#CookandCreche A FoodShed Brighton Project

Foodshed Brighton, is an new social enterprise in the Brighton Open Market. An educational Food Hub working with local producers and community projects in and around Brighton & Hove

A project run by the Foodshed Co-op in association with the Salvation Army Brighton.

It is a 6 week cookery course with a crèche  provided.

The cost and availability of childcare is often a barrier to education for many parents, especially those on a low income or in receipt of benefits.

Cook & Crèche will target social isolation, peer to peer support and skill-sharing between adults and widen children's early experiences of new foods and healthy eating. 
The course entry fee costs £3.50 per family per week materials and crèche included.

We need to raise £2000 to make this course happen and sponsoring a family will help with our fundraising efforts and every little helps.

If you would like to attend the course please get in touch
email: foodshedcourses@gmail.com

If you would like to sponsor a family to attend please click their sponsor button on their website

Octopus Alchemy Crowdfunding Appeal

Octopus Alchemy are a small social venture in Brighton & Hove who works with people to help them refine their relationship with both their own health as well as health of their families and communities. Working through nutrition, bodywork, massage, yoga and activism to help empower people in their lives so they can change it for the better.

On the 15th November, a new crowdfunding campaign is being launch to support a new collaborative project between Octopus Alchemy, Silo, and the Real Junk Food Project 

#transformingfoodwasteintosuperfood

Launch event will be at Silo, and will be run on a donation basis, though as limited places you will need too book beforehand. 

Octopus Alchemy are also looking for businesses who maybe able to support them in other ways such as:

• Donating vouchers, goods or services to their venture to distribute to individuals who makes a financial pledge to their fundraising campaign 
• Offer support in advertising and distributing any promotional materials relating to the crowdfunding appeal

Check out their video below, and click on the link here for more information about Octopus Alchemy

FareShare: Volunteers Needed for December's Food Drive

FareShare, a national charity who helps saving food destined for waste, and sends it to charities and community groups who can in turn create nutritious meals for vulnerable people. 

On the 3rd, 4th and 5th December FareShare will be at Tesco's stores throughout the UK and need volunteers to help with these Food Drives

By giving 3 hours of your time you can help collect tins, cans and other food, which could create 500 meals for people in need. 

To register and find out what is happening in your area click HERE

The Real Junk Food Project

The Real Junk Food Project is a collaborative effort between catering professionals and activists to bring about a radical change in our food system. Our first step to achieve this challenging task is to intercept perfectly edible food that would otherwise not make it to plate and serve it as meals in the café or distribute it through our food boutique.

As well as the positive environmental impacts of reducing edible food waste the project also has clear social benefits through operating a strictly Pay-as-you-feel (PAYF) policy .

PAYF offers an alternative to the conventional the payment system as there is no price on any produce of the café. Our system transcends monetary transactions and liberates people to use their skills and attributes as well as money to pay for their meals.

Furthermore, we aim to highlight the absurdity that the produce we use has been stripped of its monetary value but still retains its nutritional value. By making people think about what they wish to contribute for their meals, the idea is to get society thinking about how they value food as a resource.

So why does this need to happen?

It is estimated that 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted globally each year, this amounts to nearly 40% of global production, this occurs for a multitude of reasons that vary between regions. In the U.K studies have shown that we waste over 15 million tons of edible food annually due to stringent and confusing food safety legislation. We argue that these laws need to be revised and people need to relearn the common sense practices that were used until and during the Second World War.

Founders and co-directors Adam Smith and Johanna Hewitt started The Real Junk Food Project on the banks of the River Yarrow in Melbourne, using the pay-by-the-minute barbeques to cook up whatever waste food they could lay their hands on. During their time in Australia they witnessed the scale of the food waste scandal. At the same time three of the would-be co-directors were also discovering for themselves the scale of commercial food waste in Adam’s hometown of Leeds through the freegan lifestyle, sustaining themselves and a cohort of other friends from supermarket bins during their time studying in Leeds.

Adam and Johanna realised that something needed to be done. After seeking advice from friends, Adam resolved that he needed to start the process of global change by first changing his hometown. The fact that the couple were now expecting their first child compounded the move back to Leeds to pursue their mission.

On their return to the north of England Adam was lucky to find people who believed in him and his ideas, and in late December was offered access to a struggling community kitchen in Armley, an area of Leeds renowned for high rates of poverty, drug abuse and crime. After hearing about Adam’s project in a local food activist meeting Sam, Conor and Edd (unfortunately no longer involved in the project) met Adam in order to offer him some carrots and parsnips they had reclaimed from a skip, which he gladly exchanged for tofu and crisps, in true PAYF stlye!

From its trial period in December 2013 where Adam and Johanna cooked Christmas dinner for the homeless population of Leeds the café has gone from strength to strength and is now open seven days a week serving meals to a wide demographic of people including three time Tour de France champion Greg Lemond during his stay in Leeds for the Grand Départ. The café is staffed by an enthusiastic team of local volunteers who are the life and soul of the project, without these wonderful individuals the project would not be possible. The concept is not restricted to Armley and other cafes are popping up in other parts of Leeds as well as other cities, all these efforts will be supported by a charitable trust serving as a network.