50 Best launches first cookbook digitally to support struggling hospitality sector

The team behind the 50 Best Bars and Restaurants list yesterday announced the launch of an e-cookbook whose profits will go towards supporting the bars and restaurants worst affected by the coronavirus.

Entitled Home Comforts: Simple Lockdown Recipes from the World’s Best Chefs and Bartenders, the book features 50 unique recipes from female and male chefs who have featured on recent 50 Best lists, as well as 25 cocktail pairings from the bartenders behind the World’s 50 Best Bars. With the likes of Elena Arzak, Massimo Bottura, and Thomas Keller, the lineup of contributors offers a prime chance to see how the world’s top chefs eat when they’re not in their restaurants.

The profits from sales of the book will go into the 50 Best for Recovery programme, a wide fundraising effort by the 50 Best team that aims to offer financial support for bars and restaurants whose business has suffered as a result of the lockdown. A Restaurant Recovery Hub and Bar Recovery Hub act as online spaces to gather information and share resources among industry professionals, including other organisations and groups that are offering financial support to bars and restaurants. To support the distribution of profits throughout the sector, the team is offering direct grants of up to US $5,000 to single establishments. Applications will be open to independent restaurants and bars from any country for a limited period in late July.

Along with the cookbook, 50 Best are launching a social media initiative, the #50BestRateMyPlate Instagram challenge. Food lovers are invited to create and post online the dishes featured in Home Comforts. The highest-voted submissions each week will be in with a chance to have their creation judged by a panel of 50 Best chefs in late August. The winner will receive two VIP tickets to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards event in Antwerp in 2021.

The release of Home Comforts coincides with the impending “Bid for Recovery” Auction, which sees unique gastronomic experiences being auctioned off to raise money for the initiative.

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For further information or to download Home Comforts visit the 50 Best for Recovery website here.