Humanity First: This community of home chefs is distributing free meals to COVID-19 patients, families
Connected through social media, Kitchen of Flavours is distributing free home-cooked meals to COVID-19 patients across many Indian cities.
Amidst a raging second wave of COVID-19, a whole community of individuals have braved themselves to face the pandemic head-on by helping out those in need.
NGOs and individuals have taken to distributing rations, hygiene essentials, and even home-cooked meals, among others to the ones who need it the most.
With several people undergoing home isolation or taking care of someone suffering from COVID-19, they are unable to make meals for the household.
To help such families and individuals, home chefs and restaurant owners are providing them with fresh meals. Kitchen of Flavours is one such community of home chefs, professional chefs, and celebrity chefs, which is providing hygienic, homemade, and fresh food to COVID-19 patients free of cost.
The initiative was started in March 2021.
The Kitchen of Flavours community
A community of chefs
“We are a nuclear family in Delhi, and two months ago, we were affected by COVID-19. When our reports came, my husband and I tested positive, and the first thing that hit our mind was how we were going to manage food,” says Ira Singhal.
In fact, Ira shares that another of her relative was also affected by the virus, and with both parents testing positive, the main problem was preparing food to feed the children.
“And as we all can understand, during this time, ordering food from restaurants is way too risky,” she adds.
One of the chefs packing the meal boxes
Hence, Ira, along with a group of five to six women, decided to launch the Kitchen of Flavour initiative. These women — mostly home chefs — were cooking every day without seeking any personal profit.
Initially, the group had to personally approach a few home chefs to provide food free of cost in four to five different cities, especially in NCR. However, after some time, many home chefs voluntarily joined them in their endeavour.
At present, the community has about 30 home chefs across different cities, including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Meerut, Lucknow, Faridabad, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Assam.
Healthy home-cooked meals
“We are providing food to COVID-19 patients, hence they are hygienic. The menu includes rice, chapatis, dry vegetables, dal (any gravy vegetables like rajma, etc.), khichdi, dalia, etc. We are also changing our menu regularly to keep a variety,” Ira says.
The group takes orders from different social media platforms, including WhatsApp and phone calls. These home chefs deliver the food through either Swiggy’s Genie feature and WeFast apps.
Ira says the most exciting part of their community is that these home chefs do not work with any team. “We want to deliver food safely without much exposure. Hence, no outsider is allowed, and all our home chefs cook in their home kitchen,” she adds.
Speaking about the costs involved, Ira says they have never calculated any cost behind the initiative “because our main motto is to serve as many people as we can. Till now, with God’s grace, everything is running smoothly and with positive vibes.”
The boxes are packed with utmost hygiene
Although the group has never asked for a donation, many kind-hearted individuals have voluntarily helped with rations like flour, dal, rice, and oil, among other cooking essentials.
Kitchen of Flavours primarily serves food to middle-class families, nuclear family, and senior citizens, who are either not able to cook food, or where the whole family is affected by the virus, and nobody is available to prepare meals for them.
Small hurdles
Ira says different home chefs are facing different challenges, but one of the major concerns reported so far is that the neighbours are not happy with the delivery boys.
“While some of them are having parking issues, some have the fear of getting infected,” Ira shares.
However, the chefs want to run this programme as long as possible with undying passion and zeal.
“Our super 30 home chefs are a great example of being ‘Wonder Women.’ They are selflessly spreading the love by serving food to COVID-19 patients in different cities. With the joint endeavour of the whole group, we can attempt this social initiative to spread harmony around us and put a smile on people’s faces,” Ira says.
Edited by Suman Singh