Joining the dots in food joy

Uncovering more than pleasure, sausage rolls with purpose and other tidbits

I attend a fair few events. Last week, I attended the most unusual of them. It was a dinner to look at the role of healthy, sustainable diets in food system transformation. And it explored the way we eat and the impact it has on people and the planet. Here’s why it was different and what was shared.

Pic: Tasha Mhakayakora and James Toop of Biteback, a youth movement for better food

In my experience, conversations like this tend to happen mostly among groups that have a similar view, angle or frame of reference. Where others are in the room, they either don't pipe up or it gets a little bit uncomfortable (to put it mildly). I've struggled to secure panellists for some discussions I've curated because of this discomfort or the lack of solid, approved external-facing messages among corporate types.

This dinner, hosted by Future Food Movement, managed to get some 120 attendees from NGOs, industry and farmers, in a room chatting, eating and drinking together. Then 18 of them took to stage and spoke about some of the challenges and opportunities. Speakers included Anna Taylor of the Food Foundation, who always brings conversations back to the everyday realities people face, as well as youth nutrition activist Tasha Mhakayakora, member of BiteBack.

These are some of the most interesting points I came away with:

1️⃣ While commercial realities get in the way, there is commercial opportunity in investing in healthy, sustainable diets and outcomes. Industry needs to flip the switch, invest and innovate

2️⃣ People are busy and need shortcuts. Frozen and ready meals, the tired frozen food aisle generally, in store layouts can all do with an update

3️⃣ Businesses want legislation, mandatory targets and policy so the ones that do good and well are not disadvantaged (and yes industry representatives said this!). The Government needs targets too so they can be held to account

4️⃣ If legislation does show up, industry has a responsibility to co-operate, collaborate and not game the system. At the moment there are lots of clever tricks businesses use to pull the wool over our eyes

5️⃣ The system as it stands means people don't always have a choice. Parents have the odds stacked against them, young people don't have healthy choices available and times are still tough. It's unrealistic to think the food environment can be navigated by individual responsibility alone

6️⃣ Farmers are specialists who need to run viable businesses or people will go hungry. Yet, they're often missing from supply chain conversations and long-term thinking about plans that will have a direct impact on them

7️⃣ There needs to be more joined-up thinking and empathy. Industry was asked to get out of their boardrooms and into their wellies. Older generations were urged to speak to young people about the food served up in their schools and high streets.

This last point struck a particular chord with me. My food writer heart always breaks a little when I hear what my kids eat at lunchtime and then after school (pizza panini and doughnuts). It was good to hear the voice of reason and reality in the room.

I was grateful for the invite and to be part of it all. It made me think about the role of the food writing, editing and publishing community. I put this question to my followers on Instagram: "Does the phrase 'putting healthy, sustainable diets at the centre of the food system transformation' mean anything to you? Do you understand it?" Half of the respondents came back with “no”.

I’d love to hear from you!

The opening speech at dinner suggested that the room full of sustainability champions and climate activists often forget food is about joy. For food lovers like us, we can forget that food is about more than just pleasure and joy. Perhaps we need to do more to join the dots?

Talking culture and mindset at Greggs

What does the nation’s favourite sausage role maker need to know about cultural appropriation vs appreciation, coloniality in product development, the role of language and labels and representation more broadly?

Quite a lot, it seems! I enjoyed heading up to Newcastle, sausage roll in hand to deliver my “culture and mindset” session to a group at HQ. Obviously, I’d done my digging on the rest of the product range. The team were lovely and very receptive, just so you know.

That takes the total number of people I’ve delivered this session to up to nearly 900!

Pic: Not a bad hair ad! Me and Jo of Greggs at their Newcastle HQ

A date for your diary

I’ll be MC at the inagural Theatre Kitchen at the Hertforshire County Show, a massive food and farming event with plenty of family fun involved. I’ve managed to rope in some of my peers at the Guild of Food Writers too. If you don’t have plans for Bank Holiday 26th and 27th May weekend, come say hi! More details here.

Interesting things to read/listen to

I thought I might share some interesting things I’ve read/listened to in case it sparks joy/thought in your life too. Here goes:

• The Ozempic podcast with Johann Hari on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO. It’s nearly 2.5 hours long but absolutely worth it. Articles abound celebrating the miraculous weight loss of celebrities who’ve clearly used the drug, which have no long term research on side effects. Hari’s written a new book on its risks called Magic Pill and takes a balaced stance, although it’s all still most troubling.

• Ground is a new immersive theatre and dining experience that looks at the colonial legacy of the food on our plates. I travelled to Brighton as a guest on opening night and had a thought-provoking evening. The reading list on their website is well worth a look.

• And last, but most certainly not the least. I had food writer Angela Clutton on my podcast for Good Food (formerly BBC Good Food). Her new book Seasoning celebrates eating with the seasons and unusually, includes meat and fish too. We covered her guilty pleasures too (hula hoops, anyone?). Coming in at a mere half an hour in length, you can have a listen here. Previous episodes of the podcast are all here.

It’s been busy, but I’m trialling a new format to pack more food for thought, learnings from my adventures and wherabouts into this newsletter. What do you think of it? Would love your thoughts - thank you for being here and being so patient with me!