Chefs with Compassion is within touching distance of a remarkable milestone. Having already served 9,552,780 meals since 2020, the organisation is calling on South Africans to help push it beyond 10 million meals through this year’s #67000litres Challenge.
Chefs with Compassion is calling on home cooks, corporate teams, professional chefs, hotels, restaurants, catering companies and culinary schools across South Africa to help fill pots with compassion as the annual #67000litres Challenge gets underway this week.
After exceeding its target by cooking an incredible 142,462 litres of soup for more than 500,000 vulnerable South Africans last year, the organisation is once again rallying the nation to unite against hunger and food waste through South Africa’s largest annual collaboration of chefs and cooks cooking for good.
More than simply a Mandela Day initiative, the #67000litres Challenge raises awareness of food waste and hunger while supporting Chefs with Compassion’s year-round mission to Rescue | Cook | Feed.
Since its establishment in 2020, Chefs with Compassion has served an incredible 9,552,780 meals to vulnerable South Africans. This Mandela Day, the organisation hopes to surpass the remarkable milestone of 10 million meals served – and every litre of soup cooked will help get it there.
Chef Coo Pillay, Founding Director of Chefs with Compassion, says the campaign is about far more than a single day of service.
“Mandela Day reminds us that every one of us has the power to make a difference, but hunger doesn’t disappear on 18 July. The #67000litres Challenge is about using our skills and resources to create lasting impact while showing that perfectly good food should never go to waste. Every litre cooked is a meal, a moment of dignity and a reminder that compassion is something we can practise every day.
“Whether you’re a hotel kitchen producing hundreds of litres, a culinary school giving students a chance to serve their communities, a restaurant making a few extra pots of soup, a corporate team giving 67 minutes of service, or a family cooking from home, every single litre counts.”
The poultry industry has once again pledged their support, with Astral Foods, Rainbow Chicken, Country Bird Holdings and Nulaid (Quantum Foods) helping ensure participating kitchens have the protein needed to prepare nutritious, nourishing soup for vulnerable communities. Bidfood has confirmed its participation through logistics support for the poultry donations.
Chefs with Compassion’s network of 43 kitchen hubs which regularly collect ingredients from the sharehouse in City Deep to cook meals for hungry people in their communities will once again be leading the charge in cooking soup for Mandela Day.
Among the hospitality and culinary organisations who have joined the campaign are Capsicum Rosebank, Culinary Passions School of Hospitality, International Hotel School, and Garden Court Sandton City, with many more registrations expected in the days leading up to Mandela Day. For the seventh consecutive year, the Marriott Business Council SA has committed 18 of the group’s hotels across the Marriott, Westin, AC Hotels, Protea Hotels and Autograph Collection brands to participate in cooking soup.
Corporate teams are also embracing the opportunity to give back through meaningful Mandela Day experiences, with Astral Foods confirmed to be spending its 67 minutes cooking alongside students at the International Hotel School.
Chefs with Compassion is inviting participation from:
- Hotels, restaurants and catering companies
- Culinary schools and hospitality training institutions
- Community kitchens and NPOs
- Food producers and suppliers willing to sponsor ingredients
- Corporate teams looking for a meaningful Mandela Day activity
- Home cooks and members of the public who would like to cook and share soup in their own communities
- Ingredient sponsors
Whether you’re cooking from home or leading a brigade in a professional kitchen, your contribution could help Chefs with Compassion cross the 10 million meals served milestone while ensuring thousands more vulnerable South Africans receive a nutritious meal.
Every litre counts. Every pot makes a difference. Every participant becomes part of a movement that proves compassion is something we can practise every day.
Sign up to be part of the challenge here: https://bit.ly/4gmPUHo