Chefs with Compassion – along with hundreds of home cooks, chefs, corporates and communities – have smashed their record in the third annual #67000litres Challenge for Mandela Day, cooking 94 359 litres of nutrient-rich soup to approximately 377 436 people in seven provinces around the country – almost 17 000 litres more than the 2020 record!
In the biggest annual community cooking initiative in South Africa, 128 participants representing hotels, restaurants, companies, and individuals took up the challenge and got behind their stoves to cook for a cause – cleaning out their pantries to showcase the massive problem of food waste in South Africa.
From 2 litres to 12 000 litres, every drop contributed towards the total cooked in hotels, canteens, home kitchens and community soup kitchens in Gauteng, KZN, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and North West – and to the thousands of people who went to bed without the feeling of hunger on Mandela Day.
Read more: Nelson Mandela Day – it all begins with a Smile
Tendai Mtawarira spent his Mandela Day buttering bread at the Out of Africa Children’s Home in Atlantis, Cape Town, where the children took the opportunity to rugby tackle their hero.
Electrolux and AEG, who supported this year’s campaign, hosted Xoliswa Ndoyiya, Nelson Mandela’s private chef for 22 years, at their head office cookoff, where she contributed to their 2 000 litres.
The single largest contributor was the ThembiT Foundation, whose founder Thembi Tshabala has been collecting ingredients from Chefs with Compassion since lockdown in 2020.
The dynamic gospel singer began cooking in Mmabatho on Saturday, continuing all the way through to Tuesday, delivering close to 12 000 litres of soup to beneficiaries in five different locations across Gauteng and the North West.
To make a donation to Chefs with Compassion, go to www.cwc.org.
This year’s Nelson Mandela Day focused on food insecurity, and people were called upon to “Do What You Can, With What You Have, Where You Are.”
Read more: Nelson Mandela Day: A call to help feed the hungry
