will head to the house of local resident and chef Regina Tchelly. Here she will demonstrate for us how to prepare a variety of dishes utilizing all of the parts of the ingredients involved with the goal of diminishing waste, increasing nutritional value and making a great tasting meal.