Exams are over, coursework is in and the sun is shining. As another academic year comes to an end, we are saying goodbye to some of the FoodCycle 2013-2014 managers (including myself…).

We thought it would be a great idea to give ourselves, our volunteers, guests, donators, collaborators and supporters a pat on the back and let you guy know about all the amazing things we have achieved this year. Here are our highlights!

 Community Kitchen at Easton

Most importantly, we run a weekly Community Kitchen at Easton, providing a healthy three-course meal (for free) for the community. We cook up ‘surplus’ food, which would otherwise be chucked out, collected and transported from local supermarkets and shops via pedal power.

Our kitchen serves anyone, but often those who are vulnerable to food poverty, may be homeless, mentally ill or socially isolated. Every Sunday, people can come and enjoy good food and chatting. If you haven’t come along, do! It is such good fun.

FoodCycle Community Kitchen

Branching out into the Community

This year, the creation of a core Community team has meant FoodCycle Bristol has branched out a whole lot more. Here’s how:

Kicking off the summer last year, we collaborated with our friends at Feed the 5,000 and FareShare SW at Feed the 5,000. This amazing event saw the inaugural outing of our education tent, along with foody games, face painting, arts and crafts and a pledge tree. In the summer sunshine, 4,324 people enjoyed curry made from ‘surplus’ food, learnt, engaged and shared ideas.

Our game ‘Twisted’

We threw our forks in the air and also participated in the ‘Eat In’ with the Sustainable Food Trust. Check out this video!

http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/eat-in-bristol-short-film/

Our Community team have also begun a project, revamping the Easton Community Centre Community Garden. In October 2013, rain drenched and slightly cold, we began the epic task of sorting out the litter strewn and overgrown garden, along with the help of Avon Wildlife Trust. It’s now a pleasant space for growing herbs, learning about food and enjoying the great outdoors.

Community Garden

This May saw our Schools Project with Year 3 children at St Michael’s Primary School in Stoke Gifford. The children had already been looking at food waste issues, but two of our Community managers, Katie and Rosie, held an interactive workshop with the kids. Already very well informed, the children wrote letters to supermarkets stating their disgust at food waste and very politely asking for surplus food to cook a meal for their parents. With no prompt at all, the children organised an afterschool ‘food waste picnic’ with their lunchbox leftovers! With our help, the children collected waste food, chopped veg and cooked up a delicious three-course meal for their parents! So we know who our next generation of FoodCyclers are!

Inspiring letters

Raising Those Funds

We couldn’t function, innovate or develop without money, so we’ve also done heaps of fundraising this year as well.

Totally FoodCycle Brist stylee, we have held four of our famous Pop-Up Restaurants. Always absolutely chaotic but a right good laugh, they have been sold out each time. We’ve tried massively to reach out of the student bubble this year, and slowly but surely we’re spreading the word. With fresh local music, art and great co-host charities and organisations, each night has been different, quirky and fun. I think the BYOB policy helps too!

A selection of BUJO at our October Pop-Up

February saw the Breadline Challenge, where many managers took up the challenge to live on £18 for the week. We all learnt a lot of useful tips for cutting corners when it comes to food and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Not only that, but we raised about £1,000, which is absolutely fantastic and a hub running for about 2 months! So say, about 30 meals for each kitchen, that’s 30 x 8… 240 meals!

Breadline Challenge 

Outside Catering

We have also had the upmost pleasure of catering for two University of Bristol conferences: RISE (Social Enterprise Conference) and the International Development Conference, as well as Beat the Cold at Easton Community Centre.

Beat the Cold

It’s been a fantastic year, but we couldn’t do this on our own. We want to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Sainsbury’s on The Triangle, and our local suppliers in Easton: Sweet Mart, Star Cash & Carry, Al Noor, Raja, Good Food Plus, Chelsea Mini Mart.

And last but most definitely not least we want to say a huge thank you to ALL OF OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS. None of this could happen without you!

Like us on FB: http://www.facebook.com/foodcyclebrist Follow us on Twitter: @foodcyclebriz

Danielle Jackson

Exams are over, coursework is in and the sun is shining. As another academic year comes to an end, we are saying goodbye to some of the FoodCycle 2013-2014 managers (including myself…).

We thought it would be a great idea to give ourselves, our volunteers, guests, donators, collaborators and supporters a pat on the back and let you guy know about all the amazing things we have achieved this year. Here are our highlights!

 Community Kitchen at Easton

Most importantly, we run a weekly Community Kitchen at Easton, providing a healthy three-course meal (for free) for the community. We cook up ‘surplus’ food, which would otherwise be chucked out, collected and transported from local supermarkets and shops via pedal power.

Our kitchen serves anyone, but often those who are vulnerable to food poverty, may be homeless, mentally ill or socially isolated. Every Sunday, people can come and enjoy good food and chatting. If you haven’t come along, do! It is such good fun.

FoodCycle Community Kitchen

Branching out into the Community

This year, the creation of a core Community team has meant FoodCycle Bristol has branched out a whole lot more. Here’s how:

Kicking off the summer last year, we collaborated with our friends at Feed the 5,000 and FareShare SW at Feed the 5,000. This amazing event saw the inaugural outing of our education tent, along with foody games, face painting, arts and crafts and a pledge tree. In the summer sunshine, 4,324 people enjoyed curry made from ‘surplus’ food, learnt, engaged and shared ideas.

Our game ‘Twisted’

We threw our forks in the air and also participated in the ‘Eat In’ with the Sustainable Food Trust. Check out this video!

http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/eat-in-bristol-short-film/

Our Community team have also begun a project, revamping the Easton Community Centre Community Garden. In October 2013, rain drenched and slightly cold, we began the epic task of sorting out the litter strewn and overgrown garden, along with the help of Avon Wildlife Trust. It’s now a pleasant space for growing herbs, learning about food and enjoying the great outdoors.

Community Garden

This May saw our Schools Project with Year 3 children at St Michael’s Primary School in Stoke Gifford. The children had already been looking at food waste issues, but two of our Community managers, Katie and Rosie, held an interactive workshop with the kids. Already very well informed, the children wrote letters to supermarkets stating their disgust at food waste and very politely asking for surplus food to cook a meal for their parents. With no prompt at all, the children organised an afterschool ‘food waste picnic’ with their lunchbox leftovers! With our help, the children collected waste food, chopped veg and cooked up a delicious three-course meal for their parents! So we know who our next generation of FoodCyclers are!

Inspiring letters

Raising Those Funds

We couldn’t function, innovate or develop without money, so we’ve also done heaps of fundraising this year as well.

Totally FoodCycle Brist stylee, we have held four of our famous Pop-Up Restaurants. Always absolutely chaotic but a right good laugh, they have been sold out each time. We’ve tried massively to reach out of the student bubble this year, and slowly but surely we’re spreading the word. With fresh local music, art and great co-host charities and organisations, each night has been different, quirky and fun. I think the BYOB policy helps too!

A selection of BUJO at our October Pop-Up

February saw the Breadline Challenge, where many managers took up the challenge to live on £18 for the week. We all learnt a lot of useful tips for cutting corners when it comes to food and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Not only that, but we raised about £1,000, which is absolutely fantastic and a hub running for about 2 months! So say, about 30 meals for each kitchen, that’s 30 x 8… 240 meals!

Breadline Challenge 

Outside Catering

We have also had the upmost pleasure of catering for two University of Bristol conferences: RISE (Social Enterprise Conference) and the International Development Conference, as well as Beat the Cold at Easton Community Centre.

Beat the Cold

It’s been a fantastic year, but we couldn’t do this on our own. We want to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Sainsbury’s on The Triangle, and our local suppliers in Easton: Sweet Mart, Star Cash & Carry, Al Noor, Raja, Good Food Plus, Chelsea Mini Mart.

And last but most definitely not least we want to say a huge thank you to ALL OF OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS. None of this could happen without you!

Like us on FB: http://www.facebook.com/foodcyclebrist Follow us on Twitter: @foodcyclebriz

Danielle Jackson

Help Hussein

At FoodCycle Bristol we really value our regular volunteers, who come along week in week out and make the kitchen what it is.

Hussein is one of those special volunteers. He comes from Chad and has been cooking with us every week for almost three months. We really appreciate his contribution, as he brings a great deal of laughter, warmth and skill to the FoodCycle kitchen. He is a very conscientious volunteer, and can be relied upon to be with us every week and to always put enthusiasm and attention into everything he does. He is an inspiration to us all.

We are all very upset to hear that Hussein is facing an extremely difficult situation at the moment. He is being held in a detention centre and on 20^th June he faces deportation from the UK. You can read more about his case in the petition below, which asks Teresa May for him to be allowed to claim asylum here.

Petition: Hussein Must Stay https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/hussein-must-stay

We have signed this petition and would like to encourage as many people as possible to support him too. We are very worried and would really like to see him back, safe and sound with us.

Celebrating 5 years of FoodCycle

Some comments from hub leaders and volunteers about Hussein’s contribution to FoodCycle:

“Hussein is ALWAYS smiling and brings a lot of positivity to the kitchen. He works really hard too. I am really slow at chopping the veg, and Hussein spent time with me, teaching me to chop like lightening, like he does (without cutting my fingers!)” - Katie (Community/ Education manager)

“Hussein has always been a very nice, diligent, hard working volunteer. Always laughing and joking” – Dario (Cooking Manager)

“He is diligent and always nice to people. He really likes to ride his bike too” – Sanghoon (regular volunteer)

“I was there on the very first week that Hussein volunteered in the kitchen for us, and I remember being struck by just how easy he made everything, by quietly noting what jobs needed to be done, and getting on with them on a smile on his face without asking me continually for guidance and tasks” – Ellen (Cooking manager)

…………………………………………………..

Please sign:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/hussein-must-stay

On Monday 17th March, old minds, new minds and members of the community (call it a ‘council of elders’) met up to think about all things FoodCycle!

The advisory board meeting, consisting of volunteers, managers, community members and local food, community & environmental organisations, creates a lively forum for discussion of problems, ideas, projects and solutions!

Top of the agenda was how to expand FoodCycle’s platform for social change. We’re ever seeking new perspectives to keep our projects fresh and innovative.

If you’ve got any ideas, would like to be involved, or just fancy finding out more about what exactly was said in the meeting, please e-mail Claire at foodcyclebristol@gmail.com

What a lovely start to the week, and for FoodCycle a new year of pop-up restaurants! On Monday 24^th February, we hosted our first pop-up restaurant of the year, and had a really fabulous night – we hope you did as well.

As always, our inventive cooking team cooked up another three-course, healthy, veggie storm of culinary wonders! Armed with creativity and a whole load of surplus veg, our cooking managers Ellen and Nell, along with an army of eager veg-chopping volunteers, produced some gorgeous and interesting combinations. (I was particularly a fan of mango and cucumber salad, especially with a generous handful of fresh coriander!)

Spicy, fruity cucumber salad – mm mm mm

Starter – Spicy, fruity cucumber salad with garlic bread

Main – Italian vegetable stew with potato

Dessert – Banana bread with fruit syrup

During the courses, we enjoyed some wonderful fresh local talent from Josh Evans and Sarah RK, which set a relaxing mood for the evening.

Our main focus of the evening was on promoting the ongoing work of FoodCycle to overcome the disparity between food poverty and food waste, as well as social isolation. A FoodCycle Bristol veteran, Jon, came back to visit us and gave us a charismatic and engaging talk on why he set FoodCycle Bristol up and what we’re all about.

Jon!

It’s (sadly) getting to the time of year when all our managers are starting to think about what they’re going to be doing next year. Some of us are leaving, some of us are staying, and to quote pop-up manager Lizzie, “… some of us can’t be bothered anymore or whatever…”

What that means for you guys is that soon we will be recruiting for positions of the manager team for the next academic year. At the pop-up restaurant, each team in turn explained their role and position within the FoodCycle matrix. The teams are:

• Pop-up Restaurant
• Transport
• Cooking
• Community
• Communications and Publicity
• Co-ordination (Co-ordinator and Treasurer)

We all have very different, yet fulfilling and interesting roles, which utilise and develop different skills. If you are having a wonder about being a manager, why not try out volunteering and see how you like it? Or for more information, e-mail foodcylebristol@gmail.com.

Managers – old and new

We would like to say a massive thank you to all our guests and of course our wonderful volunteers for making it such a great night!

We’re back in a month’s time for 24^th March – see you then!

Danielle Jackson

What a lovely start to the week, and for FoodCycle a new year of pop-up restaurants! On Monday 24^th February, we hosted our first pop-up restaurant of the year, and had a really fabulous night – we hope you did as well.

As always, our inventive cooking team cooked up another three-course, healthy, veggie storm of culinary wonders! Armed with creativity and a whole load of surplus veg, our cooking managers Ellen and Nell, along with an army of eager veg-chopping volunteers, produced some gorgeous and interesting combinations. (I was particularly a fan of mango and cucumber salad, especially with a generous handful of fresh coriander!)

Spicy, fruity cucumber salad – mm mm mm

Starter – Spicy, fruity cucumber salad with garlic bread

Main – Italian vegetable stew with potato

Dessert – Banana bread with fruit syrup

During the courses, we enjoyed some wonderful fresh local talent from Josh Evans and Sarah RK, which set a relaxing mood for the evening.

Our main focus of the evening was on promoting the ongoing work of FoodCycle to overcome the disparity between food poverty and food waste, as well as social isolation. A FoodCycle Bristol veteran, Jon, came back to visit us and gave us a charismatic and engaging talk on why he set FoodCycle Bristol up and what we’re all about.

Jon!

It’s (sadly) getting to the time of year when all our managers are starting to think about what they’re going to be doing next year. Some of us are leaving, some of us are staying, and to quote pop-up manager Lizzie, “… some of us can’t be bothered anymore or whatever…”

What that means for you guys is that soon we will be recruiting for positions of the manager team for the next academic year. At the pop-up restaurant, each team in turn explained their role and position within the FoodCycle matrix. The teams are:

• Pop-up Restaurant
• Transport
• Cooking
• Community
• Communications and Publicity
• Co-ordination (Co-ordinator and Treasurer)

We all have very different, yet fulfilling and interesting roles, which utilise and develop different skills. If you are having a wonder about being a manager, why not try out volunteering and see how you like it? Or for more information, e-mail foodcylebristol@gmail.com.

Managers – old and new

We would like to say a massive thank you to all our guests and of course our wonderful volunteers for making it such a great night!

We’re back in a month’s time for 24^th March – see you then!

Danielle Jackson

I’m not going to lie and say I found a week living under the breadline difficult, or that I was hungry at any point or suffered any cravings that I couldn’t afford to fulfil – not that I think going a week without anything would justify craving due to malnourishment anyway. That being said, I did find that I was swapping, for example, a lot of the protein in my regular diet for cheap carbohydrates such as white bread which resulted in me becoming irritable and lethargic. In the evenings, I cooked the meals I would generally cook any other week; however this took careful planning and meant that I had to be a lot less liberal with the spice rack and the variety of ingredients in each meal, particularly rationing the selection of fresh vegetables. I would say that the majority of my weekly spend on food goes on a wide selection of fresh vegetables so this was what I was most worried about missing, although a delivery of a vegetable selection box from a local farm (approx. £5 pppw) was adequate. Additionally, I have to say that the money that I spent on food for the week came from a budget that three of us doing the challenge had put together. This allowed for much more variety than I would have been able to achieve had I been doing this alone, I can imagine for people living alone and on this kind of weekly budget it is probably not economical to cook a wide selection of meals from fresh ingredients however cheap it appears when meticulously costed. There are definitely ways to eat well cheaply, local businesses tend to be considerably cheaper than supermarkets for a start, although it is a case of seeking these out which people may often not have the time for. The main difficulty with this budget is that, though manageable, it requires a large amount of organisation and means going without the small luxuries to which one can become accustomed without even realising they are luxuries. Going a week without endless cups of tea, sitting out of a meal for a friend’s birthday and not being able to pay entry to clubs or drink in the pub at the weekend was not the most difficult thing to do. Had you asked me what I thought after a month, or even two weeks, on this budget I would probably have a very different view.

Aside from the things the £18 a week budget caused us to “go without”, my concern is not that people are going hungry, but that poor nourishment is a much greater problem as it is detrimental to both physical and mental well-being. I’m not saying that a well-balanced diet is not achievable with this budget and that everyone living on it eats badly (or that people with more money eat much better) but I can imagine it gets increasingly more difficult and requires a lot more thought, creativity and time. Particularly with obesity being a national problem this is something that should be considered.

My week ended at the FoodCycle community kitchen. I really came to look forward to it and received the three course meal with a whole new sense of appreciation. We were served a pear salad with garlic bread for the starter, a really tasty and very nutritious beany vegetable stew followed by a chocolaty banana pudding; I would like to take the opportunity here to say well done and thank you to everyone who was volunteering and managing today, I’ve definitely been filled up for the rest of the evening and it was delicious! While it is appalling to think that all this food is supposedly “waste” (and this is from just a few tiny shops in one city) its amazing that it can be put to good use. It makes you think though…. If just some of this food could be dished out to those who need it direct from the shops every week or even every day rather than going straight into the skip, just think about how that £18 a week could be spent differently. Despite all the controversy surrounding this challenge, and it must be noted that none of us believe we have truly experienced what it is like to live below the breadline after just one week, but I am really proud that as a team we have managed to raise so much to support all that FoodCycle is doing so a massive thank you to everyone who has donated.

Despite where the figure is sourced ‘here’, living on £18 for a week was never meant to be and could never be any insight into the lives of those that have to live on this figure or less every week for the foreseeable future. With 13,500,000 people living below the poverty line in the UK and Trusell Trust Foodbanks providing emergency food to 170% more people in 2013 than in 2012, the distribution of food within the UK is an issue of increasing importance.

This issue is exasperated by the fact that every year in Britain an estimated 15 million tonnes of food is wasted from the farm to the plate. There is a multitude of reasons why this figure is so high ranging from the cosmetic standards both consumers and supermarkets place on their food, to sell by dates, to the aggressive ‘only supply to me’ tactic that supermarkets employ on their suppliers. All this is contributing to high and rising food prices and the rising numbers of people that are coming to rely on Foodbanks.

All this waste does have one benefit. Anyone that wants to help themselves to some perfectly edible food should have a rummage in their local supermarket bin. Here you will find anything from, gluten free bread, to day old pastry items, to ready meals, to dairy free yoghurts and anything else for that matter that you would find in your local supermarket…half of it ends up in the bin. Of course it is worth using your judgement as to which food is good for the eating, some (but in general not the majority) will be inedible. But of course this is not a viable option for everyone. Not everyone has time to go snoopin’ around their local bins.

So what did I experience from reducing my food budget for a week? Well I got some tasty poppy seed bread from the local bins…that lasted a week! I realised that it was a pain to not be able to eat when I was hungry and that snacking was out of the question (except for the 12packs of crisps I found in the ‘bin’). I realised how lucky I was to live on a road with independent food shops such as Scoop Away that sell quality healthy items in bulk – great for spices too as you don’t have to buy too much. I realised that supermarkets were convenient but taunting with all their just out of reach tasty treats of which many would one day end up in that bin outside. And I realised that it’s much easier to get more variety for your money when you can come together with others and cook meals.

As I saw it I had 3 options. 1. Meticulously plan a budget for simple but different meals every day 2. Do a budget supermarket shop or 3. Cook in bulk for multiple days. I went for option 3 and had nutritious but eventually monotonous meals for the week. From Monday through Friday I have had: Yogurt, granola and a homemade apple compote for breakfast, Dhal with spinach and sweet potato for lunch and 7 bean chilli with either rice or jacket potato for dinner. As I’m writing this I have just run out of food with £6 left and have not a clue what I am going to do for lunch and dinner today (it’s 00:24 Fri morning as I’m writing). The foods done the trick but I have genuinely felt hungry every day.

We are doing this for such a short time and it is in no way a reality for any of us. For those for which this is a reality I can only imagine that the situation must be indescribable. FoodCycle can provide a life line to anyone that is in need. Every Sunday we serve up a 3 course dinner made up of entirely food that would of otherwise been wasted. This is sourced from the local community and emphasis is placed on building community spirit and coming together around food to prevent food waste.

Despite where the figure is sourced ‘here’, living on £18 for a week was never meant to be and could never be any insight into the lives of those that have to live on this figure or less every week for the foreseeable future. With 13,500,000 people living below the poverty line in the UK and Trusell Trust Foodbanks providing emergency food to 170% more people in 2013 than in 2012, the distribution of food within the UK is an issue of increasing importance.

This issue is exasperated by the fact that every year in Britain an estimated 15 million tonnes of food is wasted from the farm to the plate. There is a multitude of reasons why this figure is so high ranging from the cosmetic standards both consumers and supermarkets place on their food, to sell by dates, to the aggressive ‘only supply to me’ tactic that supermarkets employ on their suppliers. All this is contributing to high and rising food prices and the rising numbers of people that are coming to rely on Foodbanks.

All this waste does have one benefit. Anyone that wants to help themselves to some perfectly edible food should have a rummage in their local supermarket bin. Here you will find anything from, gluten free bread, to day old pastry items, to ready meals, to dairy free yoghurts and anything else for that matter that you would find in your local supermarket…half of it ends up in the bin. Of course it is worth using your judgement as to which food is good for the eating, some (but in general not the majority) will be inedible. But of course this is not a viable option for everyone. Not everyone has time to go snoopin’ around their local bins.

So what did I experience from reducing my food budget for a week? Well I got some tasty poppy seed bread from the local bins…that lasted a week! I realised that it was a pain to not be able to eat when I was hungry and that snacking was out of the question (except for the 12packs of crisps I found in the ‘bin’). I realised how lucky I was to live on a road with independent food shops such as Scoop Away that sell quality healthy items in bulk – great for spices too as you don’t have to buy too much. I realised that supermarkets were convenient but taunting with all their just out of reach tasty treats of which many would one day end up in that bin outside. And I realised that it’s much easier to get more variety for your money when you can come together with others and cook meals.

As I saw it I had 3 options. 1. Meticulously plan a budget for simple but different meals every day 2. Do a budget supermarket shop or 3. Cook in bulk for multiple days. I went for option 3 and had nutritious but eventually monotonous meals for the week. From Monday through Friday I have had: Yogurt, granola and a homemade apple compote for breakfast, Dhal with spinach and sweet potato for lunch and 7 bean chilli with either rice or jacket potato for dinner. As I’m writing this I have just run out of food with £6 left and have not a clue what I am going to do for lunch and dinner today (it’s 00:24 Fri morning as I’m writing). The foods done the trick but I have genuinely felt hungry every day.

We are doing this for such a short time and it is in no way a reality for any of us. For those for which this is a reality I can only imagine that the situation must be indescribable. FoodCycle can provide a life line to anyone that is in need. Every Sunday we serve up a 3 course dinner made up of entirely food that would of otherwise been wasted. This is sourced from the local community and emphasis is placed on building community spirit and coming together around food to prevent food waste.

It’s Friday, day 5 of our Breadline Challenge, and I’m beginning to reflect on the week.

As Hattie so articulately stated in her blog yesterday, (check it out here) one of the major things we have to keep remembering this week is that we’re not in this for real. For us, this isn’t life, and we can’t even begin to imagine how living in poverty must actually feel. The challenge has brought home to me just how far from poverty I am in my nice little student world. I generally consider myself pretty thrifty, and I don’t spend very much – but that’s not the point. I am never in a situation where I would genuinely go hungry, and I’m often pinching the pennies to keep money in my ‘post-university savings’ or to put towards going out for a nice meal at the end of the week. If I go slightly over budget, it’s not a matter of life and death.

I definitely approached this week with my middle-class, left-wing, idealistic, foodie head on. I was determined to continue to cook nutritious, interesting food, and not to resort to buying cheap meat or shopping in a way that I deemed ‘unethical’. I decided to make my own bread rather than buy a few cheap sliced loaves, and I spent about £7 on fresh fruit and veg. Cooking and food are one of my passions, and I didn’t want to lose out on the enjoyment I get from creating healthy, fun meals.

Retrospectively,I’ve realised that this was a pretty naive attitude. People who are really in food poverty need to eat to survive. It’s no good having fun cooking a great nutritionally balanced meal if you’ve had to cut down the quantities because you’re on a budget, and so still feel hungry afterwards. Having the option to choose to buy food because it’s locally or sustainably sourced rather than just because it’s cheap is definitely a privilege. And you can’t be snobby about sliced bread. Anyway, here’s my little homemade loaf:

  — Homemade Loaf

The fact that so many people are now living in food poverty in the UK is astounding. It’s mad that in our developed country there are people struggling to eat. And it’s getting worse. If you want some good, solid statistics, check out this report on food poverty in Bristol from the city council here. FoodCycle is trying to help. Each week we cook up a hot meal in a community center in a deprived area of Bristol, using surplus food that would otherwise have been wasted.

This week has given us a tiny inkling of the way it must feel to have to rely on charities and food banks to survive, and it’s emphasised just how important the food we cook on a Sunday must be to some of those who come to eat. Please donate to FoodCycle here, so that we can keep up the fight against food poverty and food waste.