Magic Dinner: Charity that stops schoolchildren going hungry to hold a fundraising feast

Seven of London’s most exciting chefs will create a course each for the event

Magic Breakfast exists to help schools to set up clubs for children who go to school hungry (Getty)

We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day – it sets you up with the fuel to work, study, and exercise. And no one knows this better than the charity Magic Breakfast, which helps schools to set up clubs for children who go to school hungry. It supplies free bagels, cereal and fruit to more than 17,500 children a day, calling it fuel for learning. So why is it cooking up a dinner?

This meal is a fundraiser: a unique feast for 100 guests, with seven of London’s most exciting chefs creating a course each, the details of which we announce today. The Independent on Sunday is a long-time supporter of the charity and editor Lisa Markwell will edit a special newspaper for those attending the event.

The charity’s inaugural Magic Dinner will be held in Hoi Polloi, at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, east London on 15 June, and in the kitchen alongside Hoi Polloi’s own Braden Charlesworth will be Isaac McHale (The Clove Club), James Lowe (Lyle’s), Nuno Mendes (Taberna do Mercado and Chiltern Firehouse), Lee Westcott (Typing Room) and Andy Oliver and Mark Dobbie (Som Saa).

The menu includes raw scallops, smoked wild Irish trout, Iberico pork, red pepper paste and clams followed by a fermented rice and duck egg custard with sweet Thai snacks.

Nuno Mendes will be one of the chefs creating a course at the Magic Dinner feast

One hundred tickets, at £100 each, are now on sale, with all proceeds going directly to the charity. In addition to an incredible menu, guests will enjoy some of Hoi Polloi’s legendary cocktails as well as wines by Fields, Morris & Verdin and a raffle to win money-can’t-buy foodie experiences.

At least 500,000 children are estimated to go to school hungry each day across the UK; and while Magic Breakfast already works with 440 schools, it has around 300 on its waiting list requesting urgent food aid. Head teachers at the charity’s partner schools have reported better concentration, behaviour, attendance and attainment among children receiving Magic Breakfast food.

The charity hopes that funds raised from the Magic Dinner will enable the charity to start working with schools in the most need on the waiting list.

Magic Breakfast founder and CEO, Carmel McConnell, said: “Poverty and hunger should not be a barrier to a child’s education and we can change that for as little as 22p per child per day.”

Tickets are available at magicdinner.eventbrite.co.uk