Feeding Liverpool

We want to enable people to have the power, voice, resources and motivation to shape their local food environments and the food system as a whole.

The Challenge

The food we eat is heavily influenced by what is available to us in our food environments and our local food environments in Liverpool are far from ideal;

Liverpool is home to 3/10 the most economically deprived food deserts (areas with poor access to food) in England and a survey of the menus of 26% of nurseries in Liverpool found them all to be deficient in energy, carbohydrates, iron, and zinc.

Obesogenic food environments are having a serious impact on our physical and mental wellbeing and the wellbeing of our planet and are affecting some communities more than others; for example, there is a much higher number of food swamps with a large number of fast food outlets and takeaways in deprived areas in Liverpool.

A food environment is the foods available to people in their surroundings as they go about their everyday lives and the nutritional quality, safety, price, convenience, labelling and promotion of these foods. (UN Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition)

A food desert is an area containing two or fewer supermarkets/ convenience stores.

A deprived food desert is a food desert that is in the most deprived 25% of areas.

Obesogenic food environments are the influences that the surroundings, opportunities, or conditions of life have on promoting obesity in individuals or populations.

A food swamp is an area where an abundance of fast food, junk food outlets, convenience stores, and liquor stores outnumbers healthy food options.

People are the unrivalled experts in their lives, local places, cultures, challenges and opportunities.

Whether it’s through formal or informal volunteering, giving, or social action; helping each other out, and standing up for what’s right, is a deeply ingrained part of our culture in Liverpool. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw powerful food citizenship in action.

Food Citizenship in numbers

The number of community food spaces (such as pantries and food clubs) has doubled, with at least 18 new community food providers in the last 12 months and FareShare, a national charity that redistribute surplus food to charities, has more than doubled the amount of food they redistributed in Liverpool over the past year.

Food citizenship is a movement of organisations working across the UK food and farming sector that believe in treating people as citizens, not consumers.

Community food spaces are places where local people come together around good food. They are commonly led by local community members and local community organisations. They have good food at the heart of what they do, with many also connecting with activities or services beyond food. They play a part in tackling local food waste, often using surplus food that would otherwise have gone to landfill.

The Impact of Food citizenship

The impact of these community food spaces is greater than alleviating food insecurity. These spaces are improving local food environments, reducing food waste, improving mental wellbeing, creating local job opportunities, combating loneliness and improving food literacy. Read more about the impact of pantries in this Your Local Pantry 2021 social impact report.

Food literacy is having the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to choose, grow, prepare and enjoy healthy food to support one’s health, community and the environment. It means understanding the impact of our food choices on our health, the environment and our economy.