David is a visionary, a pioneer where he uses his best skills to promote social projects related to food. He believes that together we can feed humanity with humanity. He is a chef and social entrepreneur, has a creative mind, loves to connect people and build bridges that can transform society to be more equitable.

In 2006, he co-founded Gastromotiva, an NGO that empowers through kitchen vocational training, nutritional and sustainable food education, vulnerable communities such as youth from low-income families, immigrants and women who have been left behind. During the 2016 Olympics, he opened Refettorio Gastromotiva, a no-food-waste cooking restaurant school, in collaboration with chef Massimo Bottura and journalist Alexandra Forbes. In 2018, Hertz co-founded the Social Gastronomy Movement, that foster collaborations and access between socially engaged chefs and social entrepreneurs with other sectors of society.

Named the 2019 recipient of The Charles Bronfman Prize, given to a humanitarian whose innovative work, informed by Jewish values, has significantly improved the world.

In 2020, due the pandemic he transformed the Refettorio Gastromotiva into a Food Bank. Gastromotiva distributed those donations to community kitchens, student homes and other organizations that would continue to cook under their lockdown and serve the meals in a controlled and lockdown compliant with local authorities. Over 335 tons of food inputs were sent to a chain of volunteers and over 600,000 meals were prepared and distributed from end of March 2020 to this day. In addition to partnering with 66 local community organizations, Gastromotiva inspired a new campaign to create Solidarity Kitchens. Students that lost their jobs in the hospitality business because of the lockdown were now being assisted by Gastromotiva with ingredients, containers, menus and training in logistics to continue their work while sustaining their families. Over 100 new Solidarity Kitchens were created in the emergency of the situation, feeding the most needed.