If there’s one thing Instagram loves just as much as a picture of food, it’s a picture of royals so put the two together, and wonderful things are bound to happen. The post on the official Kensington Palace Insta account marking the launch of the charity cookbook supported by the Duchess of Sussex grabbed 375,000 likes in its first 24 hours making it the most popular so far this month on the KP feed. This is a cause close to Meghan’s heart and a project she’s helped steer into fruition in just a matter of months. So what’s inside the book that’s cooking up a storm before it’s even released?
”Together: Our Community Kitchen” contains over fifty recipes for Eastern Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African dishes and they’re designed to be simple and quick to make. Meghan’s had a go at rustling up plenty of them and reveals that she’s already turned the avocado and chilli dip in ”Together” into a Sussex family favourite. Just to whet our appetites ahead of the book’s UK launch on September 20th its publishers, Penguin Random House, have shared four recipes from the collection and the dip that delighted a duchess is one of them.
Photo by Jenny Zarins via Getty Images
You’ll find the link to the recipe by Munira Mahmud here and if you’re heading off to the shops right now, put natural yoghurt, coriander and lemons on the list alongside those avocados and chillis. Munira’s recipe joins a Coconut Chicken Curry created by Aysha Bora on the preview list. Sanna Mirza has contributed her Salad Shirazi, an Iranian side dish often served with lamb, while pudding lovers everywhere might want to click the link to the Caramelised Plum Upside Down Cake, brought to life by Faiza Hayana Bellini.
All four women don’t just share a love of cooking. They are, as we all know now, part of the community affected by the Grenfell Tower Fire in June 2017. In the aftermath of that terrible tragedy, the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre offered its kitchen to those affected so that they could cook fresh food for their families two days a week. Out of that came the Hubb Community Kitchen where cooking became a source of togetherness and hope.
Photo by Jenny Zarins via Getty Images
The group, which takes its name from the Arabic word for love, came to the attention of the Duchess of Sussex before her wedding. Meghan has been visiting privately since January and suggested publishing a cookbook to help the kitchen open up seven days a week. There’s been a lot of royal impetus in getting this project off the ground and now the Duchess, like everyone involved, hopes the book will lead to a lot more community cooking.
All the profits from the book will go to the Royal Foundation which Harry and Meghan help run and that cash will then be used for the benefit of the Hubb Community Kitchen. It’s hoped that 50,000 copies will fly off the shelves, bringing in over a quarter of a million pounds. Meghan has made a real impact with her first major solo project and who’d be surprised if she made sure that ‘’Together’’ remained in the public conscious for as long as possible. Well, Instagram was made for food and royals. It would be a shame not to.
