UK food charity chef tells of Ramadan challenge for refugees in Calais

A chef who is helping to feed hundreds of displaced people in Calais is adapting his menu to support refugees observing Ramadan.

Ben Cottam, from Exeter in south-west England, has been based in northern France for the last eight months cooking for Refugee Community Kitchen.

The charity, which was set up by four friends in 2015, has been serving “nutritious food without judgment” to those fleeing war, poverty, persecution and climate change for a decade.

The food organisation, which operates both in London and northern France, distributes hundreds of meals a week and has won a number of prestigious awards, including the Observer Food Monthly’s outstanding achievement award.

Mr Cottam, 36, whose career has varied from working at private members’ clubs to running his own catering company, took a break from London’s food scene to head up the kitchen in Calais.

“Part of the reason I kind of quit my last job and needed a break was because every job I’d had in London kind of came with this sense of doom and fear and pressure and stress that was unavoidable with that kind of work,” Mr Cottam told the PA news agency.

“Living with that kind of feeling is what kind of breaks me in the end. I can’t do it forever.

“Here there’s none of that stuff I would consider the negative side of working in kitchens.”

Mr Cottam, who runs a team of up to 20 volunteers, is responsible for preparing 700 to 800 meals daily for displaced people sleeping rough in and around Calais and Dunkirk.

“It’s a pretty slick kind of operation,” he said. “Its been nearly 10 years now, so they’ve kind of got it down to a fine art.”

The daily menu consists of a main dish, which is usually a type of curry or chorba, a Middle eastern soup, rice or pasta, salad and an array of condiments.

In Calais there are usually two services per day, one at lunchtime and the other in the evening.

Mr Cottam said he is starting to adapt his menu to support community members observing Ramadan, by preparing food that can be stored for later consumption.

Refugee Community Kitchen is also fundraising to provide a special Eid meal to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Many Muslims will spend a period of 30 days abstaining from food and drink – including water – during daylight hours, as a means of celebrating and reflecting on their faith.

After sunset, the fast-breaking meal iftar is taken.

“I’ve got a kind of wild idea about making fresh pita bread that we’ll either bake really early in the morning or late at night. And then we’ll fill them with falafel and salad,” he said.

“We’ll take some that we’ll wrap and people can take away and also fried things like bhajis and pakoras, stuff that is going to be nice to eat later on.

“Most people don’t have access to fires or any way of reheating food later on.”

Mr Cottam added that a lot of thought goes into the nutritional side of things to help support gut health.

“If you’re living like people out here are living and have been living for a long time, you often, your immune system is going to be quite weak,” he said.

Calais has been a transit point for refugees and migrants for decades. People live in poor conditions, including makeshift camps, and are at risk of police brutality and regular evictions.

“There’s very much still a humanitarian crisis going on not very far from London,” said Mr Cottam.

“It’s important for people to know about what’s happening in Calais and the brutality of the police here.”

A total of 36,816 people crossed the English Channel in 2024, which was an increase of 25% from the 29,437 who did so in 2023, according to the Home Office – but down by 20% on the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

To learn more about Refugee Community Kitchen’s work in Calais you can visit its fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/rck-eid