The Magic of Breakfast

And yet today, in 2016, over half a million children in the UK will arrive at school too hungry to learn. Half a million. That’s the same as the entire population of Manchester. And a hungry child cannot concentrate. A hungry child will not absorb information. A hungry child is more likely to be disruptive, or turn up late for school, or not turn up at all.

Many children qualify for free school lunches. But the gap between these meals is a long one, and if there is nothing to eat at home, a child turns up to school in the morning with an empty belly. Hunger speaks louder than any teacher, so these children are missing out on half a day of learning, every day.

The impact of this is huge – not just for the child’s health, but for their future. There is a strong link between eating a healthy breakfast and educational attainment. So, without access to food in the morning, students may not get educated. The most disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our society will become even more disadvantaged and vulnerable. And a huge swathe of the next generation will never even begin to realise their potential. In terms of social mobility, breakfast (or lack of it) can literally be life-changing.

This is shocking. It sounds like a sort of dystopian nightmare – half a million people trapped in a cycle of poverty and denied the opportunities and the basic human rights that others freely enjoy.

But this is no nightmare. It is happening right here, right now, in London, and all over the UK.

In 2015 we came across Magic Breakfast, a charity aiming to end hunger as a barrier to education by providing nutritious breakfasts to its partner schools. Thanks to their amazing work, over 23,500 children start their school day with a healthy ‘magic’ breakfast, enabling them to attend class with full bellies and enquiring minds.

Magic Breakfast support as many schools as they can, but have almost 300 schools on their waiting list. The cost of each simple, healthy breakfast – bagels, cereals, porridge, juice – is relatively small. An annual investment of just £13m would solve the problem entirely – and make a world of difference to these children’s futures.

So – we decided to do something about it. Last year, for the month of Ramadan, we decided to donate a ‘magic’ breakfast for every guest who dined with us. (We also donated a second meal by way of Indian charity Akshaya Patra.)

We were inspired by the partnerships we’d established and felt compelled to do more. So, for each and every breakfast you eat at Dishoom, we now donate a ‘magic’ breakfast to a school in London. And we will continue to do this. A meal for a meal. Simple. As of the end of March 2016 – we’d donated 154,934 ‘magic’ breakfasts to fuel children’s learning.

(We don’t add this cost to your bill or ask you to make a donation in our cafés. We support Magic Breakfast for every breakfast we serve because we believe their work is important and urgent.)

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