Community groups in West London have been re-discovering the value of food, and its crucial role in our lives and in our communities. Find out more by clicking on the links below. You can also
book your place on a free Revaluing Food course starting
6 July 2011.
Why should I eat more sustainably?
How can I eat sustainably?
The hidden cost of food
A throw-away society
Food for celebration and much more
Get involved
Parents and carers at Meanwhile Gardens Play Hut came up with these great reasons for eating sustainably:
- avoids damaging natural resources and the environment
- respects animals
- provides a decent wage for farmers
- food is healthier and better quality
- avoids being over-packaged
- benefits local communities and their economies.
In Kensington and Chelsea residents discussed the benefits of
eating fruit and veg in season for freshness and superior taste, value for
money and healthy eating. And in Wandsworth, Palladino House residents (pictured) had
a great time together
making orange curd with Seville oranges that
were in season at the time (January).
A really straight-forward sustainable diet, which is good for yourself and the planet, is presented in
WWF’s recent Live Well plate. It suggests eating more vegetables, fruit, nuts and pulses, less and better quality meat and dairy and sustainably managed fish. Read
Sustain's principles of sustainable food for more useful hints.
Another simple way to eat more sustainably is to look out for food that meets certified standards. Which? recently undertook a really
useful guide to standards. Here are some of the main ones...
Intensive farming and mass food production methods have led to cheaper food. We currently spend about 12% of our budget on food compared to 33% in 1957.
But not all the costs of food are seen at the checkout. For example, the price of eating fast-food does not reflect the true cost to the environment from intensive meat production and rainforest destruction. In Lambeth, The Golden Age group discussed how a poor diet also leads to
problems like obesity and heart disease which puts a strain on our
health and the NHS.
Organic food is one example of pricing back in the true cost by not allowing the use of certain pesticides or fertilizers (which damage the environment and reduce biodiversity) or antibiotics to be given to farm animals routinely and prohibits animal cruelty. For more information check out our
What is Value blog. And remember to
eat five portions of fruit or vegetables a day!
We buy too much, cook too much and throw away too much. A mammoth 5.3 million tonnes of avoidable
food waste is thrown away in the UK each year at a cost of 12 billion pounds to us, the consumer, which could be better spent on feeding ourselves and the planet more sustainably.
Making preserves, be it chutneys, pickles or curds, is an easy and delicious way to make the most of fresh foods. When certain foods are in season they are in abundance, full of vitamins and are cheaper to buy. By making chutney or jam, like The Golden Age group making mango chutney (pictured), you can capture some of that goodness and eat it throughout the year. You can make the most of Buy One Get One Free offers or gluts of produce on your allotment or garden by following a few simple recipes. And by saving up some of those used jam jars, you have a ready-made container for your homemade loveliness.
What is the link between food and culture and community? How has multi-cultural food enriched our lives? How is food used to celebrate special occasions? What is your favourite food and why? All these questions got the residents of Palladino House (pictured) thinking and sparking fascinating discussions.
There is a strong connection between food and emotion. Food plays a crucial part in the relationships we build with other people. Food does not just satisfy our physical selves, it can satisfy our emotional feelings too. Bringing people together around food is a powerful way to forge friendships – breaking bread together is worldwide cultural glue!
If you represent a community group in Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, or Wandsworth and want to learn more or get involved we want to hear from you. Please contact Steph Ward on 0207 549 0305 or email
stephanie.ward@wastewatch.org.uk
You can also join
Sustainable Lifestyles - an online community learning and sharing through collaboration to reshape our values, behaviours and lifestyles to live more sustainably.