Eating Better

Jenny Chandler, self professed pulse addict, author of Pulse and Super Pulses, European Special Ambassador for the International Year of Pulses 2016 and chef for the HSI Forward Food Programme looks at the potential of putting more pulses on catering menus.

Eating Better’s new year began with a panel and screening event at The Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) 2022, which was moved online due to Omicron cases rising steeply.

M&S and Hubbub have launched Sparking Change: The Challenge to support M&S customers to live healthier, more sustainable lives. This builds on the impact and learning from a pilot of the campaign we ran last year.

Healthy soils are the life force of a thriving farm business. Yet despite its ubiquitous presence on every farm across the UK, our soil is being destroyed 10 times faster than it’s being created...

As Campaign Manager at the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics, I’ve been assessing UK supermarket’s antibiotics policies since 2017. Over this time I have seen a shift toward more robust antibiotic policies.

Eating Better took part in an event during Nourish Scotland’s “Recipes for Resilience” at COP26 called “Living with Cows in a Net Zero Future”.

Eating Better went to Glasgow, primarily, to support our alliance member, Nourish Scotland’s Recipes for Resilience programme.

Eating Better is a supporter of the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration and attended the official presentation at Glasgow City Chambers on COP26 Nature Day.

Eating Better was in Glasgow for the first week of COP26, taking part in the Recipes for Resilience series of events hosted by alliance member, Nourish Scotland.

‘Good stuff happens after a great meal’ is the motto of our newest member to the Eating Better alliance, eat:Festivals, a not-for-profit social enterprise, which operates predominantly in the South West of England.

Forward Food is the Humane Society International’s plant-based programme, working with major food service and universities to put more plants on plates.

The National Food Strategy outlines a comprehensive plan to get us all eating better over the next decade, from a salt and sugar tax on processed foods to better support for farmers to move to more sustainable models, and teaching school children about food and how to cook.

The latest Broken Plate Report, the third in the series, from The Food Foundation shows the state of our current food system and the huge challenges we face in ensuring that everyone in the UK can afford and access a healthy and sustainable diet.

Eating Better is delighted to welcome The Wildlife Trusts as its newest supporter, bringing a new voice to our campaign and proving that eating “less and better” is good for nature and climate.

Eating Better member organisation Feedback has just published their Meat and Climate Supermarket Scorecard for 2021, ranking the top ten UK retailers on their work to address the climate crisis by reducing the environmental impact of the meat and dairy they sell.

The Veg Facts 2021 report from Peas Please continues to show both adults and children are not consuming enough veg to meet the Government’s Eatwell Guide recommendations, with 29% of 5-10 year olds eating less than a portion of veg a day.

Eating Better Trustee Duncan Williamson and founder at Nourishing Food Systems looks at the connections between nutrition and nature for our mental wellbeing.

Hodmedods leads the way on getting more home-grown pulses into British kitchens.

During my research into intensive chicken farming across Herefordshire and Shropshire I encountered many modern poultry units over the last few years. And as I have walked close to the massive metal clad ‘sheds’, each of which stretches over 100m, one question has kept nagging at me: is this actually farming?

As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s time to hit reset - we can’t go back to business-as-usual. We need to take action to fix the climate and nature emergency, but we can’t do this without tackling food.

School Food Matters is the newest member to Eating Better, bringing another major voice on school food advocacy to the alliance. The charity exists to teach children about food, where it comes from and how it’s grown and to improve children’s access to healthy, sustainable food.

Last year Unchecked UK carried out a  series of teleforums with swing voters in five “Red Wall’ constituencies that changed hands from Labour to Conservative in the December 2019 election. They explored how the constituents felt about regulation and standards in general, and specifically in relation to both food and climate change.

A new study interviews senior retail representatives to explore their perceptions of sustainable diets, the strategies they’re adopting to provide and promote ‘less and better’, and the challenges they face in doing so, providing insight as to the progress that’s been made on this agenda.

Alliance member, Alliance to Save our Antibiotics, recently published a new report that shows that organic livestock farms certified by the Soil Association use far fewer antibiotics than the UK average. The survey, covering over 200 farms, found that the organic farms used less than a quarter of the amount of antibiotics used on non-organic farms.