Food Poverty and Chocolate Street

Yesterday morning I attended a training course on ‘food poverty’ run by Emily O’Brien from the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership (http://www.bhfood.org.uk/). It took place in the main meeting room of Friends’ Meeting House, a place of worship for Brighton’s Quakers. The building dates from 1805 and is situated in a small but delightful garden in the centre of Brighton – yet only two minutes walk from the seafront.

There were about 30 of us at the meeting, the majority from the city council, CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) and various charities.

Emily began by asking the questions “What are the consequences of food poverty?” and “How would we recognise someone in food poverty?” She then went round the room eliciting suggestions from each participant and writing then on the flipchart.

This is an approach that works only if you have experienced attendees who have good communication skills and are prepared to participate. It worked yesterday. There were social workers and other front-line staff who deal regularly with the less privileged in our city and, fuelled by a cup of hot brew from the kitchen, the knowledge and insights flew onto the flipchart thick and fast.   

Then we moved on to definitions of food poverty and spent the last 45 minutes discussing a number of areas - such as debt advice, food banks, energy efficiency, community projects, sources of free white goods etc. - covered in the B&H Food Partnership website.

I left the meeting impressed by the wealth of information but mulling over the scale of the problem. Food poverty is not a concrete in-your-face issue like homelessness; it’s more subtle, more ethereal - but no less real. (According to the Trussel Trust, the Christian charity that organises most food banks in the UK, only 4% of clients go to a food bank because of homelessness - but no less than 45% go because of problems with benefits; the Trust is currently launching three church-based food banks a week).

And the problem is sizable: FareShare, a charity that redistributes surplus food, provides four and a half tons of food each week to 50 projects for homeless and vulnerable people in Brighton & Hove, Worthing and Lewes.  The local newspaper also reported that the number of food banks in Brighton & Hove rose from two to six in a year and four more are planning to open (Argus newspaper of 11^th August 2013). A recent report by the Church Urban Fund, the Anglican charity set up to tackle poverty, says as many as 80% of churches in towns and cities are involved in some form of food bank. Most have been running for less than two years. And the Bishop of Durham says that a large proportion of people who use the banks are working people, not just people on benefits (see The Times of 16th September 2013).

My road to the car park took me through Duke Street and, being a chocoholic, I noticed three specialist chocolate shops within 100 yards- a real chocolate street.

First, the Hotel Chocolat, a luxury chocolatier.

Next, Montezuma’s, another supplier of luxury, handmade chocolate bars, established in 2000.  

 

Finally, Choccywoccydoodah’s, a Brighton-based team of chocolatiers who design the most incredible cakes, gifts and whatnots. Their window display is always worth inspecting.

 

 

...A bit of a contrast to the morning’s discussion...food for thought...