Tag: World Food Day

Cook and Share to tackle loneliness in Scotland

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.”

How can people take part?

Anyone can sign up for free on the website.

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. 

Find the perfect recipe.

The charity are also providing grants of £150 to help people get their cooking events off the ground. 

Find out more here. 

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.

For more information, read the Soil Association Report on 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.

How to give children a taste for World Food Day

Watch out for World Food Day on Friday (October 16). The date commemorates the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation by the United Nations in 1945. This year’s theme is Grow, Nourish, Sustain, Together.

This is a great opportunity to do some fun activities at home with your children to give them a better understanding of how a sustainable supply of food relates to their own lives and the local area as well as those in far-away places. 

And the event is of particular significance this year because it takes place at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic threatens food security in many parts of the world. 

Former primary school teacher Oli Ryan of education resource experts PlanBee reports:

Four great ways to celebrate World Food Day 2020

1. Discover fascinating food facts

World Food Day Facts

  • Eight hundred million people around the world suffer from hunger.
  • In parts of the world where hunger is a big issue, life expectancy is shorter, infant mortality is higher, and productivity is lower.
  • Around the same number of people around the world suffer from obesity due to unhealthy diets.
  • Obesity kills more people than hunger.
  • Inefficient, unsustainable food systems harm ecosystems and contribute to global warming. Changing the way we produce food is key to tackling climate change.
  • As the climate changes, we will have to change the way we produce food: yields will decrease, and new food sources will have to be found.
  • In developed countries, tackling obesity would save hundreds of billions of pounds in healthcare costs.
  • In countries where hunger is an issue, eliminating hunger would dramatically increase productivity and national wealth.

2. Make it meaningful.

Food security and food poverty are significant issues in the UK too. It’s a good time to talk about food banks, free school meals and the importance of eating nourishing food for health, happiness and even for effective learning.

What is ‘food security’?
Food security means being having access to adequate supplies of food to live healthily. To have food security:

  • People must have enough money to buy food
  • Food must be affordably-priced
  • There must be reliable supply chains for food
  • There must be enough reserves of food, or reliable enough supply chains for a variety of foods, to ensure that access to food is not interrupted
  • The food available must be nutritious, so those who consume it can lead active, healthy lives

What are ‘sustainable food systems’?
Effective, sustainable food systems affordably provide an adequate amount of food to meet demand while also supporting the ecosystems they rely on for the production of food.

A good example are the new greenhouse system in Norfolk and Suffolk, set to produce 10 per cent of UK tomatoes.

The greenhouses will be heated by warm water pumped from nearby water treatment plants, producing far lower carbon emissions than traditional growing methods. It also reduces food miles and establishes a more reliable supply of food in the local area. Can you think of an example of a sustainable food system in your own area?

3. Link it to your local community

Church of England schools have a long-standing tradition of celebrating harvest festival by collecting store cupboard food items for the elderly and vulnerable in their community. This year, Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival, is celebrated 2nd-9th October.

If there’s not much happening locally, why not arrange to do something to help those less well-off in your community? Find out where your nearest food bank is. Many will list the items they are most in need of each week on their website.

4. Make healthy, nutritious food together

Talk ‘around’ the recipe you choose to follow; for example, you might try to find out about the food journey of one or more of the ingredients. 

You can find out more about what’s happening during World Food Day 2020 by following the hashtags #WorldFoodDay and #FoodHeroes on social media.

For more activity ideas and resources for celebrating World Food Day, check out PlanBee’s World Food Day collection.

Former primary school teacher Oli Ryan is a senior member of the team at PlanBee, the education resources and lesson planning experts