Jason Whitehead launches digital cookbook to help feed homeless

South African based chef and cookbook author Jason Whitehead decided to use the lockdown time wisely and work on a cookbook to help raise funds for Streetscapes.

Streetscapes is a non-profit organisation he has been supporting and working with over the years. 

Whitehead studied to be a chef straight after his schooling, then spent a couple of years living and working in London, which is where he caught the travel bug and has since explored the culinary cultures of over sixteen countries around the world.

South African based chef and cookbook author, Jason Whitehead decided to use the lockdown time wisely and work on a cookbook to help raise funds for Streetscapes. Picture: Supplied

Titled ‘My Lockdown Cookbook’, Whitehead said that the cookbook was originally an idea he had to keep himself busy while under lockdown, but he then thought of how the whole fiasco would affect all those who were homeless, and decided to use it as a platform to raise funds for them, and having worked with Streetscapes over the years, they were his obvious choice as the main beneficiary. 

“The original idea was to write a diary of what it was like for a chef in quarantine in South Africa, which later evolved to include recipes of my daily meals. The daily diary aspect of it is very real and honest, where I would write down exactly how I was feeling on that particular day. There was a day that I was just so angry that I didn’t actually feel like cooking, so I didn’t but still wrote down what made me angry and how I dealt with it, so it really is not your run-of-the-mill cookbooks. The recipes also vary quite a lot - some are fine dining style dishes, while some others were dishes using pantry staples, like baked beans and canned sweetcorn,” he said. 

“As it states on the website, I urge people not to share the eBook once they have downloaded it, but to rather encourage friends and family to go and purchase their own copy.  It is very reasonable, which is really more of a donation than a purchase, with 50% of the proceeds going directly to Streetscapes,” added Whitehead. 

View this post on Instagram

#MyLockdownCookbook is finally done and ready to be purchased on my website. It’s really more of a donation than a purchase, with 50% of the proceeds going to @streetscapes.co.sa to help the homeless. As it is only R99 / $5,20 / £4,20, I urge you to please NOT share the cookbook once you have purchased it, but rather share the link to my website with your family and friends so that they can get their own copy and help contribute to this great and worthy initiative. #TogetherWeCan #Lockdown #RaisingFundsForCharity 💚🙏🏻 www.jasonwhitehead.co.za

A post shared by Chef Jason Whitehead 🇿🇦(@chefjasonwhitehead) on Apr 25, 2020 at 11:50pm PDT

My Lockdown Cookbook is available exclusively through www.jasonwhitehead.co.za.