[ad_1]
The Duchess rolled up her sleeves and got to work at the Hubb Community Kitchen in west London in January during private visits as she settled in to life in the UK.
More details of her work came to light yesterday as she put her name to a cookbook to help fundraise for the project.
Titled ‘Together: Our Community Cookbook’, the book features 50 recipes, launched by the women of Grenfell, with the Duchess of Sussex contributing the foreword to the book after her experience of actively helping the project to succeed.
Speaking of her experiences in the foreword of the new Hubb cookbook, Meghan described how she got “stuck in straight away” at the Hubb centre, situated near the site of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster.
Her visits to the area echoed her husband Prince Harry’s mother, Diana the Princess of Wales.
Nearly 30 years ago, Princess Diana actively spent time visiting the charities and initiatives she supported – often away from the glare of the public eye.
In 1993, she played dinner lady to hungry children while visiting a Red Cross feeding station in Zimbabwe.
Princess Diana, who was at that point patron of 119 charities, often raised money to help fight AIDS and breast cancer, embarking on personal crusades that involved her selling items from her personal wardrobe for charity.
According to the New York Times, on a single night Princess Diana brought in £2.49million ($3.25m) for auctioning 79 cocktail and evening dresses at Christies – an average of more than £31,450 ($41,000) per piece of clothing.
Diana often worked with displaced people, becoming a patron of The Passage, St Vincent’s Centre in the mid 90’s.
There she helped cook and speak to people, while accompanied by her sons, Prince Harry and Prince William.
She was also a patron for the Centrepoint charity, often visiting the shelter and helping with acitivities and feeding those in need of help.
Within the charity cookbook, Meghan said: “An apron was quickly wrapped around me, I pushed up my sleeves, and I found myself washing the rice for lunch.
“I felt immediately connected to this community kitchen; it is a place for women to laugh, grieve, cry and cook together.
“Their roles as matriarchs united them across their cultures; the kitchen provided an opportunity to cook what they knew and to taste the memory of home, albeit homes some had recently lost.”
She spoke of the kitchen, saying: “Scents of Cardamom, curry and ginger dance through the air.
“You will find yourself in a melting pot of cultures and personalities, who have roots in Uganda, Iraq, Morocco, India, Russia and at least ten different countries. It will take you about 15 minutes to enter the room, as you will be joyfully greeted by kisses by each of the incredible women there.”
Munira Mahmud, who started the project after escaping from the fire, said: “Last summer, we were placed in a hotel and I had no kitchen to cook for my family.
“It was very emotional for me to get into the kitchen. The moment I started cooking I was in tears.”
Recalling Meghan’s first visit to the Hubb, Ms Mahmud said: “She came into the kitchen, very relaxed, very friendly, down to earth. She wore an apron. I can’t believe I made her wash rice!”
Meghan will also help the Hubb Community Project team prepare lunch to be served at Kensington Palace to celebrate, where the book is due to be launched on Thursday.
[ad_2]
