Food Really Does Work
The idea is simple. Food retailers throw out millions of tons of edible food every year due to supply overstock. Foodworks, with the help of complying universities aims to redirect this food by cooking up nutritious meals for people in the local community that do not have access to healthy foods for reasons such as lack of income or knowledge of healthy nutrition.
The scheme is already in action in colleges Imperial and London School of Economics and now sees the turn of SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) to step up to the challenge. Elected to head up the SOAS branch is Development Studies Undergraduate Sally Duncan who is hoping to push the enterprise model further. I met with her last week to hear what she is proposing.
“Currently the scheme sees students use their University kitchens and facilities to cook the food, which is then couriered to the recipient consumers- but I think that there is a space here for development. Cooking is a valuable therapeutic and educational activity which should be encouraged and so why not involve all parties in this process?”
What Sally is planning is rather than the food preparation and food consumption existing as detached parts of the Foodworks process, the students involved will go to the communities directly and cook within them.
As an outreach process this challenges the self-sufficiency of the university bubble and allows students to forge strong links with local organisations. Whether it would involve visiting a women’s refuge and swapping recipes, taking crates of vegetables to local schools to make soup or providing quick and easy meal ideas for formerly homeless people adjusting to independent living- this amendment to the scheme offers a wealth of benefits.
Goldsmiths currently doesn't have a Foodworks group, but there is a lot of support out there for anyone who would like to set one up.
Visit http://www.foodworksuk.org for information on how to get started!
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