Reflections on the Food Conversation

By Matti Colley

On Monday 9th September I was invited to participate in a Food Conversation facilitated by Laura Stratford and Chris Haydon from the Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership. The Food Conversation was held at Doddington Hall and 22 people from all over Lincolnshire were involved.

The Food Conversation is a project being coordinated by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. There are 100 conversations happening all across the UK looking at how we as citizens (active participants in the whole politics of food) can play our part in helping to improve the food system, including reducing food waste and increasing access to good quality, healthy and locally grown food. We are all change makers and we all have a stake in ensuring the food system is fit for our 21st century needs.

Lincolnshire’s Food Conversation

The conversation covered a number of areas, including:

The impact of supermarket advertising on consumer behaviour
The pressure on farmers to produce affordable food
Food wastage and how this might link to class status
Increasing pressures on foodbank to access surplus food and local food
How to help people from vulnerable groups and minorities access healthy, nutritious, locally grown food, including people experiencing homeless and people experiencing mental health problems
Celebrating the positive impact of community cafes and groceries, allotments and community organisations within Lincolnshire’s rural and urban communities.

What we all agreed on was the need to see urgent changes to our food system, particularly given the level of food insecurity faced by lower-income families in the UK.

Here are a few facts about food insecurity in the UK:

In June and July 2024, 13.6% of households in the UK were food insecure
More than 650,000 people accessed a Trussell Trust food bank for the first time in 2023/24
The Food Foundation recently found that households with children in the poorest fifth of the population would need to spend 70% of their disposable income on food in order to afford a healthy diet
Only 12% of children aged 12-18 and 33% of adults in the UK are eating 5 fruit and vegetables a day as part of their diet
The NHS spent £6.5bn on helping people experiencing health problems which were dietary related.

Supermarkets do play a huge role in influencing consumer behaviour

One of the core issues that came out of discussions throughout the day was the disproportionate influence that supermarkets have on consumer behaviour. Many participants felt that supermarket advertising campaigns over the past few decades have helped to create a hyper convenience culture, one where people have been made to feel that they are too busy to be able to make meals from scratch during the week and decide to buy ready-made food for themselves and family members rather than stressing themselves out by preparing a meal from scratch.

I’ve grown up in a family where convenience foods were bought in a large shop every week from the supermarket and I have followed my parents in tending to choose to buy similar foods to them and that is in spite of studying GCSE Food Technology and learning how to bake cakes and biscuits from scratch.

Supermarket advertising can also encourage us to impulse buy: I can remember numerous products that come on the TV in the run-up to Christmas that I then feel like I want to buy and then end up buying and more often than not they’re not the healthiest of options. For households struggling with the cost of living, impulse buying can sometimes lead to running out of money to spend on more essential food items in the week prior to pay-day.

I personally feel that whilst it is important to recognise the level of convenience messaging pumped out by the supermarkets, we should not be trying to shame or stigmatise people who are reliant on convenience supermarket shopping to be able to feed themselves and their family into making rushed decisions to change their diet.

A holistic approach is important, one which empowers people through providing knowledge about how good food can help to improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing as well as physical health. Not everyone has the time to watch hour programmes on the BBC or is inclined to listen to a podcast on the subject whilst on their way to work. Not everyone will be motivated to type in keywords on the internet to find information.

Hosting information sessions with existing community groups is important and is making a difference (for example The Pelican Trust’s Healthy Eating course is teaching learners about how to reduce their sugar intake) but there remains a challenge in trying to encourage people who would benefit from learning more about the link between food and mental health to come along.

Helping people experiencing mental health problems to access healthy, nutritious food is important

Accessing healthy, nutritious food can be very difficult when experiencing mental health problems and especially so when you’re in the middle of a mental health crisis or you’re struggling to afford food because of a rapid change in circumstances. In such situations, dietary decisions can often be taken by family and friends, supposedly in your best interests and that can lead to an increase in high fat and sugary foods. I’ve found when I’m feeling anxious I will gravitate towards eating chocolate or crisps or buying a chippy tea as a way of comforting myself and a reminder of happier times. Nobody should be shamed for making such choices, no matter their weight.

Instead, I think there should be even more of a focus on encouraging people to go to social eating clubs, such as Mint Lane Cafe’s wonderful Happy Cooking Club, where people have the opportunity to help cook/bake their meals and eat them together, in a non-judgemental, safe environment. It’s not just about learning to cook meals through recipes: it’s about finding new joy in sharing healthy, nutritious food.

Find out more about the Happy Cooking Club and other projects being run by Mint Lane Cafe by checking out their website: mintlanecafe.com.

Most young people are being educated about the food system but there is more work to do

At the end of the Food Conversation we were asked to vote for one area that needs to be focussed on in order to help improve the food system and “School Education” topped the poll.

I do agree that increasing awareness of the food system and teaching students about the basics of cooking and growing produce from seeds is important. As mentioned earlier, food education works best by adopting a holistic, community wide approach. Increasing the number of social cooking and eating sessions within communities and helping to empower, not shame parents and guardians into looking at changing some aspects of their diets can then lead to positive behavioural change amongst children.

Youth clubs and community centres such as YMCA Lincolnshire at The Showroom and Abbey Access Training based at the Lincoln Arboretum are providing spaces for young people to learn about the food system in a non-judgemental and empowering way and enjoy cooking for themselves. Cook Stars Lincoln North and Gainsborough, run by Helen Walker runs cooking classes for 2-17 which include learning about local and international cuisines. You can find out more here: Lincoln North & Gainsborough | Cook Stars.

Generation Z are engaging positively with healthy food messaging and can also play a huge part in communicating messages more effectively

There is already research which is showing that Generation Z are engaging positively with healthy food messaging. Recent research conducted by the Soil Association Certification has found that nearly 50% of 25-34 year olds in the UK feel happier when buying organic foods because they believe they are positively impacting the environment and more than 20% of them see factors such as sustainability and reduced packaging as essential requirements in choosing which foods they want to eat. In contrast, only 6% of people aged 65 and over agreed.

There is a great opportunity for the agricultural and food and hospitality sectors in Lincolnshire to further leverage the power of social media in helping to change consumer behaviour. Gen Z is increasingly turning to TikTok to share knowledge with each other as well as entertaining themselves.

According to tech marketing website The Social Shephard, in March 2024, 76% of 15-24 year olds using the Internet used TikTok, and most are spending an average of 1 hours and 52 minutes engaging with the app.

However, young people who saw vloggers promoting sugary and fatty foods on TikTok went on to eat 26% more calories than those who didn’t and unfortunately, many influencers who promote food content on the app do not have an established food or nutrition background.

Such misinformation is being challenged by Bite Back, an organisation run by and for young people creating engaging content designed for sharing on TikTok and other social media platforms. They have encouraged young people to take direct action on changing the food system by emailing MPs and sharing research around the dominance of large food organisations in shaping consumer behaviour through their “Fuel Us Don’t Fool Us” campaign. For more information on Bite Back, visit biteback2030.com.

If we are serious about transforming the food system, engaging even more with Gen Z will be key. Social media marketing and PR professionals in Lincolnshire have a role to play in helping producers and organisations to tell their stories in an empowering and accessible way, using apps such as TikTok. There are also great opportunities for collaboration with local college and university students to create content that will help to positively empower people to make healthier food choices without feeling ashamed and stigmatised into doing so.

In Conclusion…

I want to end my reflections on a positive note: stakeholders in our food system across Lincolnshire are being recognised and valued for the work they are doing to help reduce food insecurity and to provide healthy, nutritious food locally. Having witnessed the great projects happening at Mint Lane Cafe and having heard about the Bardney Community Grocery and coffee shop, there is hope for the future. There are real opportunities for Gen Z to get involved in volunteering for these projects and for them to then leverage their knowledge of social media to get the word out there. Yes we may be quite reliant on many external factors, not least changes in UK Govt policy but there is a sense that positive change is happening within our food system and we all have our part to play in ensuring we keep it going. We are all changemakers.

Sources:

The Food Foundation, February 2024

Families stuck in food insecurity are buying less fruit and veg as UK’s health divide widens | Food Foundation

House of Commons Library, September 2024

Food poverty: Households, food banks and free school meals – House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)

The Big Issue, July 2024

Food banks see record number of first-time users – Big Issue

Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, January 2023

Healthy eating: applying All Our Health – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk )

Institute for Govt, July 2024

Fixing public services: Recommendations | Institute for Government

The Social Shephard, August 2024