Six months after the Grenfell Tower travesty – the country’s worst residential fire since the Second World War – Meghan Markle began paying ‘secret visits’ to a community kitchen run by survivors.
I n the basement of a nearby mosque, the Hubb Community Kitchen – a play on the Arabic word for ‘love’- local women welcomed the Duchess-to-be with the universal language of home cooking.
Royal author Robert Lacey wrote in his book, Battle of Brothers: ‘Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, she learned how to cook curries and chapatis with the survivors of the fire – largely poor, non-white, non-English speaking women.
‘They were dispossessed in every sense and they became friends.’
‘That was the spontaneous and natural hands-on Diana style of engagement that Meghan could bring to royal work.’
Inspired by her visits to the community kitchen and the recipes that were passed on to her, Meghan launched ‘Together: Our Community Cookbook’ in September 2018, featuring 50 recipes from the women involved and a foreword from the Duchess herself.
In 2024, Marie Claire reported that the cookbook had raised £911,000 and sold more than 130,000 copies in its first six months.
Meghan’s close work with the women she met at the Hubb Community Kitchen marked her first solo project as a member of the Royal Family, as she established her new home in London.
The cookbook, which is still available on Amazon, aimed to raise £250,000 to keep the Hubb Community Kitchen going.
But the book’s resounding success meant more could be done, and in 2019, the kitchen was completely refurbished and opened seven days a week.
On September 20, 2018, Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, joined the Duke and Duchess for the official launch of the cookbook at an outdoor lunch at Kensington Palace.
Lacey wrote: ‘Meghan and Harry launched the cookbook at a casual garden party in the grounds of Nottingham Cottage, surrounded by her fellow Grenfell cooks in their national costumes, displaying tasty samples of their produce.
‘Meghan made an inspirational speech and Harry was caught on video trying to sneak out with some of the samosas.’
The Duchess said she was ‘so proud’ to live in the British capital as she delivered a three-minute speech without any notes.
She described how the charity cookbook was a ‘labour of love’ and a ‘passion project’ that she had been working on with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen for the past nine months.
‘This is a tale of friendship,’ she declared, ‘and a story of togetherness’.
‘It is a homage to the power of cooking as a community, and the recipes that allow us to connect, share and look forward.’
Meghan’s mother being at the event was significant, with the Mail’s Richard Kay writing at the time: ‘So often royal events are stagey, awkward and, let’s admit it, unimaginative affairs.
‘Doria’s presence at Meghan’s side at her charity cookbook launch – and her remarks – seemed both instinctive and authentic.’
Lacey wrote: ‘It was a perfect example of the fresh human touch that the new Sussex couple could bring to the old routine.
‘It was the most characteristic project that Meghan had accomplished since joining the Royal Family – an original and imaginative venture conceived without a scrap of input from courtier Sir Edward Young or Buckingham Palace.’
Many people believe that helping to create the cookbook was one of Meghan’s best actions as a working royal.
Even Meghan’s friend, former tennis champion Serena Williams, jumped in to show her support.
‘I used to call you Meghan (and I still do) but dear Duchess of Sussex your first project Together [is] a cookbook bringing women of all cultures together.
‘I could not be more excited about it and proud of you,’ Serena wrote to Meghan on social media.
‘It’s beautiful – diversity, inclusivity, coming together in grief or joy – there is just so much love.’
In the Sussexes’ Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, the Duchess reflected on the Together cookbook.
‘The Grenfell fire left so many families displaced, outside of the number of deaths it caused.
‘And I remember saying “Well, can we do something? We need to go down there and do something.”
‘And so, I connected with the women at Al-Manaar, which is a mosque in Grenfell.
‘They were living in these hotels and just given meal vouchers for fast food,’ Meghan says in the series.
‘Over the course of like eight or nine months, I just kept going back and visiting them and I loved these women so much.
‘When I watched these women laughing together and grieving together, I said, “Why can’t you do this every day of the week?” and they said, “Well, we don’t have the funds for it.”
‘I just looked around. I said, “We should make a cookbook.”‘
‘Actually the first speech I made as a member of the Royal Family was launching this cookbook,’ Meghan said.
While critics have been vocal on Meghan’s perceived lack of meaningful engagements since stepping down from the Firm, her work with survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire is regarded by many as her most impactful project to date.
MEGHAN’S SPEECH IN FULL
I’m so privileged to know you. Working on this project for the past nine months has been a tremendous labour of love. I have just recently moved to London and I felt so immediately embraced by the women in the kitchen, by your kindness and to be in this city and be in this room and see how multi-cultural it was.
On a personal level I feel so proud to live in a city with so much diversity. This whole country is represented by the people in the kitchen. It’s pretty outstanding.
There’s so many people to thank – I’m extremely grateful because this is my first project and I appreciate your support. It truly took a village to see this through. Everyone has embraced this so fully because it has been a passion project for us all.
As I said, this is more than a cookbook and what I mean by that is the power of food is more than just the meal itself, it is the story behind it. And when you get to know the story behind the recipe, you get to know the person behind it and help us celebrate what connects us rather than divides us. That is the ethos of Together.
Thank you so much for letting me be part of this and letting me be on this adventure with you, and I’m so excited to see the projects we will continue to do in your community and also how you will inspire people globally by sharing your stories and your recipes. It’s so impactful. You can see in just a few days alone what’s happened and the book’s not out yet.
What you have been able to do is a testament to what that means to people. I’m so proud of you.
So on that note I know that some of you have started eating, as you should. I’d be the last one to want to let the food get cold so please enjoy your beautiful lunch and give another round of applause for the Hubb Community Kitchen. Thank you.