Planet Friendly Food For All

Aim

To provide life changing educational experiences to groups in need to give skills to grow, cook and eat planet-friendly food.

WHO WE ARE

At Made In Hackney we believe in a world where no one goes hungry and everyone has access to enough nutritious, planet-friendly food of their preference. Our mission is to make this a reality by giving people the skills to grow, cook and eat more plants - inspiring people to evolve to a budget-conscious, climate friendly diet that is not only good for people, but good for the planet too. 

At our plant-based community cookery school everyone is welcome and together we learn the vital skills to develop micro urban growing sites (balcony's, patios, window ledges!) and to cook, eat and enjoy plant-based food - paying special attention to providing a range of diverse culinary cuisines so no one is left behind in the transition to plant-centred, planet friendly eating. 

WHAT WE WILL DO - BUILDING RESILIENCE DURING TIMES OF CLIMATE & ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY

With this funding we will deliver 20 one off classes and 20 six week courses attended by 440 people across the capital with community groups that suffer disproportionately from health and economic inequalities. These groups include carers, people living in hostels, women who've escaped from domestic violence, newly arrived migrants and people from culturally and racially marginalised groups. 

These classes are life changing as people learn the skills to not only nourish themselves and their families on extremely challenging budgets in a way that suits their culture and living circumstances, but to cook and enjoy eating low cost plant-based meals. 

The classes also tackle health inequalities with many participants experiencing improvements to a myriad of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, weight management and digestion disorders. After all, the diet that's best for the health of the planet, is also best for the health of people! 

Many participants report how the classes are hugely beneficial to their mental health - the act of learning about, cooking together and sharing food - giving them a huge boost to their mental wellbeing. 

Doreen, a past class participant who attended our Diabetes Type 2 focused course said. "I never realised eating plant-based meals would have such a profoundly positive impact on my health. My insulin levels went down after just 3 weeks...it was wonderful learning these skills with people in a similar situation to me. You realise you're not alone and that's very supportive. I also feel quite righteous about my diet changes. I knew we all needed to eat less meat for the planet - but now I know how and to still enjoy my food." 

SUPPORT DURING TIMES OF CRISIS 

Where our classes build long term climate, economic and health resilience and bring communities together socially - our emergency community meal service provides free nutritious plant-based meals to households in crisis. These meals are delivered twice a week by cycle courier directly to our community members doorsteps. As a transition path way we offer meal recipients places on our cookery classes so that after their emergency situation has abated, they can gain the long term skills to nourish themselves and no longer need the support of the meal service.
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Charlene, meal recipient and mother of 3, says. "The meals were an absolute life saver when I lost my job. We had to wait for benefits to kick in which took ages. It was a struggle to feed the kids and I missed meals. The meal service really saved me. Now things are more stable - we're looking forward to attending the family cookery course together and being able to cook the meals ourselves."

So support us today in our mission to ensure no one goes hungry and everyone has access to nutritious, planet-friendly food. 

This project successfully funded on 28th July 2023