Spice girl Meghan!
Duchess’ secret visits to help out in kitchen for victims of Grenfell
WITHIN minutes of arriving at a community kitchen set up after Grenfell, a smiling Meghan Markle had grabbed an apron, begun washing rice and making chapatis and was happily chatting about recipes.
It was the compassionate Duchess of Sussex’s first visit of many to the Hubb Community Kitchen, which is helping stricken families affected by the disaster in West London.
And she certainly made an impression with the local women she had come to help. Mum-of-two Zahira Ghaswala, 38, said: “She just got stuck in straight away. It was just all natural – the joy, the happiness.”
Zahira said Meghan, 37, was “fascinated with all the flavours, the cultures and the dishes” during a visit in January, and suggested writing a cookbook to raise funds so the kitchen can run seven days a week.
And with The Royal Foundation, Meghan is supporting Together: Our Community Cookbook, which has 50 recipes from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. The food photography was done at a kitchen in Kensington Palace and Meghan wrote the foreword. In it, she says: “I immediately felt connected to this community kitchen; it is a place for women to laugh, grieve, cry and cook together. Melding cultural identities under a shared roof, it creates a space to feel a sense of normalcy.” After the tower block fire which killed 72 people in June last year, women gathered at a communal kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in West London, to prepare food for families, friends and neighbours and The Hubb was born. The Mirror revealed earlier this year that Meghan had made a series of private visits to the Grenfell area to support grieving families, including to the kitchen. Zahira said: “She fits in really well. She thrives in the group and inspires us.” The Royal Foundation’s Natalie Campbell said the women in the kitchen may expand their role: “They have started to say, ‘I want to go out to feed the elderly, do workshops for mums, support children to learn to create healthy food’.” The book is published on Thursday, priced £9.99.