Abu Dhabi's home-grown restaurants come together to provide meals for those on the front line

A new initiative is converting contributions from the public into meals for people in need and working on the front line of the Covid-19 crisis

Homegrown restaurants in Abu Dhabi have joined forces for a charitable initiative that distributes food to front line workers and those in need. Courtesy Salama's Restaurant

Home-grown restaurants in Abu Dhabi have banded together to do their bit to battle the coronavirus.

Eight of the capital’s smaller, home-grown restaurants have joined forces to transform contributions from the public into meals that will be distributed to people in need, as well as front-line workers.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Salama Al Shamsi, founder of Salama’s Restaurant and Cafe, and Priya Jaganathan of Auriga Consultants. “Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, we had been thinking about how we could support the government and help front-line workers,” Al Shamsi explains.

“Yes, we are staying home and abiding by the rules, but we wanted to bring the feeling of Ramadan back, while supporting the community in a difficult time. Talking to friends and contacts, we were hearing about a lot of people losing their jobs, and Ramadan is the month of giving," she says.

“It was a little challenging, at the beginning, to gather everyone together, but we decided that Ramadan would be the best time to do something."

The restaurants, Salama's Restaurant and Cafe, Foodshed, Elysium Cafe and Restaurant, Social, No.Fifty Seven Boutique Cafe, Shabby Chic Cafe, Kura Kura and Potachin, have joined forces with charitable organisations Maan, the 10 Million Meals Fund, Emirates Red Crescent and the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, as well as local mosques, to distribute the food.

It costs Dh15 to contribute one meal for a person in need and Dh30 to buy a nutritious meal box for those working on the front line, but contributors can also purchase packages and specify which restaurant they would like to handle their request and how they would like their meals to be distributed.

“Ten meals today or 20 meals over the course of Ramadan, for example," Al Shamsi says. More information on how to make a contribution is available on the @salamasrestaurant Instagram page.

“This is not just for Muslims, but for the entire community,” says Al Shamsi, whose restaurant has also collaborated with the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation to provide 500 meals a day throughout Ramadan, as part of the foundation’s 4.5 million meal project for workers across Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra region.

In keeping with the spirit of Ramadan, the new initiative is inviting people to unite in these uncertain times, and giving restaurant brands that might otherwise be viewed as competitors the chance to come together.

“This is definitely creating an atmosphere of collaboration, rather than competition. I initially called a friend, who is the owner of No.Fifty Seven Boutique Cafe, and she said that she had also wanted to do something, but didn’t know where to start. I realised that people are eager to do something. People want to join forces and show their support,” says Al Shamsi.