India Update: Serving 20,000 meals per day, Community Relief Center announced with Archewell
In response to the surge of Covid cases across India, WCK has been preparing nutritious and comforting meals for healthcare staff working under incredibly difficult conditions. In early May—as India saw more than 400,000 infections a day—the WCK Relief Team joined Chef Sanjeev Kapoor to begin cooking in Mumbai. Our efforts quickly expanded to Ahmedabad and then Delhi, and we are now active in ten cities across India. WCK teams are serving 20,000 fresh meals daily to frontline hospital workers and to Covid quarantine centers.
In addition, as part of WCK’s ongoing philanthropic partnership with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s nonprofit Archewell Foundation, we are working together to support India’s urgent and immediate relief needs and helping to build resilience through the creation of a Community Relief Center in India. This new relief center will be established in Mumbai, which is also home to Myna Mahila, an Indian NGO focused on women’s health and employment opportunities, which The Duchess of Sussex has supported for many years.
The meals we provide are healthy, nutritious and tasty. We began working on recipes and cyclic menus so food is not repetitive. It is not that when you get free food, you don’t deserve good food. As chefs, we want to bring diligence, thought, and intelligence to the menu. We have to have local sensitivities in mind.
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor
The Community Relief Centers are part of Archewell Foundation and WCK’s dedication to provide both emergency relief and support in building resilience for the communities we serve. In times of crisis, they can be quickly activated as emergency response kitchens, and through calmer times they can serve as food distribution hubs, schools, clinics, or community gathering spaces for families.
Together, WCK and Archewell Foundation have built the first of four Community Relief Centers in Dominica, and development is underway for the second Center in Puerto Rico. The Community Relief Center in Mumbai, India is the third announced location.
This week, India’s total Covid infection count surpassed 25 million, with more than 4,000 people killed in just 24 hours. In response, from Delhi in northern India to Chicalim on the country’s western coast, WCK partner chef teams at 8 hotels are cooking nutritious meals for 27 different hospitals and quarantine centers. Meals are served in shifts for lunch and dinner as frontline healthcare staff are working around the clock caring for patients.
In Mumbai, our teams prepared palak matar, a spinach and green pea curry, for staff at four local hospitals. Kadala gassi—coconut based curry with chickpeas and yams—was on the menu in Bengaluru. And in Hyderabad? Subz vegetable biryani with mirchi ka salan (a green chili gravy).
For the latest information on our Covid response in India, follow WCK on Twitter and Instagram. Our teams will continue serving fresh meals in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chicalim, Cortalim, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Varanasi, and we will expand support as we are able.
The frontline workers at hospitals are in an environment where the viral load is very high so we have to provide what is good for their health. The freshness of the food and vegetables are really important. Things rich in vitamin D, zinc, vitamin C are really important. We make sure there is fruit and use seasonal vegetables.
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor
