Chef to provide a Michelin-standard Christmas feast for 150 homeless people

'I haven't got much financially to give, but I had the idea to give my skill,' says Nathan Snoddon

Nathan Snoddon has trained at Michelin standard restaurants (Ross Raeney)

A chef is to cook a Michelin-standard meal for 150 homeless people in Belfast city centre this Christmas.

Nathan Snoddon, from Lisburn, said he wanted to provide the feast as a leaving present to his home country. In the new year he is set to become a Chef de Partie in a new London restaurant owned by Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous

"For the past year I've been wanting to give something to charity, to offer something, but I never knew what," he told The Independent.

"I haven't got much financially to give, but I had the idea to give my skill."

On 21 December, he will set up a pop-up restaurant in central Belfast serving portions to those living on the streets.

"It won't be ultra fancy food, but it will be [Michelin] standard cooking. Comfort food, just trying to give them a good experience," he said.

"I can't be cooking something crazy for people — that's pretentious and it would really defeat the purpose of me doing it."

Too often it was left to large organisations to manage social problems such as homelessness, the 25-year-old said. "People pass by and don't take notice of it," he said.

"It's something that's right here on our doorstep and it's easy for people to allow organisations to do the work instead of offering something themselves."

He hoped to inspire other young people to volunteer in their communities and use the skills they had "whatever they might be".

Asked whether he had cooked for 150 people before, he said, "on my own? Hell no, but I have had a lot of support with this".

A post announcing the event was shared hundreds of times and he has recruited a team of volunteers.

Donations to the meal can be made via the GoFundMe page