The nationwide campaign run by the Soil Association’s Food for Life Get Togethers programme will be bringing people together again for its third year between 22nd April – 20th May.
Plant and Share Month is a celebration of growing and community, rooted in the experience of sowing, planting and sharing. The event continues to grow each year: in 2022 over 500 registered activities took place, and bespoke resources were downloaded over 23,000 times.
Kicking off on Earth Day – Saturday 22nd April and concluding on World Bee Day – Saturday 20th May, it is completely free to register and includes access to a vast selection of free resources, toolkits and event planning tips.
Adam Carter, Senior Programme Manager, Food for Life Get Togethers says: “We couldn’t be more inspired seeing just how many people have come together over the last three years of Plant and Share.
“Whether it’s community groups building urban gardens, schools planting vegetables to incorporate in healthy school meals or people growing something for the first time, it’s been a real joy to help get boots on the ground.
“Launching in 2021 mid-pandemic was challenging, but seeing it evolve from neighbours sharing seedlings over garden walls to entire communities meeting up in the gardens they’ve grown together has been heart-warming – we can’t wait to see what participants get up to this year.”
For additional inspiration, Plant and Share month will have themed weeks to help inspire everyone with the sheer variety of reasons it’s good to grow. The themes are: Growing for All, Growing to Eat, Growing for Joy and Growing for Nature.
Free resources will be released via the newsletter and available on the Food for Life Get Together’s website from 22nd March and will cover activities such as growing fresh herbs to attract pollinators, companion planting beautiful flowers, ‘grow your own soup’, and learning about which plants can attract bug life to the garden. With Plant and Share Month’s fun, engaging and free resources, all of this and more is possible to help people get rooted in nature.
There are plenty of other reasons to celebrate throughout the month too, including the return of Food for Life’s Grandparent Gardening Week, intergenerational activities and the Coronation which will include campaign partner the Eden Project’s Big Lunch, both great opportunities to start growing and sharing skills with friends, family and the whole community.
How can people take part?
People can take part by starting an event either with friends, family or within their local community and registering it on our website, or by joining an existing event in their local area. Reach out to local community groups to see if there’s an event happening nearby, or help to arrange one with them.
If you’re interested in covering an event local to you, please let us know and we can help with finding out event details.
Attractions slash children’s meals as cost-of-living crisis bites
Kids’ health “taking the hit” as popular visitor attractions struggle to bounce back post-pandemic with children’s menus scaled back or removed entirely
New healthy eating league table calls out venues who fail to offer child portions, vegetables and healthy snacks on days out
Finding good food for kids “is the real roller coaster” at UK attractions, with parents complaining of a lack of choice and kids being “maxed out” kids with junk food and sugary treats
Drayton Manor named the unhealthiest of 16 family attractions at bottom of the league table
Nine visitor attractions commit to serving veg with every kid’s meal in response to the Soil Association’s Out to Lunch campaign
Visitor attractions are “slicing, dicing and ditching” children’s menus as they battle with rising ingredient costs and staff shortages, a new Soil Association campaign has revealed.
The food and farming charity has ranked 16 of the UK’s leading attractions in a new league table after an army of “secret diner” parents helped to assess the quality of food on offer.
The investigation found children’s menus are suffering as venues and caterers face huge pressures following Covid-19 closures and ongoing staffing and supply chain disruption linked to Brexit and the Ukraine war.
Parents reported a lack of options with children’s menus removed entirely or smaller than before the pandemic. Children aren’t offered hot meals at almost half of venues and several only offered “nutritionally inadequate” packed lunches lacking fruit or veg.
A lack of kids’ meals and an abundance of sugary treats saw Drayton Manor take bottom place in the league table – while the Eden Project came top by serving balanced meals with local, fresh, sustainable ingredients.
Soil Association Head of Food Policy Rob Percival said: “It’s alarming that venues are slicing, dicing, or ditching child appropriate menus. It’s a tough environment for caterers, who are grappling with staff shortages and rising ingredients costs, but it’s disappointing that children’s health seems to be taking the hit.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, when every penny counts, parents should not be forced to buy large adult portions or waste money on nutritionally inadequate meals for their children.”
The investigation found having a range of children’s meals and healthy options were the top priorities for parents on a day out. More than half of parents surveyed chose one of these options as their number one priority, compared to just 1% who picked “treat” or “junk” food.1
But less than half of these leading attractions are serving veg with every kid’s meal – while adults are offered a much larger and diverse menu with more choices to eat healthily.
Percival added: “Everyone likes a treat, but our secret diner parents told us they want diverse and exciting children’s menus. They also want attractions to make it easy for their youngsters to enjoy a healthy meal on days out – some of these attractions simply must do better.
“It’s essential that venues take responsibility for how family days out shape expectations around ‘treat food’. They must stop promoting an unhealthy ideal which, parents tell us, tracks back home.
“Offering more veg and less fried or sugary food isn’t that difficult or expensive. In fact, there is little variation in meal prices between the top and bottom of the league table, and several high performing attractions have free entry.
“Finding good food for kids is the real roller coaster at UK attractions, but there are some great examples of caterers who do put children’s health first. The others must catch up.”
The investigation found that the higher quality meals at the top two attractions are also among the more affordable days out. Second place holder Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh doesn’t charge for entry and eating out at league table leader Eden Project costs just 24p more than dining with bottom-place Drayton Manor.
Becky Fenner, Eden’s Hospitality Manager, said: “We are delighted to have come top of the Out to Lunch league table. The Eden Project’s mission centres around building relationships between people and planet to demonstrate the power of working together for the benefit of all living things.
“Central to this is our food story. We explore ways to deliver Earth-friendly food at scale using a food system rather than a food product approach, finding ways of producing food in a regenerative system that is climate positive, increases biodiversity and enhances soil health. Healthy planet – healthy people.”
Kids targeted with junk
Parents raised concerns that junk food was being marketed directly to young children.
Secret diners at Drayton Manor reported tactical junk food placements across the site with doughnuts and sweets at checkouts and no healthy snacks available.
Secret diner Eve Thomas visited Drayton Manor with her two children, aged three and seven. She said: “I was surprised at how few healthy options were available. Thomas Land had two shops just for sweets and they were big cartons not novelty sized!
“Some rides also required you to walk through the shop after, where there were tubs of sweets and candy floss everywhere. With kids now learning about healthy eating at school, it would have been nice for Thomas and friends to be supporting these messages.
“Plus, in the restaurant they had doughnuts prominently at the counter, which hooked my two in. It was hard to buy fruit shoots, milk, or juice options – it was mostly fizzy drinks on offer.”
Legoland – the most expensive day out on the table – came in at position 13 after making little progress since it bottomed the previous league table in 2018.
The attraction has failed to meet its pledge from four years ago to serve veg with every kid’s meal, and fried food remains the dominant food on offer.
Maxed out with sugar
Soil Association experts were also disappointed to see high quantities of sugar at many venues, particularly those near the bottom of the table.
Percival added: “These family attractions need to lay off the sugar. A shocking 80% of desserts stated to be suitable for children across the attractions contain 19g of sugar or more, blowing a four-to-six-year-old child’s daily sugar allowance in one go.
“And what’s worse is the sugar content is rarely advertised so parents faced with ‘pester power’ from their kids can’t even make informed decisions.”
Whipsnade Zoo’s chocolate brownie, aimed at both adults and children, was the worst offender containing 73g of sugar. This is more than twice the recommended daily allowance for adults (30g) and nearly four times the limit for four- to six-year-olds (19g).
Drayton Manor secret diner Eve added: “By the drive home the kids even headed to the fruit boxes at the service station – they knew they had maxed out.”
The Soil Association is calling for attractions to:
Improve the food offering for children, including putting hot meals back on kids’ menus and making child-sized portions available.
Serve at least one portion of vegetable with every kid’s meal.
Support healthier choices by offering healthier snacks and reducing the availability and visibility of high sugar and ultra-processed snacks.
Switch to UK farm assured meat and higher welfare animal products, such as organic.
Make sure free drinking water is readily available around the attraction including in restaurants
With daily news about the impact of global warming and in the run up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow many people are increasingly frightened for the future, frustrated with politicians and concerned about what they can do to help the planet.
That is why the Soil Association has launched ‘Pledge for our Planet’ to help people understand what they can do to help build a world with good health, in balance with nature and a safe climate.
From supporting local organic farmers and independent shops, to growing your own nature-friendly veg and minimising your waste, there are so many ways that everyone can play their part.
This week we have heard about the level of anxiety young people have about the climate crisis and the future of the planet. The survey across 10 countries led by The University of Bath found that 60% of young people felt very or extremely worried about climate change and two-thirds felt sad, afraid or anxious. Many feel betrayed, ignored and abandoned by politicians.
In the Soil Association’s own research citizens have said how that they feel powerless and want to know what they can do to make a difference. They want the tools and knowledge to make changes in their lives which will have a positive impact on the planet.
Soil Association Citizen Communications Manager Claire Lampon said: “While many feel powerless in the face of the climate and nature crisis there are many positive things we can all do.
“The Soil Association is working hard together with other organistions to lobby our own, and international governments, to take urgent action to address climate change and to help restore nature.
“In particular we are highlighting the impact our food and farming system has on the planet and how by addressing our diets,working with nature and transitioning to more nature-friendly agroecological farming practices we can improve our soils and act on carbon.
“But at the same time we want to encourage citizens to make small changes in their lives that add up to make a big difference. So while we would like everyone to consider how they can influence politicians, for example writing to their MP, we want everyone to consider the pledges they can make which will have a positive impact on nature and the planet too.”
There are 22 pledges on the pledge hub covering food and diet, gardening, zero waste, community and fashion and beauty.
This is just the start and will help people to realise that by making small changes in their lives, they can feel more positive about the future and start to do their bit for the planet and nature.
Food and Diet – The way we farm and eat has a huge impact on the climate, nature and our health. The good news is we can all play a part in making sure that the food we choose and the way it’s produced has a positive impact on the planet. From opting for organic – a way of farming that works with nature – to shopping locally and growing some of your own food, each small action adds up and helps build the movement towards a safer future.
Gardening – Around 87% of UK households have a garden. That’s over 10 million acres, which is larger than all of Britain’s nature reserves combined. Together, we have the opportunity to help restore nature, keep our soils healthy and protect the environment through our own patch of land, whether you have acres of space or a window box – we can all make a difference.
Fashion and Beauty – Have you ever thought about how your clothes are made? Or what ingredients are found in your health and wellbeing products? With fashion regarded as the world’s second most polluting industry, and the organic beauty and wellbeing industry largely unregulated, there’s never been a more important time to support certified organic, sustainable alternatives you can trust.
Zero Waste – Minimising our waste is a great way to live more sustainably and help protect the planet. In the UK alone, over five million tonnes of plastic is used each year and only a quarter of this is recycled. It’s clear that our individual actions really do add up. From being mindful of unsustainable packaging to using a reusable coffee cup, we can all play our part.
Community – There’s real power in collective action. By engaging with our local communities, we can build the movement towards a safer future from the ground up. From getting involved in a community growing or cooking event, to setting up your own fundraiser or encouraging your child’s school to serve healthy meals, there are lots of ways to make a difference together.
And share your pledges with friends and on social media
Claire continued: “So while you may not be a world politician attending the Glasgow climate summit in November, you can feel empowered knowing that you are making a difference. You can also have an influence by sharing your pledges on your social media and encouraging friends and others to make changes too.”
Brand new campaign from Soil Association Food for Life
A brand new campaign from the Soil Association aims to tackle food insecurity and loneliness, starting this World Food Day on 16th October.
Anyone can take part in Cook and Share Month and hundreds of events are expected to take place across the UK. From Edinburgh to Inverclyde, people will be cooking and, you guessed it, sharing food in their local communities between 16th October and 16th November 2021.
Preparing and eating food is a great way to bring down barriers, so the organisers are encouraging people from all walks of life to take part.
Community groups, schools, children’s centres, faith groups and more will be getting busy in the kitchen and making food to share with each other, and with their local area, both remotely and in person where it’s safe to do so.
Need funding? Grants of £150 are available to help people get their cooking events off the ground, provided by Food for Life Get Togethers (FFLGT), a Soil Association programme funded by the National Lottery.
More details are below.
So why should we share our food?
Research has revealed that the more often people eat with others the more likely they are to feel happy and satisfied with their lives. Yet this year we have seen loneliness rise, exacerbating social problems that were already there.
The Office of National Statistics has published a report saying that loneliness in adults has increased during the pandemic by almost a third. From October 2020 to February 2021, results from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) showed that 7.2% of the adult population (about 3.7 million adults) felt lonely ‘often’ or ‘always’. This is an increase of 1.1 million people since the first UK lockdown in 2020.
Many people have become more isolated as a result of social distancing measures, which can have negative effects on mental and physical wellbeing. Holding a Food for Life ‘Get Together’ is a tried and tested way for people to connect with others in their local communities, through good food, safely.
In a recent survey of Get Together organisers, nearly 90% either agreed or strongly agreed that their activities created new friendships or developed friendships. More than 90% of Get Together organisers also agreed or strongly agreed that these activities supported people’s health and wellbeing.
Helen Browning, CEO of the Soil Association says:“The month is about using the power of great food to bring us together. At the Soil Association, we know that food has got to be good for us, and good for nature and the climate too.
“It has never been more important to create meaningful connections. We have seen over the past year that feeling connected to others is absolutely essential to good health and wellbeing. Food is one of our best ways to unite across barriers – whether that’s the garden fence, cultural or generational divides.”
Dale Cranshaw, Head of Food for Life Get Togethers adds: “Half of the UK population feel that Britain is more divided than ever before. To build stronger communities that can stand up to some of the urgent health, climate and nature crises of our time we need to get together.
“Cooking and sharing food is one of the best tools you have to bring people from different backgrounds or generations together. If you want to bring your community together you can do something about it this month by cooking, and sharing food that’s good for people and planet with your community.”
There are a range of resources available, helping organisers to cook easy, healthy recipes from scratch. Choose your favourite, from an Eritrean Daal to a simple, home-made bread roll.
An important part of Cook and Share month is helping people to cook from scratch, which has health benefits and often has a lower carbon footprint than alternative ultra-processed foods.
After a year of isolation and worry, it is more important than ever that we connect with the people around us. Whether you’re dishing up daal, sharing a sarnie or passing round the pasta, food is a great way to break down barriers and bring people together.
The UK’s leading garden centre retailer, Dobbies Garden Centres, demonstrates its support for the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) National Gardening Week (26 April – 2 May) with the launch of new sustainable products in the Edinburgh store and the start of its #sustainabledobbies campaign.
Market leaders in the garden centre sector, Dobbies is committed to educating about the importance of soil health and delivering environmentally-friendly practices and products, and sustainable solutions.
Dobbies supports the RHS’s aim to enrich lives through plants and make the UK a greener place. This year, the RHS is encouraging everyone to get their ‘dose of Vitamin G’ by taking a few minutes each day to connect with nature. Dobbies will share dedicated National Gardening Week content focused on #sustainabledobbies which will build and develop throughout 2021 both online and instore.
A key part of Dobbies’ sustainability pledge is to reduce the use of peat, plastics and pesticides in its product range. The team are on track with the commitment made in 2020 to be 90% peat free in 2021 and 100% peat free in 2022. The retailer has also worked with nursery suppliers to produce a roadmap for an annual reduction in peat use.
Dobbies is launching a number of new sustainable products in the Edinburgh store and online. Landing in store this week are biochar products from Carbon Gold – Carbon Gold Biochar Fertiliser and Biochar Soil Improver – with Dobbies being the first leading garden centre to stock these products.
Carbon Gold’s biochar products are 100% peat and chemical-free, FSC Certified and Soil Association organic approved, and are used by professionals the world over, including conventional and organic crop growers, tree care specialists and even elite sports greenkeepers.
Biochar is so high in carbon that adding it to soil permanently sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere. In fact, biochar acts like natural magic in the garden, with significant and permanent benefits proven to boost the health and vitality of plants.
A garden centre first, in the next month Dobbies will launch compost bag recycling in store, in partnership with Evergreen. This will initially launch in 10 stores, with further roll out planned in 2021. New pot recycling stations will also be installed, building on the success of the pot return scheme, as well as a commitment to increasing recyclable plant pots and single use plastics.
As part of #sustaintabledobbies, there is additional focus on the safer range of pest control products, to reduce the impact on beneficial garden insects and wildlife. The retailer does not stock weedkillers that contain glyphosate or slug killers that contain metaldehyde, and rodenticides have been delisted.
Graeme Jenkins, CEO of Dobbies, said: “At Dobbies we pride ourselves on providing the best gardening products, services and advice, and it’s also our responsibility to care for our environment.
“Sustainable practices have been a core focus for some time and we are pleased to support National Gardening Week with #sustainabledobbies.
“It’s our duty to raise awareness and promote better sustainability practices among our suppliers, team members and customers, and we look forward to sharing news of new products and services in our Edinburgh store over the course of 2021.
“As well as reducing our use of peat, plastics and pesticides and providing our customers with recycling opportunities, we are also proud supporters of Terra Carta from HRH The Prince of Wales’ Sustainable Market Initiative – helping make the UK a greener place.”
Mike Hartshorn, MD of Carbon Gold, said: “After seeing a massive boom in retail sales last year, we’re absolutely thrilled to have our biochar products on shelves at Dobbies’ Edinburgh store in time for Spring 2021.
“Gardeners, home growers and allotmenteers have always wanted their plots of outdoor space to be healthy, vibrant and disease and pest free, but these days making sure they’re also environmentally friendly is rising up everyone’s lists of priorities.
“Our biochar products, which have always been the professionals’ best kept secret, are the perfect replacement for unsustainable peat-based products because they really work and they’re actually good for the environment. It is the gardening product of the future!”
For National Gardening Week, Dobbies has released a new podcast episode focused on sustainable gardening. Horticulture Director, Marcus Eyles, joins host Louise Midgely to discuss Dobbies’ sustainable aims and new product launches, as well as practical advice on how gardeners can care for the environment at home.
For keen gardeners in Edinburgh there are also two new FREE virtual events, which will support the #sustainabledobbies focus: https://www.dobbies.com/events
· 8 May – Time to Colour Your Garden
· 15 May – Roses – The UK’s Favourite Flower
Follow and support Dobbies sustainability campaign using the hashtag #sustainabledobbies
Food for Life Get Togethers are fun activities and events involving good food that bring people of different ages and backgrounds together. They can be big or small and can involve growing, cooking, eating or all three!
Do you think you could run a Food for Life Get Together for your community? If you do then we would love to hear from you. In return we can provide ideas, resources, guides, training and more. One-to-one support for activities/events is available in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverclyde.
Together we can create happier, healthier and more sustainable communities.
To find out more, including contact details for support and any current funding opportunities, please visit: http://bit.ly/FFLGTScot
Food for Life Get Togethers is a programme of the Soil Association and is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
The City of Edinburgh Council has become the first council in Scotland to achieve the Soil Association’s Bronze Food for Life Catering Mark award for all its schools.
The award-winning menus feature even more freshly prepared meals, made with seasonal and local produce as well as only farm-assured meat and free range eggs.
The three organisations that cater for Edinburgh’s schools – the Council’s in-house catering service, Amey and Chartwells – have been working with Soil Association Scotland for several months to ensure that all school menus across the city meet the bronze standards. This ensures dishes contain no harmful additives and that at least 75% of dishes are freshly prepared.
The bronze award comes at an important time for school food in Edinburgh, with free school meals for P1 – P3 pupils having just been launched and school meal uptake higher than for many years.
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener, said: “It’s so important for our young people to learn about how food relates to issues such as health, the economy and our environment.
“Schools in Edinburgh are already working hard to achieve this and the Food for Life Catering Mark award helps demonstrate the vital role cooks can play in helping pupils understand the importance of good food.
“The bronze award is a fantastic achievement, and I think it’s important to note that this has been delivered in conjunction with the service delivering a free school meal to P1-3s. Not only are we delivering free school meal to our youngest pupils, but a better school meal to all our pupils.”
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, added: “Achieving the Bronze Food for Life Catering Mark award for Edinburgh’s school food is an important way for us to reassure parents and pupils that school food providers in the city care deeply about the quality of the service they offer.
“I think there truly is no better option for lunch than a nutritionally-balanced school meal, and our cooks can be proud of serving fresh, tasty food to young people across the city.”
Soil Association Scotland’s Director, Laura Stewart said: “Achieving the Food for Life Catering Mark award across all Edinburgh schools has been a challenge for everybody involved, but what an achievement it is.
“How fantastic to think that every morning, in schools across the capital, hundreds of cooks are freshly preparing tens of thousands of meals using quality produce, helping to ensure that Edinburgh’s young people can benefit from fresh, tasty and nutritious food at school.”
