Surprise(!)…well, a day late. Yesterday, Kensington Palace announced that the Duchess of Sussex wrote the forward for a new cookbook developed by Hubb Community Kitchen. The organization is made up of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire, while the end result is a cookbook supported by the Royal Foundation, published by Penguin Random House and already sold out during pre-sale by some retailers. Not a bad start, really.

As KP told the story:

In summer 2017, a group of women gathered in a communal kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in West London, where they could prepare fresh food for their families, friends and neighbours. As they cooked together and shared recipes, as a community they began to connect, heal and look forward. Word spread and more women joined in – this was the start of the Hubb Community Kitchen.

The Duchess of Sussex first visited the kitchen in January 2018 and has continued to make regular private visits. United by their passion for cooking as a way of strengthening communities, The Duchess was inspired by how the project empowers women at a grassroots level, and championed the cookbook project as a way of ensuring the kitchen can continue transforming lives and communities through cooking.

Her Royal Highness has written the foreword for ‘Together’, which features the women’s own personal recipes from across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

They also shared this video:

Meghan wrote in the forward:

“An apron was quickly wrapped around me, I pushed up my sleeves and I found myself washing the rice for lunch … All the aromas percolating in a kitchen filled with countless languages aflutter remains one of my most treasured memories from my first visit to the kitchen.

“I immediately felt connected to this community kitchen; it is a place for women to laugh, grieve, cry and cook together. Melding cultural identities under a shared roof, it creates space to feel a sense of normalcy – in its simplest form, the universal need to connect, nurture, and commune through food, through crisis or joy – something we can all relate to.

“Through this charitable endeavour, the proceeds will allow the kitchen to thrive and keep the global spirit of community alive.”

You can read more here or pre-order the book, which is released on September 25, here.

It’s been reported that on Thursday, September 20, Meghan will host members of Hubb Community Kitchen at Kensington Palace where they will prepare a meal together and then sit down to enjoy the meal with guests, including the Duke of Sussex. It’s a lovely engagement and I hope we get a peak at it, though it’s unclear whether it will be private or not.

Members of the Royal Family have certainly written book forwards before. Indeed, the Duchess of Cambridge supported a 2014 book for Royal Air Force wives (of which she was one) in the same way. But I will say, I think this might be the sleekest rollout we’ve ever seen. It’s all very well done and I’m excited to see Meghan continue branching out on her own.

I’m not usually one to pick up the merch, but I do love cooking and it’s for a good cause, so…it’s already pre-ordered 😉