Together: Our Community Cookbook

by Hubb Community Kitchen, Meghan Markle (Foreword)

Together celebrates the power of cooking to connect us to one another.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, a group of local women gathered together to cook fresh food for their families and neighbours.

Over the chatter and aromas of the kitchen they discovered the power of cooking and eating together to create connections, restore hope and normality, and provide a sense of home. This was the start of the Hubb Community Kitchen.

Together is a storybook of this West London community, showcasing over 50 delicious recipes from the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen and including a foreword by HRH The Duchess of Sussex.

The women invite you to make their favourite simple dishes - many handed down over generations - from the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Eastern Mediterranean for you and your loved ones.

Every dish tells a story of history, culture and family, and each has been developed to use few ingredients and easy methods so that anyone can cook these personal recipes.

Together features mouthwatering recipes including Green Chilli and Avocado Dip, Coconut Chicken Curry, Aubergine Masala, Persian Chicken with Barberry Rice, Caramelised Plum Upside-Down Cake, Spiced Mint Tea and lots more.

This stunning charity cookbook is a homage to life, friendship and togetherness.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Food and Drink

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2018

Reviews

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا]

I really admire Meghan for staying true to herself and her passion, that she continued with the good work she was doing before. This project is a ray of hope in a very dark time the whole world is going through... I can't wait to get this book. If I adored her before, I truly love her now.

[Elizabeth A.G.]

This charity cookbook, an "homage to life, friendship and togetherness," and fund-raiser, was written by a group of women who cooked favorite dishes of their homelands (the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and eastern Mediterranean) after the Grenfell Tower fire in West London and which killed 72 people and displaced over 223 people in June, 2017. This community of women became known as the Hubb Community, using the kitchen at the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, where the women who worked there had been using the facilities to cook for the community. They all shared the kitchen, socializing, swapping recipes and cooking for their neighbors in their time of need.

The recipes are easy and delicious -- I made the Coconut Curry Chicken and a vegetable samosa (with some altered ingredients depending on availability) -- both delicious!

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, wrote an introduction for the book.

[Obsidian]

What a great cookbook! I have started to buy more cookbooks these days because I love to just make something to eat at home. It seems every winter like clockwork I go into hibernation mode (due to the weather) and I want to be able to make something that is filling, that is not going to have 1,000 ingredients, and that for the most part I can get done in an hour or less.

"Together: Our Community Cookbook" is pretty great. I loved all of the color photos that accompanied the recipes, the foreword by HRH The Duchess of Sussex, and also the community members who added little personal anecdote before getting into the recipes. It made it seem as if a friend is sharing a recipe with you.

This cookbook is divided into the following: Foreword; Introduction; Breakfasts; Snacks, Sharing Plates and Dips; Lunches and Dinners; Salads and Sides; Desserts and Drinks; Index; The Royal Foundation; Cooking in the Community/Recipe Notes; and Acknowledgements.

Not going to lie, I don't recall one cookbook I currently own that gets into breakfasts. That is seriously my favorite meal of the day. Most of the recipes I have for breakfasts I just find on Pinterest. I do own Martha Stewart's one cookbook that gets into the type of meals that you can make depending on your cookware (crockpot, dutch oven, cast iron skillet, etc.) The first thing I am going to try though is the simple chocolate cake recipe. I really want something like this to enjoy over winter with a nice cup of coffee.

[Onceinabluemoon]

I am not a royal watcher, but it's hard to miss all the bad blood her family spills, so happy for this young woman, she appears so well grounded and generous that I wanted to support her first endeavor. A beautiful cookbook with so many shinning smiling faces, I hope she beats all expectations in profits. Me, well, I will be trying some new recipes this weekend! From such a horrific tragedy I hope a Phoenix can rise from the ashes.

[Carmen]

This is such a missed opportunity! Where this is such an awesome cause, this book (difficult to call it a cookbook) is not worthy of what it’s supposed to embrace. I am a food lover of all types of cuisine and have far tastier curries in my recipe box.
Where the pictures are lovely, this is just a coffee table book to further Meghan Markle’s agenda. Disappointed!

[Ari Reavis]

I love the foreword and stories behind each recipe. I look forward to making some of them.

[Carolyn]

I can’t actually rate this book until I’ve cooked some of the recipes but I am so excited and so hungry.

[farmwifetwo]

A lot smaller book than I expected. Recipes appear to be very straight forward. Plan to try a few over the winter.

[Ella]

For anyone who loves ethnic dishes this is an awesome book, each recipe has pictures.
We already made a few of the recipes & all were delish!
Highly recommend for all who enjoy cooking at home.

[RomantasyQueenUK]

So much amazing sounding food. I'll defo be giving the vegetable samosas and the toffee apple crumble a go. The photos of the women and the dishes are amazing, and the little short introduction to each dish by the creater is a feast in itself.

My only complaint is the lack of information at glance letting me know if it's vegetarian or not, a simple green V would have been enough to let me know if it's something for me without me having to scroll through the ingredients list looking for meat

Other than that I have zero complaints and only love for this cook book.

[Bernadette Geuy]

There are some lovely family recipes from around the world. Support this community by buying this book.

[Honest Mabel]

This is more like 3.5 but not enough to round up to 4. So I expected a wider range of recipes. From a community kitchen you would expect more representation from the whole community. This is a very small section of the map represented. Mostly middle eastern with some African. I think there was a singular Russian recipe. It would have been nice to also see some classic British recipes since the book is a community in Great Britain but I guess not

[Sarah]

Beautiful! A wonderful collection of recipes with pictures. A lovely project and forward just completes it all.

4/5 stars.

[Kayla]

These recipes are like receiving a warm hug from overseas.

[Laura C]

Got this book on Christmas Day and immediately started reading and planning meals to make in the new year. I’ve shown several friends and family members this cookbook and we are planning a potluck dinner, with recipes from this book, in 2019!!

Also, I’m happy the funds for this cookbook are going to such a good cause!!

[Alexandra]

I was so excited when I finally bought and the received this book, I knew I wanted a copy as soon as I found out Meghan was releasing this book. Opening it and seeing all the recipes, I was amazed at all the different cultures that had been laced into the book.
Tonight my family and I tried one of the recipes and it was amazing. I made the Beef and well in Australia we call it an Eggplant casserole, it was delicious. Though we used chicken instead of beef. My whole family liked it and we've, thankfully, got leftovers.
I admire Meghan so much, so this book was truely wonderful.
My family and I are gonna do a family breakfast Friday morning and make the Shakshouka, I cannot wait.

[Julie]

Fabulous charitable cookbook featuring diverse recipes from all over the world and benefitting the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, writes the forward and has become an integral part of the community. There are great stories woven in with the delicious recipes like all the best cookbooks!

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor]

Everything in this book looks super delicious, so I can’t wait to get cooking,baking, and eating. Also, the proceeds from this book go to support the Hubb Community Kitchen, so this is really a win-win purchase.

[Bonnie]

I really like this cookbook. I've made several of the recipes, and they turned out great. There are more that I want to try. What a great way to raise funds, and also peruse many great recipes.

[Stephanie]

It’s a beautiful cookbook. But with a large Lebanese community in my city, I’ll pass on making these recipes and I’ll just enjoy dining on them at local restaurants.

[Jennifer]

“Cooking for someone you love is what makes you a good cook.” Aysha Bora’s mother

Credit to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex for bringing a cookbook to my attention that would have otherwise not picked up. I love the book and the kitchen’s warm, loving, inviting message—and I love that this cookbook was assembled to help the kitchen that helped a community after a disaster.

For me, a person who does not find joy in cooking, a cookbook needs to have a photo with a recipe: if I see a photo, I’ll read the ingredients, and possibly mark it for my husband to make. There was indeed a photo with nearly all of the recipes. But, for me, I did not find anything that I was dying for my husband to make. A few were intriguing enough to read the directions more closely. But, again coming from someone who does not like to cook, they seemed too involved and time consuming. I do understand that the time invested will yield amazing results filled with love—and I commend the cooks who take on these beautifully presented dishes.

[Anthony]

The Hubb Community Kitchen (2018) TOGETHER - OUR COMMUNITY COOKBOOK
London. Ebury Press

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 out of 5 stars

The sleeve reads, "The women of the Hubb Community Kitchen invite you to make their favourite simple dishes for your loved ones. All profits from the sales of Together will go to The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, or its wholly owned trading subsidiary, for the benefit of the Hubb Community Kitchen, helping widen its reach to others in the community, and enabling similar projects to continue transforming lives through the power of cooking."
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All the food looks stonking and the cause is well worth it.
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#TheHubbCommunityKitchen #Together #OurCommunityCookbook #Book #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #BookShelf #Library #Review #Reviews #BookReview #BookReviews #GoodReads

[Michele Graham]

Why this has come up in a search for a book by Ms Markle. This was written by a group of women who survived an awful tragedy and did something positive and life affirming by bringing people together via food. Doesn’t food play an important role in bringing people together? So they put together a cookbook to raise money for their community.
Markle simply wrote the forward BUT their are discrepancies about what happened with the money raised.
As Markle has a reputation that is questionable I want to know where the money went.
The recipes are fantastic and if it hadn’t come up in my search I’d have given it 5 stars.

[Tim]

This is a colourful cookbook of various Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern and North African recipes, brought together by newly retired TV actor Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. While I haven't cooked any of them yet, most of the dishes look achievable. A few require more specialised ingredients, for example "injera", a large spongy flatbread from Ethiopia to serve with Misir Wot (lentils) and Gomen Wot (greens).

Profits from the book go to the Hubb Community Kitchen to enable them to serve more people through the week.

[Kristin]

What a wonderful project and partnership! It’s wonderful to see a community come together through food and love. As an ELL teacher I really enjoyed reading about some of the traditional dishes of my student’s families! I really want to try some of these myself in my newly remodeled kitchen! I want to start with the avocado dip since it received such high praises from Meghan and an Ethiopian dish!

Meghan is already proving what an amazing royal she will be! ❤️

[Lisa]

Loved the format, the stories that introduced the recipes, the clear directions for how to make the food. Photography was spot on. It felt like you were reading more of a community diary of favorite dishes than a "cookbook". I will definitely be adding some of these to my favorites list. Was happy to see that some already were. The one thing that could bump it up to a five star rating is the addition of the nutrition breakdown (calories, carbs, etc.) which is very important to many people.

[Jennifer Lucking]

Loved this cook book - the intentions behind it (to raise awareness about and money for the Hubb Community Kitchen in England), the beautiful pictures, and the delicious recipes provided by the Muslim women who use the kitchen. I am more likely to visit a restaurant than attempt some of these recipes (many which call for ingredients not typically in my cupboards) but I still want this book for my collection!

[Astryd R]

This cookbook is absolutely amazing. The recipes are delicious and easy to follow, my favorite is the coconut chicken curry. I loved the stories and the thought that cooking together has the power to unite people and their communities. I love the foreword by The Duchess of Sussex and specially how the funds from this book are for helping that community. I am a fan of Meghan Markle, she is such a smart woman, because of her I am now a royal watcher.

[Denise Prewett]

After the Grenfell Tower fire in London the community came together at the HUBB (LOVE in Arabic) Community Center to cook. Before she was a duchess Meghan Markle visited the women cooking there and inspired them to write a cookbook to help fund the center so it could be open more often. This is that cookbook. While I may not make the majority of these recipes, I did enjoy the little stories before each recipe that talked about the contributor of the recipe.

[Jenny]

I checked this book out at the library after watching the Harry & Meghan documentary on Netflix and hearing Meg talk about the background of how this book came into existence. It features a diverse mix of delicious sounding recipes for dishes that I love and others I want to try, which seem easy to make and unfussy enough for a home cook like me to try at home. Long story short, I just ordered this book for myself. I hope the proceeds are still going to a good cause, five years on!