Chefs with 40 Michelin stars between them have signed up to work for a London community kitchen for vulnerable people, as part of London Food Month.
The likes of Monica Galetti, Michel Roux Jr, Jason Atherton, Clare Smyth, Angela Hartnett and Nuno Mendes have volunteered to work a shift at Refettorio Felix this summer, according to England’s Evening Standard newspaper.
They are among more than 30 chefs who will cook lunch for homeless and vulnerable people using surplus food from supermarkets sourced by the Felix Project charity.
Each chef will come up with menus based on what ingredients are available on the day, and work from 8am until the lunch sitting is finished at 2pm, when they eat with volunteers. The idea was conceived by Italy’s three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura in conjunction with the Evening Standard and is based on similar “refectories” set up by Bottura’s Food for Soul charity in Milan and Rio de Janeiro. The aim is to serve more than 2,000 meals using five tonnes of food.
The restaurant is due to open at an undisclosed location on 5 June. Bottura will be in the kitchen on the first day, with Alain Ducasse taking control on day two, alongside his executive chef at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, Jean-Philippe Blondet.
Other chefs involved include Ashley Palmer-Watts of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal; The Ledbury’s Brett Graham; Claude Bosi, who has recently opened his new restaurant at Bibendum in London; and renowned restaurateur Daniel Boulud, who won the International Outstanding Achievement Award at the Cateys in 2015.
