The national COVID-19 lockdown has left many without a warm plate of food, in an effort to help, soup kitchen called Soup Kitchen with Dignity has created and distributed 1,500 meals over three days for vulnerable communities in Johannesburg. The Soup Kitchen with Dignity was initially designed to feed the destitute communities in Cape Town. To date, Soup Kitchen with Dignity has seen over 3,500 meals being served across seven communities in both cities.
Chef Lungelo, Soup Kitchen with Dignity said the initiative aims to fight growing hunger during lockdown that is affecting many communities as families are left without incomes and can’t access food. He said the idea of Soup Kitchen with Dignity came about after he got tired of seeing people being fed leftovers or offcuts of food.
“Even though we were feeding the needy, it didn’t feel right and I wanted to be sure that people were being fed fresh and nutritious food. So that, at least, even if nothing is going right at that moment, they know that the one meal they had that day was made from the heart,” said Chef Lungelo.
Marilyn Muziro and Trevor Martins, owners of Eden Park Market, said that their communities have been hard hit during this pandemic. “Giving back to the customers that support us is very important to us and we’ve wanted to get on board with such an initiative since we have opened our store in December 2019. The feedback from the community was overwhelming and we are glad we could help reach our customers’ most immediate needs in the communities that we grew up in and people who have supported us,” they said.
Independent shop owners from Pick n Pay’s market store programme joined this initiative. Each Market store owner donated food as part of Pick n Pay’s Feed the Nation campaign and set up a kitchen outside their store for Chef Lungelo and Chef Thato Miya to create quality soup for their communities. In addition, Blue Ribbon has also donated loaves of bread.
