A group of foodie influencers and chefs have been put to work in The Felix Project kitchen to help make hundreds of meals for people struggling with food poverty.
The group, which included MasterChef The Professionals finalist Olivia Burt, Chefs Ixta Belfrage, Zainab Pirzada, DinewithDina and influencer Lotte Williams spent to day helping to pack cooked meals and prepare ingredients for meals to be cooked tomorrow.
Another of the influencers in attendance was Catherine from @prettydeliciouseats, she is a food content creator and said: “I really loved the way you utilized lots of ingredients, the cooked meals are so good, the quality of the food was so high, you could see it and smell the flavours. It’s really great to see the food being used for a good cause.”
The volunteering shift was organised by mission-driven kitchenware brand Our Place and their PR company Aisle8. Our Place is a sustainable Kitchenware and cookware company that has supported The Felix Project since they launched in the UK for around two years. The company have donated over 100,000 meals to help feed London.
The co-founder Shiza Shahid was also at the East London site to get stuck in, it was the first time she had seen the work in person and was very impressed, she said: “We are really proud to support The Felix Project and be here today. Feeding people is core to who we are as brand so we can relate to the charity. The work is deeply important and also very thoughtful and smart, they are solving the hunger crisis whilst also solving the food waste crisis. They are taking the inefficiencies that exist around food waste and capturing that to create nutritious, delicious and healthy meals for the many people in London who are struggling with food insecurity.”
The group were also taken on a tour of the depot and told more about how The Felix Project supports over 1,000 community groups and schools across the capital with food that would otherwise have gone to waste, an issue which many of the chefs found shocking. Olivia Burt – who made it to the final of MasterChef The Professionals in 2019, she said: “I found it so interesting, I think there is a massive issue with food waste, I have worked in professional kitchens for the last 10 years and I think food waste is definitely, in restaurants, well it is very bad and I think it’s something we all need to work on together. I’m really impressed with the operation and how you are trying to tackle it at The Felix Project.”
Ixta Belfrage, another chef added “It’s been wonderful to come together with other people in the food industry and just help The Felix Project with the amazing work they are doing, I have learnt some pretty shocking stats about how much food is wasted in the UK and to know that good people and organisations like The Felix Project are doing everything they can to change that and to help people along the way is very encouraging.”
All the influencers found volunteering incredibly inspiring and promised to visit again, if you would like to volunteer at The Felix Project please sign up here.
