MasterChef The Professionals star volunteers at Felix Project

Chefs and influencers were put to work volunteering at the Felix Project charity kitchen in Limehouse to help make meals for people struggling in poverty.

The group — including 2019’s MasterChef The Professionals finalist Olivia Burt — spent a day helping pack cooked meals and learnt about the waste in the industry.

“There’s a massive issue with food waste,” Olivia said. “I have worked in professional kitchens for 10 years and think waste in restaurants is something we all need to work on together.”

The volunteering shift at the centre in Thomas Road was organised by Our Place kitchenware company, that has supported the project since it was launched during the pandemic by donating 100,000 meals to help feed Londoners in poverty.

The company’s co-founder Shiza Shahid also got stuck in volunteering.

She said: “The Felix Project is important in solving the hunger crisis as well as the food waste crisis, by taking inefficiencies to create nutritious meals for those who are struggling with food insecurity.”

The celeb chefs were told how the project helps 1,000 London schools and community groups with food that would otherwise go to waste.

Ixta Belfrage, one of the chefs volunteering, said: “I have learnt some pretty shocking stats about how much food is wasted in the industry. But it’s encouraging to know that good people and organisations like the Felix Project are doing everything to change that.”

The charity was sent up in 2016 by Jane Byam Shaw and husband Justin in memory of their son Felix who died from meningitis two years before. Jane was awarded an OBE in 2022 “for services to the community”.

It has 4,000 volunteers who alone supplied 30 million meals to one thousand charities and food hubs across London in 2021, during the Covid emergency.

The project today has a fleet of 50 vans operating from distribution depots in Park Royal, Enfield and Deptford as well as Limehouse.

Volunteers based in Limehouse collect surplus “food to go” from cafés and restaurants around Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate to drop off at charities helping the homeless and from restaurants and stores in the West End including Fortnum and Mason.