We named the independent inquiry we launched today the Fabian Commission on Food and Poverty in order to broaden the debate on the connection between these two issues in the United Kingom. People on low incomes in the UK face a new struggle to acquire sufficient quantities and adequate qualities of food. Many people are caught between the pincers of rising food prices, household bills and housing costs on one side and stagnant incomes on the other. Something has to give for these families and the only thing to squeeze is spending on food.
Recent discussion of food and poverty has been too narrow, focusing on the growth of charitable food provision, such as food banks, and the role it plays in feeding hungry people. But charitable food provision is the tip of the iceberg – the links between food and poverty extend far beyond food banks. Critically, we need to recognise that food banks and charitable food providers are not solutions to household food insecurity, they are symptoms of society’s failure to ensure everybody is sustainably well-fed.
The prime minister understands this, saying at a BBC Question Time event prior to the election “I don’t want anyone to have to rely on a food bank in our country. It’s important that they’re there. I don’t want anyone to have to rely on them.” The people we have met who work in charitable food provision understand this, telling us that it is not right that such charitable assistance is necessary in our country. Users of charitable food provision we have spoken to understand this, speaking of the shame and embarrassment of having to use these services. Experts who have spent decades looking at food and poverty understand this, telling us that the scale of charitable food assistance we now have need not be a permanent feature of society. And we as a Commission understand this too: when the last food bank closes down because there is no longer any need for it, we will know we are on the way to ending household food insecurity in the UK.
As a Commission, we want to see a country where your income no longer dictates how much nutritious food you have access to, or how likely you are to eat foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugar. We want to see a country where children are not bombarded by unhealthy food marketing; but are equipped to make their own food choices by an understanding of where food comes from and what is in the food they eat. We want to see a food system where everybody can easily acquire nutritious food they can afford without causing dire consequences for the environment, and for producers and workers both in the UK and around the world involved in food provisioning.
The good news is that many people and groups are already acting to change our dysfunctional food system. Local community networks such as the Kindling Trust in Manchester, Incredible Edible in Todmorden and elsewhere, and Nourish Scotland have brought people and groups together to take local action to address the structural unsustainability of the UK food system. National schemes, such as Food for Life, are working with schools and other institutions to create an environment in which more people have access to the knowledge and skills they need to eat well. And internationally, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has advocated for member states to ensure there is adequate social protection for those on low incomes to be able to eat sufficiently well.
We need to have clear principles against which we can measure progress if we are to overcome the challenges posed by food and poverty in the UK and the world. With this report we have attempted to set out what these principles should be, and the action that is needed to put them into practice. But producing this report is only a small step on the road to eliminating household food insecurity and creating a fairer food system in the UK and globally. Achieving this will take real leadership from government at all levels, and action from a wide range of organisations and groups from business, civil society and the research community.
When it comes to food, we are all in it together. Everyone needs it. But far from everyone gets what they need. Many, probably a majority, of children born in the UK today will live beyond 2100. If we do not take action to establish a more sustainable food system that works better for the poorest as well as the rest of society, these children will lead very different, and in some cases, much diminished lives. It is in that long-term context we need to look at food and poverty.
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Geoff Tansey is chair of the Fabian Commission on Food and Poverty and a trustee of the Food Ethics Council. Read the Commission’s full report here
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