BEHIND the gates of Newstart Health Kitchen in Cheras, a half-dozen people in masks and hair caps continue to work.

While other shops are closed as a result of the movement-control order (MCO), they have turned the front of the restaurant into a makeshift area to prepare boxes of food meant for hospital staff.

Working from 9am, they carefully pack multigrain rice and stir-fried vegetables in boxes marked for Asian meals, and eggplant lasagne in boxes for Western meals.

“We are preparing to send this off to Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Sg Buloh Hospital,” said Savor of Life chef Eric Lew.

Starting Monday, Savor of Life staff have been sending lunch and dinner boxes to doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers at the two leading Covid-19 hospitals.

Using the SimplyGiving platform, the lifestyle change company decided to crowdfund to provide free meals to frontliners.

According to Savor of Life founder Dr Shaun Kuan, they prepare about 400 meals a day.

“We send around 300 for lunch and another 100 for dinner. This doesn’t include the meals we are helping coordinate from other providers to send to hospitals.”

The doctor turned lifestyle change advocate said they also share recipes with other restaurants.

“We anticipate that we will need to produce a minimum of 1,000 meals per day to make a visible impact on the health of frontliners.

“Many people underestimate the power of a well-balanced, whole-food, plant-based diet.

“If it has healed patients, it can definitely keep our tired workers going as strong as humanly possible.”

Kuan said they started the campaign after the MCO was announced on March 16.

“Right after the MCO began on March 18, I saw on social media that my friends and colleagues were being called to the front line with only three days’ notice.

“The post that really broke my heart showed one of my friends having to celebrate her birthday standing on the landing of the first floor as her family, husband and baby girl sang Happy Birthday to her from the ground floor, followed by a song in Malay that went, ‘May God save you’.

“We knew we had to do something. We thought that the best we would be able to do is to help out a little by sending some of our nutritious, therapeutic meals to support frontliners.

“So, we launched a small donation campaign to get our friends and family to help.”

He said his friend is one of the doctors called to the Covid-19 front line and has to practise social distancing with her family due to her circumstances.

Healthy, plant-based meals

Unlike others, Lew said they choose to serve plant-based or vegan meals because the diet has worked for patients who sought help from Savor of Life.

“We use plant-based food in our programmes to help those with obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol issues.

“We thought it would be a great way to help medical personnel,” said the 26-year-old in the borrowed kitchen at Newstart.

He said they decided on a choice of Asian or Western fusion for lunch and dinner.

“Malaysians need variety in their meals, and we serve different types of pastas, lasagne or moussaka, and Indian curries.

“One of the most popular choices is the butter paneer, where we substitute the cheese with tofu.”

Other meals include nasi lemak and tempe rendang.

“It all comes with rice, of course,” said Lew.

As of yesterday, their food-for-frontliners campaign on SimplyGiving.com had raised nearly RM50,000 – double the initial target.

Due to high demand and the extended MCO period to April 14, Kuan said they are raising their target to RM250,000.

“Our readjusted fundraising target is 14,000 therapeutic meals to be served to frontliners.”

Those who want to donate can click here. – March 27, 2020.