Food activism on the menu

Event urges residents to think about where food comes from.
leeds fairtrade
Leeds Fairtrade campaigners at the Hungry for Activism event in Leeds.



The event also marked the launch of Leeds Fairtrade Fortnight.

There were a dozen sessions to choose from, hosted by organisations as diverse as the Permaculture Association, This is Rubbish, Sustain and Friends of the Earth to name but a few.

Leeds people don't get their five a day

One of the speakers who particularly interested me was Mags Shevlin, of Leeds-based organisation Urban Harvest.

They're a group of volunteers who pick fruit from the thousands of fruit trees that go unpicked on common ground across Leeds each year - the fresh fruit is distributed to local charities and communities where people may not have access to fresh fruit. Damaged fruit is turned into preserves and juices.

Mags said: "More than 70 per cent of people in Leeds don't eat the five pieces of fresh fruit or vegetables that's recommended for optimum health which is incredible given the amount of fruit that's on our trees for free. Nationally 95 per cent of our fruit is imported."

Leeds Fairtrade chairman Ian Adderley (also in video, above) said: "We wanted to get people together and get them to think where they get their food from and develop some food loyalty.

"We don't want to tell them just to buy Fairtrade food, we want them to understand why it's important to do so. Hopefully this event will have achieved that."

Among the people running workshops were the University of Leeds' Dr Andrew Challinor on growing crops in a changing climate. Other workshops included topics such as food waste, Friends of the Earth on plans to revolutionise meat and dairy farms, Fairtrade on trade justice and Leeds SPEAK on how to challenge supermarkets.

There were also stalls from local organisations involved in food campaigning, distribution and production.

You can view a gallery of pictures from the event by attendee Neil Rhodes.


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