Heroes Of Lockdown

EAT WELL

MANCHESTER

At the beginning of lockdown, reopening her Creameries restaurant could not have been further from Mary-Ellen McTague’s mind. Instead, she threw herself into coordinating Eat Well, a coalition of stellar chefs from Manchester restaurants such as Hispi, Baratxuri, Where the Light Gets In and Higher Ground, that began producing meals for NHS workers and various charities. For a period, it made The Creameries seem irrelevant.

“I was just, like, restaurants are absolute bullshit, what are we doing? We should be feeding people who haven’t got enough food. It was a bit dramatic but I was exhausted. Feeling jaded. I’ve calmed down since.” Nonetheless, Eat Well was so refreshing – in the lack of ego among the volunteer chefs and the “lovely, appreciative” feedback – that Mary-Ellen felt it must continue. Eat Well’s focus is now on getting hot nourishing food to families in temporary accommodation. That will be funded using the profits from