On Monday, six chefs left Malta to travel to Beirut, where there they are helping people in the capital whose homes were destroyed by the 4 August explosion.

“First and possibly hardest day done and dusted! Thousands of meals done on a 3hr sleep,” wrote chef Rafel Sammut on his social media. “Our new Lebanese colleagues welcomed us with open arms and spirits were high.”

Chef Rafel Sammut is part of the team which Lebanese chef Hany Harb, who runs Ali Baba in Gzira, set up, and are cooking for survivors of the explosion. The team will be cooking in Beirut until 23 August. The rest of the team is made up of Zack Demarco, Jean Galea Souchet and Marko Pavlovich.

“300k people have been displaced by the blast. Tomorrow we will be hitting the streets after our kitchen shift to get a real feel of how they have been affected,” Rafel wrote.

The team have collectively raised €45,000 for NGOs assisting victims and providing essential services to people impacted by the explosion.