Filipino Food for NHS
Filipinos are the third largest nationality working for the NHS, making up around 40,000 members of staff. In March, a Filipino nurse reached out to Kanlungan Filipino Consortium asking if they knew anyone who could provide Filipino food for a group of 30 NHS workers who were feeling homesick, as they had arrived in London just before the Covid travel ban.
At the Filipino Food UK group, we were keen to express our gratitude to these NHS healthcare workers who were so far away from their loved ones. There have been lots of brilliant charitable food-based initiatives for NHS staff like Hospitality for Heroes and Meals for NHS but I was glad we were able fulfil this specific need as I know personally how Filipino food provides comfort and an instant connection to my childhood home.
Together with The Adobros, Food with Mae, LUTO, SARAP, and FilliFalt in London, Roni B in Surrey, and Rachel Stockley and Mama Z in Manchester, we’ve raised nearly £5,000 and made over 2,600 meals for NHS staff. We’ve made various adobos (including chicken, pork belly and veganised versions with aubergine and tofu), pancit sotanghon, menudo, afritada, asado, laing, smoky aubergine frittata (my nod to tortang talong) and Budgie Montoya of SARAP Brixton made his signature cassava cheesecake with rhubarb and calamansi compote. I’ve recently switched from chicken adobo to inasal now it’s BBQ weather.
We’ve received many cheering photos of NHS staff with their adobo boxes and had this lovely message on the Gofundme page from Alma Makiling: “I’m a Filipino working in NHS too and little things like this would warm my heart❤️ Knowing my fellow Filipinos are spreading kindness and supporting each other in this very difficult time.. May God bless us all.”
This project has created a sense of community even through our isolation; from the generous support of people donating to the GoFundMe and spreading the word, those who gave up their time to supply the food and cook, the Kanlungan volunteers who delivered the food, and the businesses that donated produce, we were all able to come together and say thank you in this tangible way to our carers.
Chi-San Howard, a Kanlungan volunteer driver recounted her first experience delivering the #FilipinoFood4NHS meals: ‘There was the nurse who said she'd been at work for nearly 38 hours. She then thanked us for OUR kindness! That to me, epitomises the level of generosity found in NHS nurses. They were all so exhausted and so to not have to think about a meal, I hope, was a small hit of relief.”
So far, 2,600 meals have been cooked for NHS staff at:
LONDON: King’s College Hospital, Camberwell, St Thomas’ neonatal intensive care unit in Waterloo, Whipp’s Cross, Royal London Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital, St Mary’s, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, Chelsea & Westminster, University Hospital Lewisham, St George’s Hospital in Tooting and University College Hospital
NORTH: Rochdale Infirmary, Victoria Mill Health Centre and Cheetham Hill Medical Centre, Manchester, Salford General Hospital and Farfield Hospital
SURREY: Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, Tolworth Hospital, St Helier Hospital, and Kingston Hospital
Please get in touch if you would like to volunteer or have meals delivered to your local hospital.
Special shout outs to:
Keren Austria at Kanlungan for organising with hospitals and volunteers drivers to deliver the meals.
Martin and Laura at P. J. Frankland & Sons butcher in Vauxhall for providing chicken free every week for Baboy Club’s adobo and inasal NHS meals. They also have a stall at the Tachbrook Street Market in Pimlico, open Thursday-Saturday. Also to my lovely neighbour Hannah Martin who cycles every week to collect it!
Mike Knowles of Blanch & Shock who not only lent us the use of his beautiful test kitchen in Camberwell for our first two adobo cookathons, but helped with cooking and cleaning till late in the night.
Alex Bryson for helping me with cooking and preparation. He brings a very professional-looking cupcake holder full of veg every weekend!
Mark Corbyn of The Adobros for handling the #FilipinoFood4NHS accounts and budget as well as cooking every week.
Mae Williams of Food with Mae for being one of the first volunteer cooks arranging a gigantic order of eco-friendly packaging, gloves and masks for the London contingent of #FilipinoFood4NHS.