Indian restaurant Dishoom is a bit of an icon in London. Starting out in Covent Garden, the group now has six restaurants around the city and if you walk past one at dinner time you’ll likely see a long queue snaking out of the door. It’s not just London foodies who have benefited from the group’s tasty cuisine either – Dishoom have announced that they have donated 15 million meals to children in the UK and India through their charity initiative.
For every meal purchased in a Dishoom restaurant, the group’s 'meal for a meal' programme donates another to a child who might otherwise have gone hungry. The collaboration with charity partners Magic Breakfast and The Akshaya Patra Foundation began during Ramadan in 2015 and has continued every since. The two charities work with 22,000 schools in England, Scotland, and India to provide healthy meals to more than two million kids every week. The goal is for children to head to the classroom feeling full, thereby reducing food poverty as a barrier to education.
Prior to the pandemic, Dishoom donated approximately 2.5 million meals to children every year. In response to closures during the pandemic, the group adapted by offering meal delivery kits and matching donations to every sale. All of this hard work from them and their charity partners has added up to a commendable 15 million meals being donated. So next time you’re craving food from Dishoom, you can head to the restaurant safe in the knowledge that your meal is doing good as well as tasting good. And if you need an excuse for a meal out, this sounds like a good one.
