3 things I took away from the Lincolnshire Food Summit

At the end of last year, around 80 people who are involved in foodbanks and other kinds of food support gathered at The New Life Centre in Sleaford for the Lincolnshire Food Summit.

We came to listen, to share, and to find ways to collaborate. From what you told me, and the immensity of the feedback, it was a learning experience for all of us.

Here are three things I took away from it:

1. Foodbanks do way more than they say on the tin!

Foodbank volunteers at the summit spoke movingly about the conversations they have with people who come to them for help with food.

Volunteers discover that the problem is not just (or even primarily) hunger, but multiple problems stacked on top of one another, and frequently includes trauma beyond what we care to imagine.

Food is an essential part of the jigsaw, but by itself, it cannot solve the deeper problems.

Human beings ready to listen and show kindness is another piece of the jigsaw.

Some participants spoke of sign-posting to other kinds of support; Simon Hawking from Acts Trust shared their “no wrong door” approach; others of the need for foodbanks to have many other capacities.

2. We need system change

One message that came up time and again was the way that participants felt like their organisation – however much they tried to be innovative and empowering – ended up being a sticking plaster on a broken system.

There are some problems that make no sense to put at the door of individuals or local organisations. This is where campaigning and political engagement becomes a necessary response.

3. We need to diversify our food 

I changed my mind.

When I wrote about the Summit previously (Lincoln Independent, December 2023) I said that food waste and food poverty are two sides of the same coin.

Having listened to people running community groceries and pantries, now I am not so sure.

Food waste is a massive problem – and making better use of so-called “surplus” food is a no-brainer.

But creating emergency food systems – and increasingly, “affordable food” systems – that are wholly reliant on the unpredictable and dwindling supplies of “surplus” food, I realised, is short sighted.

Indeed, this reliance is already serving us badly, and foodbanks, community cafes and others are already experiencing shortages.

Some of it is a challenge of logistics across a big county.

But we might also explore how to diversify where we source food. 

Watch this space to hear more about Landed Community Kitchens – coalitions between community kitchens and local farmers/producers – and how a model that is working in Argentina could speak to the challenges faced in Lincolnshire.

This article was published in the Lincoln Independent, January 2024

Be part of the action in 2024

In response to the needs and actions you put forward at the Food Summit, we’re supporting the development of four action groups.

Details here, and the opportunity to offer leadership, information or other kinds of involvement.

“I was most encouraged by the desire in the room for everyone to work together rather than in our own spaces. There is a strong desire to end food poverty and to create a better relationship for people with the food that they eat. Hearing the spontaneous applause whenever someone shared a success story was a real highlight for me.”

Simon Hawking
CEO of Acts Trust & Food Partnership Board Member