The workshop raises awareness for Hong Kong’s food poverty crisis, which has only been exacerbated by Covid-19
Usually armed with the latest in kitchen technology, eight of Hong Kong’s pre-eminent chefs–with seven Michelin stars between them–had to contend with simple hotplates and rice cookers in a spartan Yau Tong industrial unit one recent morning. It was all for a good cause: to discover the reality of food shortages amongst the city’s neediest demographic, especially ahead of the Lunar New Year, traditionally a time of prosperity and abundance.
Food writer Chris Dwyer worked with Feeding Hong Kong, a local charity and food bank founded in 2011, to invite Vicky Lau from Tate Dining Room, Vicky Cheng of Vea, Nate Green from Henry, Agustin Balbi from Ando, Grégoire Michaud from Bakehouse, Jowett Yu from Ho Lee Fook, Uwe Opocensky from Petrus and Olivier Elzer from L'Envol.
The day began with an eye-opening primer on the city’s food landscape, where one million people live under the poverty line and struggle to afford nutritious meals, despite the 3,600 tonnes of food waste that are sent to local landfills every day. The chefs then learnt about Feeding Hong Kong’s operations, which involve the redistribution of 250,000 meals each month to some of the poorest in society–a demographic that has no doubt expanded due to the continuing effects of the pandemic.
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The chefs then helped to prepare 500 food parcels for the upcoming festival, before trying their hand at the challenge of cooking meals using some of the 69 tonnes of produce rescued from the landfill by Feeding Hong Kong each month. Among the ingredients they had to work with were rice, oil, instant noodles, dried mushrooms, canned meat, fish and vegetables, fresh greens and basic condiments.
Two of Hong Kong’s most popular food influencers, @little_meg_siu_meg and @thatfoodcray, were also in attendance to document and share the morning to their followers.