‘Unsung hero’ cooks 20,000 free meals for needy

UNSUNG hero Mehmoo Aktar has cooked and handed out 20,000 free meals to people in need in Bristol over the past two-and-a-half years.

The Easton resident has been giving the home-cooked meals to passersby at the M32 underpass off Stapleton Road.

Carpet business owner Mr Aktar buys all the ingredients out of his own pocket and cooks the meals at home to give out every Friday and Sunday evening, throughout the year.

He makes between 95-100 boxes of food and sometimes gets help from his son.

He said: “We started before coronavirus because in this area there are a lot of poor people, needy people and some people who don’t know how to cook or time is very tight. The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. It’s not equal.”

Mr Aktar does not ask for any recognition or seek donations.

Twice a week he puts the food in large pots in the boot of his car, then lays them out on a table in takeaway boxes and gives them to to anyone who approaches him.

Mostly the meals all get given out but if he has any left over, he gives them to homeless people.

Vicky, who lives nearby, found out about the free meals two years ago. She takes her children there occasionally and has found it really helpful.

She said: “My children absolutely love the food and it has been a massive help when I have been low on funds or food. It’s amazing how he shows up every week without fail, offering food to those in need.

“And it’s a big portion so it definitely fills you up. Sometimes you see regular faces and you can tell some people have come to really rely on his food.

“He is giving to some people who possibly wouldn’t otherwise have a cooked meal twice a week. He is an unsung hero in my eyes.”

Mr Aktar makes an average of 200 meals every week and has been doing it for two and a half years, meaning he has provided more than 20,000 meals for people in the local community.

> Mehmoo Aktar makes an average of 200 meals every week and has been doing it for two and a half years