Author

Kierra

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex is supporting a new charity cookbook, which celebrates the power of cooking to bring people together.

Supported by The Royal Foundation and published by Penguin Random House companies, ‘Together: Our Community Kitchen’ showcases over 50 recipes from women whose community was affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

Last summer, a group of women gathered in a communal kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in West London, where they could prepare fresh food for their families, friends and neighbours. As they cooked together and shared recipes, as a community they began to connect, heal and look forward. Word spread and more women joined in – this was the start of the Hubb Community Kitchen.

The proceeds from the book will support the Hubb Community Kitchen, enabling it to stay open and to thrive.

The Duchess of Sussex first visited the kitchen in January 2018 and has continued to make regular private visits. United by their passion for cooking as a way of strengthening communities, The Duchess was inspired by how the project empowers women at a grassroots level, and championed the cookbook project as a way of ensuring the kitchen can continue transforming lives and communities through cooking. Her Royal Highness has written the foreword for ‘Together’, which features the women’s own personal recipes from across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

In the introduction, the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen wrote: “Our kitchen has always been a place of good food, love, support and friendship. We cook the recipes we’ve grown up with; there’s no stress, and the recipes always work because they have been made so many times – it’s proper comfort food…

“Swapping family recipes and moments of laughter gave us a sense of normality and home. We named ourselves the Hubb Community Kitchen to celebrate the thing that we all feel every time we meet – hubb means love in Arabic.”

“Through this charitable endeavour, the proceeds will allow the kitchen to thrive and keep the global spirit of community alive.”

Baroness Gail Rebuck, Chair of Penguin Random House, said: “We were instantly caught up by the extraordinary vision for this project with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen. Every woman who has contributed a recipe to this book has also contributed a fragment of their lives and memories. Each dish tells a story of culture, family and a sense of home.

“But most of all Together is an homage to life and friendship and we hope it will act as a symbol to all communities and encourage cooking together for life and joy.”

The Royal Foundation is administering the transfer of funds from the sale of ‘Together’ to the Hubb Community Kitchen and related projects. Profits from the sales of ‘Together’ will help keep the kitchen open for up to seven days a week and to widen its reach to others in the community.

For more information on Meghan’s first solo charity project visit: TheRoyalFoundation.Com | Penguin.Co.Uk