Eating Better

A new resource from Eating Better considers the health impacts of processed meat and highlights the need for public sector caterers and health organisations to focus efforts on reducing processed meat consumption in the UK.

Eating Better is pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Wakefield as its new Executive Director.

We are excited to announce the appointment of three new trustees to the Board of Eating Better. Here we introduce Kristin Bash, Liz Gadd and Shaleen Meelu, and hear their motivation for joining the Board.

Healthy and sustainable plant-based foods are prevalent in cuisines across the world. We’re celebrating Windrush Day by highlighting the many ways in which the Caribbean community has positively impacted the UK food environment.

For a decade and a half the Kindling Trust has been playing a part in reshaping farming and how our food is grown to make it more accessible to communities and reduce its impact on the planet.

Eating Better together with Healthy Food Healthy Planet hosted a panel at the international Extinction or Regeneration conference with representatives from Italy, Spain, Poland to hear experiences of civil society collaboration across Europe.

Ahead of the international Extinction or Regeneration conference, to which Eating Better was a partner, we invited representatives from 7 European countries to share and learn from each other, nurture relationships and explore successes and challenges.

Stop Food Waste Day  aims to highlight how valuable food is and how reducing waste can save money, time and the environment. The UK alone produces around 6.6 million tonnes of waste a year just at the household level, accounting for 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions - 5.4% of the UK’s overall emissions.

We are delighted to announce that The Woodland Trust is joining the Eating Better alliance.

At Eating Better, we are reflecting on what food justice looks like to us. We are starting to critically examine the role we play in transformation towards sustainable, healthy, just food systems. 

It’s World Pulse Day next month, which is why in the lead up to it I am supporting Eating Better’s, Anything Is 'Pulse-able’ campaign which highlights the power of pulses. It’s World Pulses Day and, “so what?” many might say. It seems that every day brings another ‘something day’, many with associated marketing and sales spin. I suspect consumers may be becoming immune and fatigued by these special ‘days’, and I can empathise strongly with that stance. All that said, please believe me when I say, World Pulses Day is different. The first indicator of this should be when you ask yourself, and you should: who established World Pulses Day, and why?

Bread n Butter is a Barnet-based social enterprise that teaches the basic life skills of cooking and sustainable, healthy, independent living. We spoke to them about how the cost of living crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have changed their approach to working in their community and the positive impact that healthy eating can have.

Eating Better alliance member First Steps Nutrition Trust shows how pulses are great first foods for infants from 6 months.

New campaign from Eating Better aims to show how eating pulses can save you money and improve your health

‘Producing, Buying and Serving Better’ is the latest film by Eating Better, highlighting the exemplary work taking place in Scotland. This is an inspirational story that can help other local authorities, producers and retailers see the potential of local food systems.

Eating Better launches a new guide to strengthening civil society collaboration, working towards healthy and sustainable dietary change based on its 9 years experience and insights from across alliances in other European countries. 

Eating Better alliance member Sustain publishes new report on how UK councils are tackling the climate and nature emergency through food.

How Hubbub used football as a hook to inspire fans to eat less meat  

Mossgiel Organic in Ayrshire is the model of better dairy production. It’s transitioned from an intensive system to one which is certified by Eating Better member, Pasture for Life and SOPA (Scottish Organic Producers Association), while working closely with another alliance member, The Soil Association. Farming in tandem with nature with fewer animals and inputs, as called for in our Better by Half roadmap, the herd of 45 Ayrshire cows are milked once a day and the calves stay with their mums, being weaned at 4 months, when they start eating grass and herbal leys. The focus is on the highest standards of animal welfare, boosting biodiversity and producing a premium product, which is in high demand.

The spotlight is on school food this week, as the annual LACA show and forum takes place in Birmingham. The theme of this year’s event by catering leaders across the school sector, or “The School Food People” as LACA likes to be known as, is “Get back on track” with keynote speakers and panel discussions on how to make school food healthier and more sustainable, at a time when budgets are being squeezed and public sector caterers are facing further challenges from rising food costs, supply chain issues and staff shortages.

Ensuring everyone has access to a healthy diet that doesn’t cost the earth is a critical priority. The Food Strategy falls desperately short on effective, evidence-based measures to achieve this.

Eating Better regularly conducts public attitude surveys to take the temperature of where people are on the journey to shifting to sustainable diets with less meat and dairy and more plant-based foods. We examine what the trends are and what the barriers are to change. This year’s analysis also took a deep dive into food-to-go to find out what’s happening in that sector and if sandwiches, a British staple, are still popular.

The government has published its first food strategy in 75 years, in response to the independent review by its lead food adviser, Henry Dimbleby. Although the government has accepted some of the review’s recommendations, there is still a lot missing from the document, in particular the lack of acknowledgement on the need to reduce meat production and consumption to tackle the climate, nature and health crises.

Eating Better’s newest member is Kids Kitchen, a social enterprise building health and community from running scratch cooking sessions, to help families with under 5s explore and enjoy sustainable eating.