Eating Better

Change needs to happen. If we continue with our current status quo and food system, then we can say goodbye to healthy food, clean air and water, and the seasons as we know them. With the weight of this pressure resting on our shoulders, for good reason many of us working on changing the food system in whatever form, are worried about getting it wrong. Fear of failure is a huge barrier to change, and reframing our approach might be an effective way to get a rare school of thought adopted more broadly; that change is possible. As the late David Graeber said, “The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently”.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) just published its 7th Carbon Budget (known as CB7). This set out the legal limit for UK net emissions of greenhouse gases over the years 2038 to 2042. It also contained the different options available for the UK Government to choose and the different ‘pathways’ to get to net-zero, with advice for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to be published later in 2025. This is a vitally important milestone in fixing our food system. But what does it all mean for healthy and sustainable diets?

A new UK Government was elected earlier this month, with the widely expected result of Labour replacing the Conservatives as the governing party and Keir Starmer becoming our new Prime Minister. This presents an exciting opportunity for a change in direction on UK food policy.

On April 22nd, the Scottish Government’s consultation for a Good Food Nation plan closed. This consultation followed the passing of the Good Food Nation Act in 2022, where the Scottish Government put into law their vision for Scotland to be a ‘a Good Food Nation, where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day’.