Fist-bumps and fresh food with Gogglebox's Babatunde

THERE was a frisson of excitement at Idia's Community Kitchen in Hackney when Celebrity Gogglebox star Babatunde Aléshé dropped in for a visit to support our Christmas Campaign.

- David Cohen

The actor and stand-up comedian arrived at midday to prepare jollof rice and vegetables for some of the charity's 1,000 weekly patrons and then sat down for a fist bump and a chat with early arrivals who had come for a hot meal, a bag of surplus fresh produce to take home, and a chat.

The 37-year-old, who has written movingly about growing up poor in inner city London, asked the patrons whether the community kitchen had been a blessing and "massive for their mental health".

"When I was younger, I could have done with something like this," he said. "I didn't always have it easy growing up, so it means a lot to me to support this appeal. Seeing this place and what they offer and all this food provided by FareShare, it's pretty amazing."

Idia's Community Kitchen is one of 8,500 charities supplied by FareShare, the biggest provider of surplus food in the country and one of the groups we are funding in our Winter Survival Appeal in partnership with Comic Relief.