Duchess of Sussex, Current Events 1: September 2018 - February 2019

[Marlo]

As a guy, the thing I would ask is why have no men contributed to the cookbook. Why no pictures of men preparing food. It seems very stereotypical. Women in the kitchen kind of thing.

You can't be serious.

So proud of her.

 

[Rudolph]

You can't be serious.

Actually I am serious. Why is it just a women thing? Meghan’s husband before Harry was a chef wasn’t he?

For someone supposedly all about ‘gender equality’, it seems kind of odd to exclude men. It’s a very stereotypical women in the kitchen concept.

 

[Pranter]

No she had a short term boyfriend that was a chef....not her husband.


LaRae

Just pre-ordered 3 copies lol. I have some friends who are major fans of the Duchess (one going way back to beginning of Suits) who will be getting this as birthday presents soon! Plus my own copy.

Absolutely thrilled by this. The perfect first project for our Duchess focused on women of color, cultural exchange and using food as a balm during tragedy. Weighty but uplifting.

Yep just pre-ordered thru Amazon...very modest price, under 20 dollars.


LaRae

 

[jacqui24]

For God's sake, this is about fundraising for a kitchen that is supporting and bringing a community that lost 73 people and their homes in an inferno. Meghan started out by getting involved in a kitchen with a good cause. She does not tell them who must cook in there.

On another note: I wonder if we can expect a speech from Meghan at the reception she's hosting (yes folks, she's hosting, Harry is attending as her other half for this one) for the launch of Together?

 

[Chloep]

What a lovely initiative this is! This is really up her alley in every way and I always appreciate a change of pace with initiative and patronages. I can actually see this becoming a whole series of recipes from all across the UK (and even the Commonwealth.)

Also, I was about to pre-order it this morning when my mum excitedly rang me up and asked me to order a dozen examples for her weekly cooking parties.

 

[Curryong]

I think it's a wonderful initiative and may the book sell and sell! The food looks truly scrumptious. As I said before, I'm so pleased Meghan has come aboard with this.

 

[Zaira]

On another note: I wonder if we can expect a speech from Meghan at the reception she's hosting (yes folks, she's hosting, Harry is attending as her other half for this one) for the launch of Together?

I would imagine so!

I am already a ball of emotions thinking of how proud Harry will look at the event!

 

[soapstar]

I’ve removed a few comments. Please remember that it’s very easy to disagree with your fellow members without making personal digs and implying members are trolls. If you feel a post is against the forum rules, please report it instead of engaging and derailing the thread.

 

[ACO]

Actually I am serious. Why is it just a women thing? Meghan’s husband before Harry was a chef wasn’t he?

For someone supposedly all about ‘gender equality’, it seems kind of odd to exclude men. It’s a very stereotypical women in the kitchen concept.

Well she involved the people who were at the Hubb. It clearly was mostly women.

Anyways... good on her. Looking forward to seeing these individuals on Thursday. It is their time to shine and they will.

 

[Cocoasneeze]

Actually I am serious. Why is it just a women thing? Meghan’s husband before Harry was a chef wasn’t he?

For someone supposedly all about ‘gender equality’, it seems kind of odd to exclude men. It’s a very stereotypical women in the kitchen concept.

The kitchen is ran by women. It's started by them. Meghan is supporting them in what they and their community need. If men in their community want to start a kitchen too, they're most welcome to do so too.

I LOVE this first initiative. It will bring a big boost to the kitchen,and no doubt the book will sell out before its out even. All this will bring the attention to the kitchen,and more women needing this kind of support and friendship group will get to know about it.

 

[W.Y.CII]

Lovely idea. Food and cooking is something that can pull people together easily.

I don't know which part indicates it "excludes men", obviously it's a group of people gather to do something for their community and coincidentally they are all women and no men join it. But I am not surprised anyway.

 

[TLLK]

I guess its fair to say that with this initiative, Meghan is a "lady that lunches" but with a purpose

Good luck to the Grenfell Tower ladies and I hope that their cookbook is a great success.?

 

[Rudolph]

Well she involved the people who were at the Hubb. It clearly was mostly women.

Anyways... good on her. Looking forward to seeing these individuals on Thursday. It is their time to shine and they will.

There’s lots of charities that support this ‘community’ that are inclusive. Maybe because I’m a guy, I notice there’s no men involved at the Hubb.

I’m not saying writing the forward to a cookbook isn’t a good thing. It’s very Tig-esque in its tone. ‘Commune through food’. Hopefully it helps sell copies.

 

[jacqui24]

The book is already sold out on Amazon Germany and Amazon France. Guess the lesson is grab them while you can.

 

[Somebody]

There’s lots of charities that support this ‘community’ that are inclusive. Maybe because I’m a guy, I notice there’s no men involved at the Hubb.

I’m not saying writing the forward to a cookbook isn’t a good thing. It’s very Tig-esque in its tone. ‘Commune through food’. Hopefully it helps sell copies.

The royal family as a whole supports lots of different parts of the Glenfield Community. Gladly Meghan isn't coming in dictating the women to also include men in their cooking endeavors or else she won't support them - if they had an explicit rule that men were not allowed, she probably would have discussed that but I don't see any evidence of that. I am sure men are welcome if they would wanted to join. Just like William supported the Boxing Club that will most likely primarily be used by boys but girls are surely welcome.

 

[jacqui24]

I think it should be pointed out that Meghan did far more than just write a foreword. It was her idea. She secured a publisher and got everyone on board to get this published. As one of them women said in the video, she dismissed the possibility at first. My impression is that she did so not because she had anything against it, but never thought that'd be a reality.

 

[Osipi]

The book is already sold out on Amazon Germany and Amazon France. Guess the lesson is grab them while you can.

Isn't it wonderful to actually be able to see how far reaching an initiative by one Duchess to support and strengthen a community kitchen to benefit those that were affected by the inferno at Grenfell Tower has such a far reaching *global* effect?

Word was put out and it seems like almost overnight, Amazon companies in countries have sold out their stock alloted to them before the book is even released and the day isn't over yet. This is going to substantially boost the Hubb kitchen and who knows? This book may even hit the best seller list.

After all the horror of what the people of Grenfell Tower have gone through, this is very much a blessing. Its a rainbow. Sometimes though, in order to see a rainbow, you've got to stand a little rain and these people have withstood through the torrential rain and are working together to regroup, rebuild and recover.

 

[ACO]

There’s lots of charities that support this ‘community’ that are inclusive. Maybe because I’m a guy, I notice there’s no men involved at the Hubb.

I’m not saying writing the forward to a cookbook isn’t a good thing. It’s very Tig-esque in its tone. ‘Commune through food’. Hopefully it helps sell copies.

I guess I am failing to see issue here. She volunteered at this specific food kitchen, built a relationship with the people involved, and started a initiative to help fund them. Just seems like you are nitpicking for the sake of it, and that is your right but it is a bit mind-boggling.

I doubt they excluding men. If some walked in and wanted to help cook I am sure they will be welcome with open arms. The ones included where the ones who seem to be there consistently and started it. It happened to be women.

Also her passion is women and young girls. As you said, there are many charities helping them. Why can't she focus on this specific branch? Isn't that the point? Isn't that what they all do. I am sure we could nitpick ever single one the royal patronages/initiatives... for example one just announced lacks racial diversity on the board as not one person is of color. But at the end of the day the goal is to spread awareness, offer support, and hopefully execute change in a positive way.

 

[Cocoasneeze]

There’s lots of charities that support this ‘community’ that are inclusive. Maybe because I’m a guy, I notice there’s no men involved at the Hubb.

I’m not saying writing the forward to a cookbook isn’t a good thing. It’s very Tig-esque in its tone. ‘Commune through food’. Hopefully it helps sell copies.

I guess it's similar to William supporting men's mental health. I don't see anyone complaining, that he's not including women's mental health in his target projects.

It sounds like Meghan did more than wrote the forward to this book. Sounds like she gave the idea of cook book the start.

 

[Ista]

I love the photo!

It's always haunted me little bit that when the Duke of Cambridge and the Queen initially visited the Grenfell survivors the DoC told those gathered "We'll be back," and then for a while there was no visible involvement from the royal family. Since then, of course, we've seen several visits and initiatives from various members of the BRF, and now this, one which is such a thoughtful and personalized one. Very, very nice, and such a timely reminder that there is always so much more going on with the working royals than what we see in the press.

I hope there is a lot more of this kind of very personal and sensitive projects from the DoS--and I'm fairly sure there will be!

 

[Rudolph]

I guess I am failing to see issue here. She volunteered at this specific food kitchen, built a relationship with the people involved, and started a initiative to help fund them. Just seems like you are nitpicking for the sake of it, and that is your right but it is a bit mind-boggling.

I doubt they excluding men. If some walked in and wanted to help cook I am sure they will be welcome with open arms. The ones included where the ones who seem to be there consistently and started it. It happened to be women.

Also her passion is women and young girls. As you said, there are many charities helping them. Why can't she focus on this specific branch? Isn't that the point? Isn't that what they all do. I am sure we could nitpick ever single one the royal patronages/initiatives... for example one just announced lacks racial diversity on the board as not one person is of color. But at the end of the day the goal is to spread awareness, offer support, and hopefully execute change in a positive way.

If you consider my observations as nit-picking, I think it’s going both ways. I just read a link online about the Hubb kitchen. It is actually women only. I didn’t realise ‘community’ was a code word. That’s what threw me off. The community has very strict views on the division of labour and in what aspects men and women can interact.

But anyway it’s a good first step for Meghan. Does anyone know if this is the ‘project’ everyone was talking about for Meghan. For months people have been talking about an announcement. Is the cookbook it or is there something else coming?

 

[Royal Suitor]

Women and Girls has been added to the project areas on The Royal Foundation website so I doubt this will be the last discussion about inclusivity. It's been clear for months that this will be an area of focus for Meghan.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1041671951838863360

I'll just say that when I learned William's focus in Heads Together was male suicide, my 1st reaction wasn't to think but what about the women. I was just happy to see him supporting a cause and community that is important to him and could use the help.

 

[AlowVera]

Isn't it wonderful to actually be able to see how far reaching an initiative by one Duchess to support and strengthen a community kitchen to benefit those that were affected by the inferno at Grenfell Tower has such a far reaching *global* effect?

Word was put out and it seems like almost overnight, Amazon companies in countries have sold out their stock alloted to them before the book is even released and the day isn't over yet. This is going to substantially boost the Hubb kitchen and who knows? This book may even hit the best seller list.

After all the horror of what the people of Grenfell Tower have gone through, this is very much a blessing. Its a rainbow. Sometimes though, in order to see a rainbow, you've got to stand a little rain and these people have withstood through the torrential rain and are working together to regroup, rebuild and recover.

Its all really empowering. These are their recipes and their stories used cooperatively to help fund their program. It shows what can be accomplished when working together.

 

[ACO]

If you consider my observations as nit-picking, I think it’s going both ways.

We can definitely agree to disagree on that but I think we both made our points. I won't derail this thread.

 

[soapstar]

The discussion about what other projects Meghan has planned, should go in her ‘Future Duties, Roles and responsibilities thread. Let’s leave this thread for announced projects/events.

 

[jacqui24]

An Update: The book is now sold out in Spain as well.

It's #6 in the Cookbooks, Food & Wine category in US. #1 in the Middle Eastern category for new release.

If you consider my observations as nit-picking, I think it’s going both ways. I just read a link online about the Hubb kitchen. It is actually women only. I didn’t realise ‘community’ was a code word. That’s what threw me off. The community has very strict views on the division of labour and in what aspects men and women can interact.

But anyway it’s a good first step for Meghan. Does anyone know if this is the ‘project’ everyone was talking about for Meghan. For months people have been talking about an announcement. Is the cookbook it or is there something else coming?

I fail to see how it goes both ways? Did we whine about William advocating for male suicide or Kate wanting to champion children? No? Ok, then.

And is the cookbook it? I'd say that's a pretty big project to get the idea, secure the publisher, get everyone together to contribute, work with the photographer throughout the months, and finally putting it all together. Believe it or not, there is a lot of logistics involved in putting out a book.

 

[Royal Suitor]

The "something else" is hopefully seeing the Hubb Community Kitchen have the funding to operate seven days a week and allowing the women leading the group to determine its future beyond that. But yes, there's a dinner/reception at KP that's been referenced up thread to celebrate the launch.

 

[Fros]

I heard Meghan brought in the photographer for the book and secured the publisher but can anyone post a link with this info just would like to read it from the source.

 

[Zaira]

The "something else" is hopefully seeing the Hubb Community Kitchen have the funding to operate seven days a week and allowing the women leading the group to determine its future beyond that. But yes, there's a dinner/reception at KP that's been referenced up thread to celebrate the launch.

Exactly, helping an organization expand its operations is as practical and measurable a benefit as a royal can bring.

 

[jacqui24]

Just one more thing on this all woman and some taking issues with it as something that's not moving woman forward because they are in the kitchen and no men are there. Meghan, in an interview with Larry King, spoke out on empowering women, and what they can accomplish. In the same interview, also brought up the fact that you have to respect the cultures of women in different areas and how they view various things, and that's why it's even more important to have grassroots efforts. Just because a man isn't there, it doesn't take away from the fact that this serves to empower a group of women to accomplish their dream and help their community in a way that only they can.

Anyhow, it's doing really well in UK as well.

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Just hours after it became available for preorder, Together has topped @AmazonUK’s Food & Drink book charts and is currently the third best-selling book in the country.
A spokesman for the site tells me that demand has been “extremely high.” #CookTogether

9:28 AM - 17 Sep 2018