In the bustling kitchen of one of Bogota’s trendiest restaurants, a team of chefs that usually caters to the Colombian capital’s well-heeled citizens is preparing meals for a community of people cut off from work and housing during the Andean country’s coronavirus quarantine. A nationwide lockdown declared by the government of President Ivan Duque to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus has cratered Colombia’s economy and particularly hurt its poor and vulnerable, who must make do without their usual informal jobs. Now, two restaurants – El Chato, run by chef Alvaro Clavijo and winner of Colombia’s best restaurant award in 2019 from Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, and Chicheria Demente, have teamed up to bring nutritious meals to people renting beds by the day in central Bogota.
