Food and Food Growing
Our vision is that food eaten in Hackney is healthy and has a positive impact on our environment, locally and globally. This vision is supported by a wonderful food culture, with the best of cuisines from around the world, by fantastic community growing and by a buzzing café and street food sector.
Be a part of our sustainable food movement in the borough and join this group
By joining this group, you'll keep up to date on the latest relevant news posted on the Sustainable Hackney website. If you want to get more involved and support our work, contact the group leave. You can leave groups at any time.
Greenprint for Hackney
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A thriving local economy - sustainable local food production that has a positive benefit for the community and the environment is celebrated and supported as part of I Love Hackney with benefits for economic regeneration and skills development. Cafés and food processing businesses are linked with local food growers and markets to develop local food chains.
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Health and wellbeing for all - local food businesses are helped by our council and others to offer healthier options, introduce Healthier Catering Commitments and reduce saturated fat, sugar and salt. A map is produced of the most harmful food outlets. Free school meals are provided for all Primary school pupils and all schools are able to show their food is healthy and sustainable.
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Resilient, close-knit communities – a network of community kitchens is developed and initiatives encouraged that bring people together through food. Neighbourhood food coops are established to reduce the cost of buying healthy and sustainable food.
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Life long learning and skills - the sharing of cooking skills is supported to enable people of all ages to cook healthy, affordable and delicious food, and reduce waste.
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A reduced eco-foot print - more space is created for local growing, including on roofs, without no net loss of green space, supported through planning policy, on land owned by public bodies, through land swaps, more allotments of a range of sizes and growing in colleges, schools, and nurseries. The provision of tap water is promoted in cafes and restaurants, public buildings and parks. Details are published of the monthly food waste of large chain supermarkets in Hackney, alongside their plans to reduce this. A Supplementary Planning Document is produced by Hackney Council to provide guidance on themes including location and accessibility of food-related community facilities, allotments and food growing spaces, and reducing the proliferation of hot food takeaways.
Our work programme
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We set up a Hackney Food Partnership to champion and coordinate work towards the vision and longer-term aims.
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We continue to gather support for the partnership, consult on priorities and encourage wide support for a charter on sustainable food.
Campaigns
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The Hackney Food Partnership (HFP), set up through Sustainable Hackney, brings together groups and individuals to help create a more healthy and sustainable food system, and to encourage and support action on food issues throughout the borough.
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The partnership has developed the Hackney Food Charter a summary of the Partnership's aims.
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Sign up to receive news and updates from HFP or email Hackney Food Partnership (details below) to add your support for the charter and tell us about your initiative and how you'd like to get involved.
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HFP also organises public meetings on specific issues, and to explore new projects or areas of work. Your ideas for public meetings are welcome and HFP are interested in working with others to hold events.
Community Groups and Networks
Right to Food Hackney
Right to Food Hackney is a campaign group which takes a holistic look at the food poverty epidemic and seeks to end food poverty for good.
Our Vision
Our vision is that everyone in Hackney enjoys the right to food that is nutritious, affordable, accessible, and sustainably sourced in a way that aligns with their culture, values & beliefs and ensures good health and wellbeing for all. Food is an important community unifier providing opportunities for everyone to grow, cook and eat well.
Mission Statement
We are a Hackney based campaign group representing a diverse range of committed activists, community groups and residents from the borough. We work together to influence local government and other policy makers, to promote food justice, address food insecurity, and transform our food system so that it functions to improve health and wellbeing and creates an environmentally sustainable society rooted in the principle of equity.
Hackney Food Partnership
The Partnership (HFP) brings together groups and individuals to help create a more healthy and sustainable food system, and to encourage and support action on food issues throughout the borough.
HFP will build on what is going well in Hackney, such as the many local food growing initiatives, and address a wider range of issues such as ethical, healthy and sustainable food procurement, promotion of local shops and markets, development of supportive planning policies, and food poverty. We will also be helping to ensure the borough moves up London Food Link's Good Food for London league table and improves on its poor showing in each of the last four years.
Click here to view the Hackney Food Charter, a summary of the Partnership's aims.
Sign up to receive news and updates from HFP or email Hackney Food Partnership to tell us about your initiative and how you'd like to get involved.
See the events page for the dates and locations of HFP working group meetings. These are open to all and focus on developing the Partnership's strategy and implementing its action plan.
HFP also organises public meetings on specific issues, and to explore new projects or areas of work. Your ideas for public meetings are welcome and HFP are interested in working with others to hold events.
Email: hackneyfood@sustainablehackney.org.uk
Twitter: @HackneyFood
Facebook: @HackneyFoodPartnership
Subscribe: Sign up here to receive news and notices via the HFP MailChimp list.
Hackney Food Poverty Network
Hackney Food Poverty Network, formerly Hackney Food Poverty Alliance (HFPA), was formed at an initial meeting in October 2018 to support and co-ordinate the collective work of voluntary, community, private and statutory organisations and local people working to tackle food poverty in Hackney. The HFPA was initiated by and is a sub-group of the Hackney Food Partnership.
In 2019 the HFPA has a specific role in overseeing the development of a Food Poverty Action Plan and the piloting of some ‘test and learn’ early interventions, with financial support from Food Power and Hackney Council.
The Action Plan will build on and compliment Hackney Council’s emerging Poverty Reduction Strategy that uses a co-production and whole system approach to understand and address the barriers, needs and priorities of different vulnerable communities.
Aims
To reduce food poverty in Hackney by both mitigating its impacts and addressing the underlying causes.
Objectives
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Better understand the causes and consequences of food poverty in Hackney and use to create lasting local solutions
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Empower those with the lived experience to contribute to the analysis, design and delivery of HFPA actions, as equals
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Map existing food poverty actions, information and resources, and identify gaps
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Improve sharing of information, learning and best practice and strengthen co-ordination between partners
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Develop and deliver an inclusive, cross-sectoral Food Poverty Action Plan
Membership
HFPA is open to any organisation with a role to play in tackling food poverty in Hackney.
For more information, contact mary@hackneyfood.org.uk