Fifty-six days later and a team of hard-working chefs who left their families to provide COVID-19 safe meals to the vulnerable in care homes all across the islands can finally return home. And Lovin Malta can reveal a video showing an intimate inside look inside the kitchen.

CaterEssence’s ‘Stay In The Kitchen’ initiative kicked off at the end of March, just as Malta was coming to grips with the COVID-19 pandemic.  It became a life-changing event for many, with the 22 chefs making their workplaces their homes.

Living in the company’s Central Processing Unit in Qormi, the team slept in close quarters and away from their families just to keep vulnerable people safe of what can be a potentially fatal illness.

Every day started at 6am, with the chefs churning around 5,500 meals a day for a wide range of dietary requirements in a gruelling 12-hour shift. The meals went out to 13 care homes across the islands.

“It was hard to leave your family, but it gave us such a good feeling too. We bonded as colleagues and we became our second family,” Chef Earl Mallia said.

The hard workers have started returning home after businesses like restaurants and beauty salons started reopening as part of the government’s COVID-19 strategy.

Malta’s active cases is currently at 125. It remains to be seen what sort of effect the strategy will have on figures.

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