1. COMMUNITY FOOD INITIATIVES
Moya Kneafsey
Coventry University Photo credit: Salop Drive Market
m.kneafsey@coventry.ac.uk Garden, Sandwell, West Midlands, UK
2. Outline of Presentation
1. Context : health inequalities; food
poverty; food security
2. What are Community Food
Initiatives? What can they achieve?
3. Inspiring Stories 1: EarthShare
4. Inspiring Stories 2: Salop Drive
5. Conclusions
4. Context: Health Inequalities and Food
Poverty
Large and growing literature on impact of
inequalities in income, and of social
deprivation, on food consumption and nutrition
(Dowler et al 2001)
Food Poverty = “the inability to acquire or
consume an adequate or sufficient quantity of
food in socially acceptable ways, or the
uncertainty that one will be able to do so”
Governments increasingly recognising food
poverty as a serious issue
5. What are the food impacts of living in
poverty?
Compared to richer people, those living on low income or in
deprived circumstances:
Eat less nutrient dense and less diverse diet
Often have to pay more for basic food items
Have to spend a greater proportion of their income on
food – even more for healthy food
Often have worse geographic access to food
May go without food to pay other bills / debts
Suffer more food related ill-health e.g. obesity, diabetes,
(some) cancers and coronary heart disease
6. Food intake follows income rather than
health needs….
Families living in poverty prioritise immediate
satisfaction of hunger, rather than longer term health:
“It is not that families in poverty are unaware of the
health benefits of eating certain types of foods; just
that these assume a lower priority than the immediate
concern of filling stomachs” (Lang et al 2009: 260)
Food intake is also culturally and socially contingent –
food poverty includes lack of access to valued or
preferred foods.
7. Food Security
Since WWII, a key policy concern
Increased significance recently due to raised
awareness of climate change and recent food
price rises
Defra: „food security is when all consumers
have access at all times to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food for an active and healthy life at
affordable prices‟
Some argue for increased local self-sufficiency
as a response….
9. What are Community Food Initiatives?
They are diverse! But Activities include:
usually have these Cookery sessions
common elements: Slimming clubs
Food Food buying co-
Local Involvement operatives
State or Charitable Transport schemes
Support, with some City farms
moving towards Social Gardening schemes;
Enterprise models community allotments
School breakfast clubs
Community Cafes
10. What can CFIs achieve?
Evaluation can be difficult, as objectives of CFIs are
often wide-ranging
Success means different things to different people
Research shows that impact can be achieved when :
CFIs are based on sound principles of community
involvement and needs assessment
Have clear aims and objectives
Have time to establish themselves
11. The 5 Capital Assets Framework
(Dowler and Caraher 2004)
Financial Capital: the amount of money
circulating in a local economy
Social Capital: human interaction around food;
social relationships, networks
Human Capital: capacity building; skills;
personal development; improved health
Natural Capital: the landscape and
biodiversity supported by local food systems
Physical Capital: local infrastructure available
to or owned by local sector e.g. shops,
transport, processing facilities
14. Subscriber Motivations
It‟s organic food
It‟s community
building
Sense that it is
grown with “love
and respect”
Eating seasonally
and healthfully
It tastes delicious
15. The many benefits of EarthShare:
“It‟s just great that we have EarthShare and
we haven‟t even talked about the
advantages of EarthShare being local,
seasonal food and I don‟t even think
anymore about what to cook, as I just look
in the box and whatever needs to be
cooked is cooked . But also the relationships
and involvement with the people growing
the food.” [Consumer workshop]
16. Reconnecting with food, and with
people
“if you think about where your food came from and
who‟s work has gone into getting that, the growing
of it, the planting of it and getting it to you, and
now when I‟m doing the vegetables I think well
somebody‟s been out in that field and you do feel
better having those kind of thoughts and its not just
an anonymous carrot (laughter). It has come from
that field and somebody had to plant it, somebody
had to pick it then box it, and you think well a lot of
people have gone to a lot of effort.”
(EarthShare subscriber)
18. Activities at Salop Drive Market
Garden
Therapeutic and active gardening sessions
(supervised by horticultural therapist)
'Ready, Steady, Grow„ programme for schools run in
partnership with the Primary Care Trust, plus one
off school visits with curriculum support.
'Bag Your Share„ vegetable delivery scheme
After school parent child gardening group
'Grow your own veg' short course
Monthly Health Walks
Work Experience placements from schools and
colleges
http://www.sandwellfoodnetwork.org/viewProject.php?id=1
19. New foods, new skills, healthier diets
“And there was another [vegetable we didn‟t
recognise]… now I think it was a salad
green, I don‟t know, I haven‟t got a clue
what it was when we opened the bag. So
the wife steamed it …and it was beautiful,
and apparently it‟s supposed to be like a
lettuce, a salad leaf, and … I don‟t know,
but I‟ve never steamed a lettuce, but this
was beautiful steamed.”
(Salop Drive Consumer)
21. CFIs can deliver many benefits…
CFIs are promoted as a way of addressing
food poverty and health inequalities, but
their contribution is wider than health:
Dowler and Caraher (2004): found benefits
in all 5 Capital Asset categories (in UK West
Midlands)
CFIs contributed ‘significantly’ to human
capital e.g. training, skills
CFIs were effective tools for community
regeneration
Some evidence of land reclamation
22. But they need support too…
Secure long-term funding (currently project workers
spend much time and energy trying to secure
funding)
Recognition of „soft outcomes‟ e.g. well-being, self-
worth
Co-ordination of policies – health, environmental
sustainability, education etc.
Longer term policies to remove structural barriers to
food equality e.g. Integration of planning, retail,
business, farming policies to promote health-giving
food systems
23. Small changes….great changes
„…if you can do a little thing in some little
way that does help either the environment
or your community then you know…you‟re
making a small contribution. It doesn‟t
mean you‟re going to change the world or
social policy, but your little bit and if a lot
of people adopted that attitude then social
policy and community welfare would
change.‟ (EarthShare subscriber)
24. Thank you for listening!
Dowler, E. and Caraher, M (2004) The value
References and potential of local food initiatives in the
West Midlands region: Report to Advantage
West Midlands
Dowler, E., Turner, S. and Dobson, B. (2001)
Poverty bites: food health and poor families,
London: Child Poverty Action Group.
Kneafsey, M., Cox, R., Holloway, L., Dowler,
E., Venn, L., Tuomainen, H. (2008)
Reconnecting Consumers, Producers and Food:
Exploring Alternatives
Lang, T., Barling, D., Caraher, M (2009) Food
Policy: Integrating Health, Environment and
Society
