Chefs with compassion produce 104,000 litres of soup for the needy on Mandela Day

Chefs With Compassion (CWC) did it again this year, reaching a new milestone by producing more than 104 000 litres of soup and feeding more than 400 000 people across South Africa on Mandela Day.

Students chefs and renowned chefs like Mogau Seshoene, also known as The Lazy Makoti; Tebogo Nape, popularly known as Chef Dede; actress Khosi Ngema; managing director of HTA School of Culinary Art Kabelo Segone; and Yajna Maharaj, among others, cooked more than 600 litres of soup as a part of the Johannesburg hub.

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Despite setting the benchmark at 67 000l each year, the nonprofit organisation has delivered much more, from 77 455l in 2020, 70 870l in 2021 and an amazing 90 679l last year, and served more than 362 000 people.

Joined by chefs, home cooks, restaurants, hotels and many other organisations, various hubs of CWC cooked up a storm yesterday to honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela.

The whooping 104 360l of soup saw people around Randburg, Alexandra and South Africa as a whole go to bed with full stomachs; and tackled hunger and put a spotlight on food wastage at the same time.

Helping hand

Chair of CWC and president of SA Chefs Association James Khoza said it was important for people in various communities to lend a helping hand where they can.

“If half the country is unemployed, it means that one person can feed 10 people in our black communities particularly, so it means a whole lot of people go hungry in this country every day,” Khoza said.

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“But we know that there are people with surplus food, people in the middle class and that is the challenge: to make sure that food reaches the right people and to give back.”

“And not just on this day, but every single day. Understanding the importance of rescuing food that is going to landfills, repurposing the food and feeding those in need.”

CWC’s national project manager, Coo Pillay, said there were millions of people around the country who went hungry, while around 30% of food was wasted, “With this initiative we do notonly want to tackle hunger but teach people about food wastage”.

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“And how people across the country can put food being wasted put to good use and essentially protect the environment as well,” Pillay noted.

Segone expressed gratitude on behalf of the organisation for allowing HTA students to be a part of “such an iconic and amazing initiative”.

“It not only teaches our students to be compassionate but also equips them to spread the word in their communities about rescuing food meant for waste, repurposing it and feeding those in need,” he said.

“We want people to understand that whatever you throw away, someone less privileged can make something out of it.

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“They can also spread the message to those who don’t know what to do with the food, bring them in here and let us do something with it.”

What Mandela Day is about

One of the founders of CWC, Yajna Maharaj, said Covid birthed the nonprofit organisation, but “every year brings new joy and experiences with this collaboration”.

“It has shown me great amounts of generosity, humility and love. Even the warriors here at HTA, many of them came to offer a helping hand without having to be asked,” she added.

“And that is what Mandela Day is about – coming together to bring joy and help those in need.”

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Jabulani Nkosi, a homeless man in Randburg, thanked all the organisations that came to donate and be a part of this initiative.

“This really gives us hope for a better South Africa, where people can just come out and show up for you without asking for anything in return,” he said as he danced with a volunteer from one of the beneficiary organisations, Heart to Heart.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za