From market to pavement: the steps in the food service photographs

The food service pictures are not posed, so they show the work as it is. Taken together they describe a chain with five links.

Cutting and cooking

Onions, carrots and greens are cut on a mat. A pan as wide as a table is stirred with a long ladle, and the finished food has the colours of a mixed vegetable and rice dish. The size of the pan is the first clue to the scale: this food is meant for many plates.

Packing

The cooked food goes into plates and packets. Packets are easy to carry on a bike and easy for a person to eat while standing or sitting on a kerb. Boxes are tied behind motorbike seats.

Carrying

The food is carried by motorbike and on foot to pavements, bus stops and tents. In one photograph a motorbike stands in the middle of a crowd of people who have gathered around volunteers.

Serving

Every photograph of serving shows a person-to-person hand-over. A volunteer bends down to a man sitting beside his belongings. A woman carrying a load on her head takes a packet. A boy holds a plate.

Keeping it safe

• Food is served the same day it is cooked.
• Volunteers wear clean t-shirts and hand over with clean hands.
• Plates and packets are covered while carried.
• People who are old or weak are served first.

The first four points are ordinary food-safety practice; the photographs show covered packets and volunteers in clean t-shirts. Read the outdoor food service page for the dated records. The trust number is 97036 30893 (call and PhonePe).