Making meals, making memories 

Here at the Centre for Hunger Relief, our Community Kitchen has been just that for Chef Grant Longman who has been at the helm for 10 years and together with an army of volunteers has helped to produce more than half a million meals since its inception in April 2015. Many happy and fun memories have been made here for the thousands of individual and corporate volunteers who have walked through the Community Kitchen Doors since they opened. 

Whether strengthening bonds during corporate challenges, or simply like-minded individuals wanting to make a little bit of a difference, our Community Kitchen has been a hive of activity each and every day with volunteers prepping, chopping, cooking and packaging meals that were made primarily from ingredients that were saved from landfill and donated.

Each Monday was like the ultimate Mystery Box challenge, or in his case, mystery pallet for Chef Grant who would have an array of commercial quantity ingredients from which he would create a healthy and nutritious meal. Sometimes this would mean that a lasagne would have a Mexican twist – with beans – or that his mushroom sauce was made from gourmet quality exotic mushrooms – not your standard white cup mushrooms – because that’s what was donated. From pizzas, to curry, various pasta dishes, soups, and even Patagonian toothfish – Chef Grant has cooked it all over the past 10 years.