Good food for ALL: a taste of things to come?

Do we have the ingredients for a well-fed North Edinburgh?

That was the question posed at a conference organised by Pilton Community Health Project at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre last week – and more than forty delegates replied: yes we have!

The event examined food poverty in Scotland – what it is and it’s impact on poorer communities – and what is being done to tackle the problem. The conference was also an opportunity to celebrate successes and to showcase good work, share ideas and discuss and develop a plan to bring to bring more resources to North Edinburgh to tackle food poverty in the area.

A broad spectrum of speakers helped fashion the discussion over the course of the day. Bill Gray of Community Food & Health (Scotland) set the food poverty context, Broomhouse Health Strategy Group’s Lucy Aitchison talked specifically about their health project and explained why it works well and Mary Anne Macleod of the Poverty Alliance gave a presentation on national best practice.

There was also an opportunity to ‘tour’ information stalls to find out what’s happening locally – the Granton Gardeners, Fresh Start and Edinburgh North West Foodbank were all on hand to offer advice and information, while Granton Improvement Society also had an information stall.

The event was all about information, ideas and discussions and all of these ingredients were present in abundance – look on the conference as an appetising starter … a taste of things to come, maybe?

A conference report is currently being produced and it’s hoped the Good Food for ALL conference will result in an agreed community manifesto to tackle food poverty in North Edinburgh.