The community book is her first charity initiative since becoming Duchess of Sussex While everyone was buzzing about the royal wedding last spring, newly minted royal Meghan Markle was busy working on a different project: a cookbook Together: Our Community Cookbook will publish on September 25 and is a collection of 50 recipes from a group of Muslim women who are among the many affected by the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. After the tragedy, they started gathering in order to prepare food for the community and ended up healing together in the process of sharing recipes and experiences. Markle, who has been visiting the Hubb Community Kitchen in West London since January ("Hubb" means "love" in Arabic), wrote the foreword for the book, as the result of her time spent cooking with and getting to know the women. The recipes come from the women themselves, and many have been passed through generations. Proceeds from the book will help enable the kitchen to operate seven days a week, rather than just two, and help expand its community reach. "I immediately felt connected to this community kitchen," Markle says in a promotional video for the book. "Like these women, I am passionate about food and cooking as a way of strengthening communities." In the foreword, she also calls out a particular avocado dip recipe in the book that she loves. Meghan Markle: she's just like us.<doc-sep>The charity recipe book the Duchess of Sussex has thrown her support behind has rocketed to the top of Amazon's bestseller list on pre-orders alone. It emerged on Tuesday that Meghan has been making secret trips to a community mosque to cook with victims affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and has put her name to a book of recipes created in the Hubb Community Kitchen, an initiative based close to the tower in West London. Meghan wrote the foreword to Together: Our Community Cookbook, which has already knocked JK Rowling off the number one spot on Amazon's bestseller list, even though the £9.99 book isn't available to buy until tomorrow. The Duchess, who donned an apron to muck in with fellow volunteers on her visits, said she 'immediately felt connected' to the kitchen, which she described as a 'place for women to laugh, cry, grieve and cook together'. In a clear sign of the enormous influence the Duchess already wields, the recipe book bumped Lethal White, written by Robert Galbraith - Harry Potter author Rowling's male pseudonym - Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt, and Jamie Oliver's Italy down the charts to take the top spot on Amazon. The Duchess of Sussex is seen cooking with other women in the Hubb Community Kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage centre in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. A book of recipes from the kitchen - called Together: Our Community Cookbook, and with a foreword written by Meghan - was announced yesterday, and has already topped the Amazon bestseller list on pre-orders alone The cookbook, which will go on sale on Thursday, was already at the number one spot on Amazon's bestseller list today - having bumped the latest from Harry Potter author JK Rowling, published under her male pseudonym Robert Galbraith, off the top spot Demand ahead of its release means the charity book is already outselling efforts from heavyweight chefs and foodies on the site - including recipe books from Jamie Oliver, the Body Coach Joe Wicks and Deliciously Ella. Kensington Palace released photographs of the Duchess - who also appears on the front cover of the book - chatting, laughing and cooking with fellow volunteers in the kitchen at the Al Manaar Cultural Centre, as well as stopping to play with younger visitors. The Hubb Community Kitchen - hubb means love in Arabic - has arisen out of the devastating Grenfell tragedy in 2017. It caused the deaths of 72 people when fire broke out in the 24 storey block of flats on June 14 last year. The palace said the group of women behind the project had decided to gather and prepare fresh food for their families and neighbours, as a way of helping the community to connect, heal and look forward - and to 'convene through food'. The Duchess of Sussex donned an apron to help wash rice and cook dishes with fellow volunteers at the Hubb Community Kitchen, close to the site of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in West London In her foreword to the recipe book, which will support victims affected by the fire, Meghan said she felt 'immediately connected' to the kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, which she described as a place for 'women to laugh, cry, grieve and cook together' Following the blaze - Britain's deadliest fire on domestic premises since the Second World War - the group of friends approached the Al-Manaar centre to ask if they could use the kitchen. AMAZON'S TOP 10 BESTSELLERS* 1. Together: Our Community Cookbook, The Hubb Community Kitchen 2. Lethal White, Robert Galbraith 3. This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay 4. Jamie Oliver's Italy, Jamie Oliver 5. Pinch of Nom, Kay Featherstone 6. Fear: Trump in the White House, Bob Woodward 7. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman 8. Deliciously Ella the Plant-Based Cookbook, Ella Mills 9. Joe's 30 Minute Meals, Joe Wicks 10. How to be a Footballer, Peter Crouch *At the time of writing Advertisement In the new book supported by Meghan, some of the recipes are family favourites and all have been created by the cooks who support not only residents affected by the Grenfell fire but others in the community. In the introduction, the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen wrote: 'Our kitchen has always been a place of good food, love, support and friendship. 'We cook the recipes we've grown up with; there's no stress, and the recipes always work because they have been made so many times – it's proper comfort food… Swapping family recipes and moments of laughter gave us a sense of normality and home. 'We named ourselves the Hubb Community Kitchen to celebrate the thing that we all feel every time we meet – hubb means love in Arabic.' Meghan helped put the group in touch with a publisher and her Royal Foundation provided assistance with legal and administrative issues. Prince Harry will support Meghan when she celebrates the official launch of the recipe book - her first solo project as a Duchess - at a reception at the palace on Thursday.<doc-sep>
Sign up fornow and never miss the top Royal stories again. Meghan was pictured cooking and mingling with guests today, during the launch of The Together cookbook at Kensington Palace, her first royal project to help the Hubb Community kitchen. In her first royal speech, the Duchess of Sussex told guests: "Working on this project for the past nine months has been a tremendous labour of love." The duchess, who has been privately visiting the cooks, added: "I had just recently moved to London and I felt so immediately embraced by the women in the kitchen - your warmth, your kindness, and also to be able to be in this city and to see in this one small room how multi-cultural it was." "On a personal level, I feel so proud to live in a city that can have so much diversity. "That's 12 countries represented in this one group of women, is pretty outstanding." Meghan's mother, Doria, delighted guests today when she made a surprise attendance at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's cookbook launch. Doria, who introduced herself as "Meg's mum", was pictured speaking to guests as she stood by her daughter's side. The Duchess of Sussex has backed the cookbook, dedicated to raising funds for Hubb Community Kitchen, run by Grenfell victims. The book, titlted Together: Our Community Cookbook was created by women volunteering at a local kitchen to provide food for those who lost their homes during the Grenfell fire. The idea for the book came from the duchess after she was told, during her first private trip to the Hubb Community Kitchen in North Kensington, the facilities were only open two days a week because of a lack of funds. Doria joined a heartfelt outdoor reception, with Meghan and her son-in-law Harry and the Grenfell community group, to launch the new cookbook. Meghan looked stunning in a black Tuxe top and matching black skirt by Misha Nonoo, topping her look off with a royal blue coat by Smythe.