Local food projects make healthy eating easier to achieve

Innovative local food projects are helping people living on low incomes to cut the cost of shopping and improve their cooking skills as well as to obtain useful advice on nutrition and a healthy diet. But many schemes are struggling to survive because of difficulties obtaining long-term funding to cover their running costs, according to a study published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The report examines the experiences of 25 food projects in areas as varied as inner city estates and small towns and villages. The wide range of activities included:

• Co-operatives whose members buy in food at wholesale prices;
• Community cafes providing cooked meals at reasonable prices;
• ‘Cook and eat’ sessions where participants learn about cookery and nutrition while preparing a meal together;
• A school breakfast club;
• Nutrition education schemes for mothers-to-be and new parents. 

All the food projects included in the study worked with people on low incomes, mostly living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. They brought together a mix of professionals and local people and were seen to work best when their services were provided in a context with which the local community could identify.

The organisations and particular mix of services made available were different in each project. There was no single type of project or structure that appeared more successful than any other and there was no single formula that seemed to guarantee success.

However, the research team – from Kings College, London, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Loughborough University – conclude that the involvement of local people as active and equal partners was an important factor in determining whether a project became established and how quickly it consolidated.

They also draw attention to the difficulties that projects encountered in securing day-to-day funding from local authorities, the NHS and other sources once their start-up grants had been exhausted. Some projects had only survived by ‘reinventing’ themselves so as to qualify again for start-up funding.

Elizabeth Dowler, a Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “Food projects are clearly not the only answer to addressing health inequalities, but they can be part of a wider strategy to improve health. One of the important findings from this study is that they not only promote changes in nutrition and improvements in health, but can also give people greater confidence in buying, cooking and eating a wider variety of foodstuffs.

“Our research has also found that although food projects work with small numbers of people, they can help to overcome social isolation and give them a greater sense of self-worth and well-being in general. By providing skills and training they make it easier for individuals to take more control of their own health and welfare, as well as promoting healthier eating.”