LOCKDOWN LEADER: Angela Hartnett - Cook 19
The Michelin-starred chef and her friend are helping to feed isolated NHS workers with hampers and restaurant-quality cooked meals, courtesy of donations and an “amazing team of volunteers”.
By now, millions of people have watched the heartbreaking video from NHS critical care nurse Dawn Bilbrough, who was unable to buy basic foods from the supermarket after an exhausting hospital shift because panic-buyers had stripped the shelves. In the video, Bilbrough (who has recently stated she thinks she has contracted coronavirus), told the nation: “I've just come out the supermarket. There's no fruit and veg and I had a little cry in there. I've just finished 48 hours of work and I just wanted to get some stuff in for the next 48 hours… I just don't know how I'm supposed to stay healthy. Those people who are just stripping the shelves… you just need to stop it because it's people like me that are going to be looking after you when you are at your lowest.” Bilbrough was immediately flooded with messages of support after the video went viral, with people offering to send her food.
It’s scenarios like this that a new non-profit-making venture, literally cooked up by chef Angela Maria Hartnett and her friend Lulu Dillon, aims to put right. As Angela explains on her Instagram, since having her work cancelled, Lulu has been cooking home-cooked meals for key NHS workers for free, under a scheme dubbed ‘Cook-19’. “Initially she paid for the ingredients herself but has had many generous donations which enabled her to keep cooking and started to assemble care packages with supplies that NHS workers are struggling to find in shops after long shifts.” Lulu has already delivered batches of meals to eight Covid doctors, four ICU nurses and three ICU physios – and after Angela found out what she was up to, she called her up and offered to help out, sending Lulu everything from soups to frittatas and apple crumble.
As Angela explains, once any NHS staff member becomes infected, they have to return home immediately to isolate for seven days, unable to leave the house and shop for themselves. “The doctor in charge of the rota then gets in contact with us securely to alert us of their name, address and number and we provide vital foods to keep them going as they can’t shop for themselves.” The pair now have a network across London hospitals of doctors from both Covid intermediary and ICU wards that help identify and locate colleagues in need.
Their second priority, she says, will be the working well – “those hardworking staff putting in long shifts in terrible circumstances and unable to find food in supermarkets when they finish. For them, we drop meals that can be put together in less than 30 minutes and dropped with no contact to their home with isolating family members, or on their days off.”