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Food Revolution Day

Richard Lemmer | 21.05.12

Last Saturday, revolution had never tasted so good. Thousands of people attending over 400 public events and over 500 dinners parties celebrated Food Revolution Day, a worldwide series of events organised by Jamie Oliver. The day’s aim was to encourage people to re-engage with food (the real and unprocessed variety): it is "a chance for people who love food to come together … to pass on their knowledge and highlight the world’s food issues," according to the campaign's website.

Our world faces super-sized problems. "Imagine if you lived in a world where diet related disease cost over $200 billion in healthcare," Jamie says in the campaign's video. Unfortunately, this is the reality of our 21st century world. According to WHO, in every region of the planet, obesity has doubled between 1980 and 2008. Every year, over 2.8 millions adults die as a result of being obese or overweight. “I started learning about food at the age of five in the kitchen at my Dad’s pub,” Jamie wrote in the Huffington Post, “About one in every 15 people in the UK was obese. Just 30 years later, its almost one in every four people.” It seems like we need nothing short of a food revolution.

Can Food Revolution Day create a better system? “Our focus this year is to plant the seeds for local teams that can grow the food revolution beyond a single day. That starts with raising awareness,” a spokesperson for the Food Revolution Team told the Edible Schoolyard Project. “We hope to be able to bring food education boxes to thousands of classrooms this year through donations.” The campaign has so far featured in hundreds of news articles and features and has been tweeted about over 6,000 times in the space of two days.

Jamie’s Foundation is trying to prepare the next generation of food lovers with the knowledge they need to make informed diet choices. Donations to the foundation will create a Food Education Box to be sent to UK and US schools. Each box will include a particular fruit or vegetable along with a recipe, fun facts and lesson plan, to provide the first step in getting kids to taste fresh fruits and vegetables.

To support the campaign, this week will see the Greenhouse PR blog feature interviews with some of our clients and a series of Greenhouse recommended recipes, to get people out of the Ready Meal aisle and back into the kitchen!

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Meatout

Anna Guyer | 19.03.12

Fancy free food? This week, The Vegan Society will be giving out free food as part of Meatout, an international vegan campaign that promotes a meat free diet. On or around March 20th each year, Meatout supporting organisations attempt to get consumers to go meat free for one day and try out vegetarian and vegan foods. The UK Vegan Society is organising this year’s UK events.

Meatout is part of the USA not-for-profit organisation FARM’s campaign to end the use of animals for food. And FARM is not adverse to openly bribing consumers in order to attract them to their campaign: their Pay Per View van tours the USA, paying people one dollar to view a four minute film that documents some of the worse treatment animals have to suffer in a modern factory farm. The campaign also publishes how many people watched the film at each event the van visits.

FARM has also set up Meatout Mondays, a campaign that supports consumers to…well, the title says it all. This simple idea has its roots in the Meatless Monday campaign, set up by marketer Sid Lerner to be part of the Monday Campaigns (there is also Man Up! Monday, which supports young men to have STI tests, and Move It! Monday, which supports people to be more active). The Meat Free Monday campaign, set up by Paul McCartney, has a similar aim and the idea seems to be a core principle of the Green Party.

Regardless of how you feel about animal ethics, Meatless/Meatout/Meat-Free days have a positive affect on the environment. According to the United Nations, emissions of CO2 created by the livestock industry could account for 18% of global emissions. While meat production does not in-of-itself lead to environmental destruction (if done properly, it can lead to environmental biodiversity), our demand for cheap beef is leading to widespread rainforest destruction, as forests are cleared for new grazing ground for industrially farmed cattle. The meat industry can be wildly inefficient in terms of resources: for feedlot beef, it takes 33 calories of energy from fossil fuels to make just one calorie of energy for food.

So if you’re going to choose a day to go without a Big Mac…today would be the day.

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Sustainable Food for Thought

Greta Jonyniate | 15.03.12

To follow our previous post on the need for change in our industrialised agricultural system - here is a selection of four books that we think are really powerful and should be read by anyone interested in the sustainable food movement.

Michael Pollan's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual is Pollan's attempt to clearly direct the reader to becoming a better eater. The book contains 64 rules for a better life with food, including: “If it comes from a plant eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t," "Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of the milk" and "Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.”

Joanna Blythman's What To Eat: Food that's good for your health, pocket and plate, is similar to Pollan's in that it contains a set of rules to help the food loving reader. Blythman's book also includes a list of Green, Amber and Red foods; foods that are fine to eat, foods that we should be cautious about eating, and foods that we should never eat.

Novelist Jonatha Safran Foer's Eating Animals is a memoir about his progession towards vegetarianism and a call-to-arms against the USA's meat industry. Foer does not flinch from letting the reader know all the grisly details that describe the life of a factory farm animal.

Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation is the No Logo of the fast food industry. Schlosser documents the industry's targeting of children, its global reach and the health risks that the industry does not want you to know about.

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Hungry For Change

Greta Jonyniate | 14.03.12

Ten Simple Steps To Create Positive Change in the Food System

You can make a difference - with every penny you spend on food - thinking consciously about what sort of food you are buying and why it is important.  Here are ten simple steps you can take to create a positive change in the food system (availabe on Hungry for Change website):

1. Join the Soil Association.

2. Choose a climate friendly diet. Eat seasonal produce and eat less meat.

3. Buy organic. Reduce the risk of environmental contamination by pesticides.

4. Grow your own food. Cheap and fun!

5. Join Food For Life Partnership.

6. Tell the government your feelings on GM.

7. Support the case for biodiversity - the “Save the Bees” campaign.

8. Support our farmers - get on their land. Visit farms and enquire how you can help support small, local businesses.

9. Get involved locally. Shop at farmers markets.

10. Learn new self-sufficiency skills.

If you have not already done so - you might like to watch Food Inc., it is a real eye opener.  It also puts everything in context and explains - very graphically and very powerfully - just what impact our industrialised food systems are having on our health, wellbeing, psychology and our future.

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“Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants” Radio 4 The Food Programme

Greta Jonyniate | 13.03.12

BBC Radio 4's Food Programme was brilliant this week - and is well worth clicking here to listen again. The programme features interviews with food writer and activist Michael Pollan, from the US, and Joanna Blythman, a UK food journalist.

According to Pollan, we are in the middle of a “big and very new experiment” by eating through industrialised methods. Is the experiment working? With type II diabetes costing New York $400,000 per patient, the US is just beginning to review how and what they are eating. The healthcare costs of the current system is set to be unsustainable, and Pollan believes that traditional, local eating habits could be the remedy.

Pollan is well known for his rule, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” This rule comes from his last book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, which contains rules to help us become better and more ethical eaters. Pollan’s rules are an attempt to fight against our thinking about food, which is trapped in a dichotomy of food as either “poison or medicine.”


 

Blythman has similar concerns about our eating habits. Her book What to Eat: Food that’s good for your health, pocket and plate contains 20 “principles of eating,” including “base your diet on real, unprocessed food,” “don’t buy food with ingredients you won’t find in a domestic larder,” and “boycott factory farmed meat, poultry, eggs and dairy.”

It was a fascinating programme - I began to realise that we may be at a turning point - when the economics of obesity and health problems associated with healthcare costs in the US in turn makes the politicians and regulators sit up and listen and consider the outcomes of our current industrialised food system.   A very sorry state of affairs though - that it takes an economic and healthcare crisis to prompt politicians, regulators, and food manufacturers to think responsibly about sustainable food systems - and take the necessary action to change.

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Can the People’s Supermarket survive?

Greta Jonyniate | 05.03.12

In 2009, chef Arthur Potts Dawson saw that something was wrong with our high streets. 75% of people in the UK were shopping in stores owned by just four huge corporations.

People were in danger of becoming walking wallets when it came to their food, disenfranchised from the literal bread and butter of their lives.

But Dawson turned what could have been another doom-and-gloom campaign about every town in the country becoming a Tescoville into a positive solution: The People’s Supermarket.

With its bold, minimalist yellow and black branding and its direct name, the supermarket may seem like something from Orwell’s 1984, but it is anything but. The People’s Supermarket is staffed by local volunteers who have a democratic say in how the business is run. Members pay a joining fee of £25, agree to work four hours every month and are eligible for 20% of all their in-store purchases. Because TPS is small compared to Tesco’s, the members can realistically demand change, whether it is deciding which products go on the shelves or who helps manage the volunteers. The shelves feature products from local producers, like beer from the Redchurch Brewery in Bethnal Green and bread from the Flourish Bakery in Tottenham, as well as hosting the mainstream brands like Heinz.

At the back of TSP is the People’s Kitchen, which uses the supermarket's perfectly edible waste produce to prepare fresh cakes, salads and soups daily. The supermarket has been such a success that it has created 23 jobs and has won Local Retailer Award in the Observer Ethical Awards 2011.

So far so good. For anyone with a conscience this is all great – we can tick so many boxes: local, sustainable, ethical, community-driven, social, democratic. But it takes more than ideals and a shiny award to stock a shelf.

Tara Mulqueen, a manger of the membership team, explained to us that life on the front line of ethical shopping is hard. “Originally, we asked members to volunteer and receive a 10% discount on all products. But we needed more members. When we increased the discount to 20%, we doubled the number of members. People really responded to that tangible incentive.”

So people just wanted their food as cheap as possible? Is the ideal of community supermarket tarnished by consumer greed after all? Life is not as black and white as a bar code, Tara insisted. “Nearly all of the people who become members live in the neighbourhood, and they are the most committed to making the store work. I think it’s fair that they want something tangible in return for helping us. That way, they are a member, they are involved - not just a volunteer.”

You would have thought TPS would have no issue attracting people to the store. Channel 4 made a four episode television series about the supermarket’s early days, and the press has widely covered the supermarket’s progress.

But Tara told us that you should never underestimate the potential of word-of-mouth from the people you trust. “When we talk to our members about how they became interested with the scheme, most people tell us that it was through word of mouth. People who feel genuinely engaged by the idea are people who live in the neighbourhood and were told about the store by a friend or family member. We found people who came because they had read about us, or because they saw the show, they thought it was would be cool to sign up, but the reality is that stocking a shelf is not very cool.”

Is the People’s Supermarket a cool idea with a short shelf life, or the next big sustainable business practise? What do you think. It’s up to ‘the people’ to decide. After such a brave move and such progress – surely we want initiatives like this to survive and thrive?

The People’s Supermarket now needs our help – find out why in the next blog post.

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Get on my land! New report shows thousands benefit from community farming

Greta Jonyniate | 09.02.12

An impact assessment of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in England has found that CSA schemes are providing manifold benefits not only to thousands of members, but also their communities, local economies and the environment. CSA offers an innovative approach to reconnecting people with their food, and helps to build strong partnerships between communities and farmers.

The report was commissioned by the Soil Association, lead partner supporting the development of CSA as part of the ‘Making Local Food Work’ programme. It found that CSA schemes in England count at least 5,000 trading members and feed at least 12,500 people a year.

CSA schemes help empower communities to take control of their food supply by providing their members with a variety of local, often organically produced food from vegetables and meat, to milk, bread and honey - an impressive two thirds of members are supplied with all, or nearly all, of their vegetable needs. In addition the report shows that CSA schemes deliver many other benefits.
 

Key findings include:

• Strengthening communities: Almost half (45%) of CSA members feel their scheme has had a positive impact on the wider community.

• Increasing wellbeing: 70% of members say their quality of life has improved and 46% say their health has improved. 70% say their cooking and eating habits have changed, primarily through using more local, seasonal and healthy food. 

• Reaching out: 12% of members have a household income under £15,000 and nearly 40% of schemes offer a service for those at risk of social exclusion.

• Developing and sharing skills: Over 75% of schemes provide training and over a third of participants say being involved has increased their skills.

• Providing local employment: CSA schemes tend to show high levels of employment relative to the land available (equivalent to 0.14 employees/hectare compared with a mean of 0.027 employees/hectare across UK agricultural as a whole). Over a third of CSA members are involved as regular or occasional volunteers. 

• Offering farmers an opportunity to diversify: For many farmers developing CSA has provided a life line. Turnover for CSA schemes is over 0.2% of total farm income for England, reflecting the high productivity per acre of CSA and additional income from traded produce and other services.

• Supporting organic farming and improving sustainability: Over two thirds of CSA schemes have increased the amount of land they manage to organic principles. Over two thirds have increased their diversity of production. 55% have planted more hedges and trees and 61% have introduced new wildlife areas.

• Encouraging wider access to farms: Over 50% of initiatives make land more accessible to the public.

Gerald Miles, farmer at Caerhys Farm in Pembrokeshire, comments:
“CSA is the best thing I’ve ever done as it has connected the farm with the local community.”

Bonnie Hewson, CSA Project Manager at the Soil Association, comments:
“This evaluation report confirms that CSA is powerful on many levels. It is a proactive response to concerns around resilience and transparency in the food system and provides a logical step for consumers towards reclaiming sovereignty over the way their food is grown, processed and traded.

“Members are largely motivated by an awareness of global environmental issues but the schemes operate at a very local scale. They not only have a positive impact on communities but it is clear that the schemes have a far reaching impact on individual members too.

“Those concerned about justice and sustainability in our food system should consider seeking out or establishing a CSA in their area. In total there are 200 CSA enterprises trading or developing in the UK and we hope that our CSA resources help the creation of many more.”

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Five of the best…organic veg box schemes

Greta Jonyniate | 19.01.12

We love box schemes for several reasons; they encourage locality which is good for the UK's farmers, they support green initiatives such as being organic, and best of all they're delivered to our doors!

Whether you’re looking for seasonal veg or slaughter-free milk, Britain’s box schemes make avoiding the supermarket a cinch

Organic food sales might have taken a recession-related hit but with consumers increasingly concerned about what they’re putting on their plates, things are looking up for the UK veg box industry. Although organic farmland only accounts for a miserly four per cent of the UK total, a much more impressive 86 per cent of households now regularly buy organic produce according to a 2011 report by the Soil Association. What’s more, they say, despite a sales drop of 5.9 per cent in 2010, they expect this trend to have reversed over the course of 2011 and to have continued into 2012. In an age of price cuts and austerity, that might sound like wishful thinking, but the latest sales figures released by Tesco – showing a significant drop in Christmas takings – suggest that things might just be changing.

Although supermarkets still account for the lion’s share of the retail market, the Soil Association’s report found that supermarket sales were declining, with the slack being picked up by independent retailers and box schemes. And despite talk of austerity and the Euro crisis, veg box sales actually increased by one per cent last year. A relatively recent phenomenon, veg box schemes have become a lifeline for small community growers who lack capital to hire premises of their own and who don’t want to be taken for a ride by the supermarkets. Greener, cleaner and with a focus on local food, veg boxes are the ultimate riposte to the food retail giants. So who’s best? Try one of these on for size.

Riverford Organics

Offering a choice of fruit, veg, fruit and veg or meat boxes in a range of different sizes, Riverford Organics offers you all the benefits of a farm shop without leaving the house. Originally entirely sourced from owner, Guy Watson’s Devonshire farm, Riverford produce now comes from farmers’ collectives spread all over the country with each group of farmers supplying the consumers in their locale. Not only are your purchases organic, it’s supporting the efforts of local farmers to boot.

Find out more: www.riverford.co.uk

Abel and Cole

Almost certainly the one you’ve already heard of, Abel and Cole is one of the most successful and longest running of the UK’s vegetable box schemes. Starting life as a purveyor of organic potatoes, the company has expanded into a full range of groceries including everything from locally grown onions to non-toxic cleaning products. Still topping the popularity charts though are the veg boxes, which come in a range of sizes and are updated weekly to reflect what’s in season. Better still, they’re affordable with prices for a small box starting at £9.

Find out more: www.abelandcole.co.uk

To read more, please go to theecologist's website or click HERE

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Why aren’t restaurants more sustainable?

Greta Jonyniate | 29.11.11

By author: Julia Hailes is a freelance consultant and speaker on social, environmental and ethical issues. She has written nine books, the most recent of which is The New Green Consumer Guide. Here she shares her thoughts on restaurant sustainibility.

In some ways I’m a restaurant’s dream customer because I eat out a lot. But in some ways I’m a nightmare because I ask lots of questions, particularly about sustainability policies – or more often the lack of them. Recently, I’ve taken to tweeting about this too.

Recently, I went to Brinkley’s Restaurant in Hollywood Road. My friend asked what type of tuna they were serving. The waitress had no idea, so she went to ask in the kitchen. Her answer horrified me - bluefin tuna! Anyone with a glimmer of interest in sustainability issues will know that this is one of the most endangered fish species on the planet. It’s a bit like eating a panda or a tiger.

A very charming manager came to our table. She explained that Brinkley’s food was bought centrally, for all eight of their restaurants, so it wasn’t something she got involved with.

I suggested that she should recommend they check fish species with Fish Online. It’s a brilliant website where you can look up the sustainability rating of any fish. The higher the rating, the more problematic the fish – and 5 is the worst. That’s what bluefin tuna gets.

The River Café in Hammersmith wasn't much better. The waiter was also baffled by our question about their policies on sustainable fishing. So he asked Ruth Rogers, the owner, to help us out. She said that all their fish were ‘line caught’. But when we explained that this wasn’t the only relevant sustainability criteria, she appeared to flounder. We didn’t point out that monkfish, which was on the menu, is not line caught!

 Rick Stein is another celebrity chef who really ought to know better. But when I went to his Fish & Chip restaurant in Padstow in 2009, I had a similar experience. The waitress didn’t even know what sustainability meant.

However, I haven’t just had negative experiences. Dorset’s Hive Beach Café in Burton Bradstock has signed up to the Marine Stewardship Council guidelines on sustainable fishing. And it has a blackboard telling you about where their fish comes from. It makes it so relaxing to eat there. If you want find out other restaurants with good fish policies you can look them up on Fish 2 Fork.  

Of course, sustainability is not just about fish. It’s about how much energy, water and waste, as well as where the food comes from and even about community engagement too. That’s where the Sustainable RestaurantAssociation comes in – they offer advice to restaurants to improve their practices. And they have a ranking system too, so customers can see who’s doing well.

 The SRA’s most recent campaign is to encourage the provision of doggy bags. They’ve worked out that the average restaurant produces 21 tonnes of food waste a year, which is about half a kilo per customer. I suspect that Yo Sushi produce even more than that. When I interviewed one of their staff, they estimated that they threw away about a third of what they make. And none of it appeared to be recycled. Clearly, they’d benefit from joining the SRA.

 Waste is actually one of my biggest concerns. I have a particular problem with the number of disposable napkins handed out. My children seem to think I’m a nightmare in restaurants, but I could be a dream if there was more sustainability on the menu!

 A version of this article is being published in Restaurant Magazine
 

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Feeding The 5000 Highlights

Greta Jonyniate | 21.11.11

What a brilliant day! The team here at Greenhouse really enjoyed ourselves throughout the event and would like to congratulate everyone involved on successfully raising awareness of the issue of food waste. Here are some special images of the day as captured by photographer Adrian Brooks.

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