GUEST CHEFS
Nurturing recipes from the diverse cooks behind Community Comfort
Chef Riaz Phillips, an expert on Caribbean food and winner of a Young British Foodies award, has teamed up with 100 black and ethnic minority cooks to compile Community Comfort, a new cookbook raising funds for those a ected by covid-19. Enjoy a few of their recipes here
Caribbean food expert Riaz Phillips has gathered comfort food recipes from chefs, home cooks, Instragram in"luencers and restaurateurs from a large pool of the UK’S diverse food talent to share in a new book, to raise awareness and funds for the Majonzi Covid-19 Bereavement Fund in collaboration with the Ubele Initiative ( ubele.org). Drawing inspiration from as far and wide as Uganda to the Philippines, Riaz has recruited some names you may recognise, such as Bake O star Ruby Tandoh, the Cinnamon Club’s Vivek Singh and Great British Menu champion James Cochran (read our interview with him on page 111), as well as pastry chef Ravneet Gill and Filipino food champion Mary San Pablo, whose arroz caldo is featured overleaf.
With many of the book’s contributors born and bred in the UK, in"luences from much closer to home are also evident, sometimes in recipes that fuse "lavours from di#erent corners of the globe and others that pay homage to shared experiences of growing up in Britain – among them, Ravneet’s childhood favourite, lemon loaf (see recipe, opposite).
Riaz says, ‘In this time of disarray, and when we can’t break bread with our loved ones, I wanted to do something that would bring joy to as many people as possible. Food and recipes are how we connect, heal and mourn, but also celebrate when things get better, too. For people in BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities and migrant backgrounds, food is our colour when our voices don’t always get heard, so I gathered all these recipes in hope that they might speak to you and bring you some comfort, all while giving something back to a community that has so been a#ected, proportionately more so, in the UK.’