City
Issue 30 / Spring-Summer 2014
FOOD Amex staff volunteering at Stanmer Community Garden Group
s w Ne
In this issue • The future of allotments • Get freezing this summer • Easy lunch recipes • Indoor edible gardening
uk www.bhfood.org.
• Orchards without borders • And for more news, issues, events near you
Welcome 4
8
10
News
Orchards without borders
Reviews 12
11
14 15
Growing for wel -being
Lifting the lid on food aid
Dining ‘al d esko’
Get freezing
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16
Recipes
21
Business lunch
advice Composting
22 24
Indoor office edibles 2 city food news
Free workplace health checks
26
Cutting food waste at work 27
Events listings
One the best bits about being the Director of the Food Partnership is that you are never more than a metre away from someone who can help you with food advice … nutritional facts, tips on what to plant when, foraging ideas, recipes, good books, and opinions on the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the way that food is produced, consumed and disposed of. This edition of City Food News is for people who work in places where all this isn’t on hand, and considers how to get a range of good food habits passed the office door. Articles include information about how to set up a workplace composting scheme, to turn that mountain of tea bags and banana skins into black gold, how digging can build a productive workforce, and a fact about bacteria on office desks that might make you think twice about where you eat your lunch! We also look at how larger institutions in the city can make significant changes to the local food system by changing their purchasing practices. And it’s not just large caterers that can make a difference with the food they buy. At the Food Partnership we have a sustainable food buying policy that covers everything from the food we cook at events to the milk we put in our tea. You could do this too. Some of my favourite office based food activities have been a lunchtime soup swap (everyone bring in some
soup and then eat each others), the Spring Seedling Swap (8th May this year at Preston Park Demo Garden), and the weekly chance to discuss which option to go for from the Friday StreetDiner. As part of an overall review of our communications, we will only be doing two magazines this year, but you can get all our latest news and events through our fortnightly e-newsletters and on our website. And as for working with all of those food experts, the downside is they sometimes tell you what you don’t want to hear… I was most upset to find out that Jaffa Cakes don’t count as one of your five a day! Vic Borrill Food Partnership Director
bhfood.org.uk 3
News
Local food projects get £16,200 boost The Good Food Grants, now in its eighth year, has just awarded £16,200 to 24 different Brighton & Hove projects. This year grants were made to projects that help alleviate food poverty and celebrate the cultural diversity in the city. Some of the funded projects this year included Brighton Women’s Centre, The Carer’s Garden and the Migrant English Project. “The money from the Food Partnership is going to enable our fledgling project take a massive leap forward. We are a group of parents with disabled children who are setting up a group to enable others like us to be part of an allotment. As any parent knows, getting time to manage an allotment is hard, but when you have a child with significant special needs, committing to an allotment alone is impossible. Our aim is to provide a supportive and rewarding space where parents and carers can meet, get some fresh air and exercise, and grow produce for themselves and their families.” Medeni Elwick, Magic Garden
(genocide) commemoration period. The grant from the Food Partnership will make a massive difference. It will allow children to take part in fun, educational and meaningful projects and will help their parents deal with the social isolation that many experience during the anniversary period. It will give people the opportunity to discover and rediscover the value of Rwandan ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques that can be found locally yet are rarely used in European cuisine.” Vivenie Mugunga, Rwandan Youth Information Community If you are part of a group, organisation or business and need our support go to www.bhfood.org.uk/organisation
“Food plays an important part in Rwandan culture during the 4 city food news
Community allotment project Plot 22 has received a Good Food Grant to cover their core costs
Expanding our much-loved Demo Garden If you’ve been to Preston Park recently you may have noticed some changes to our Demo garden. Work has begun to expand the garden to double the original size. The new area is loosely based on a Forest Garden which, through layered vegetation, mirrors a natural ecosystem. Although there is work early on to plant, nurture and maintain it, once established, this system needs little work. Annual pruning and light weeding is usually enough to support permanent plantings. Within the next year the volunteers at the garden hope to be harvesting raspberries, boysenberries, alpine Join strawberries, as well as one of our herbs, globe artichokes regular volunteer and apples and pears in sessions on the years to come. Wednesday Other features of the mornings expanded garden include a 10am-1pm gravelled path, and high level beds allowing wheelchair users and those with bad backs to experience planting and harvesting from accessible spaces. New seating has been designed with wildlife habitats in mind such as logs under benches to encourage some beneficial insects to spend time in the garden.
Our Spring Seedling Swap is back Our ever popular spring Seedling Swap is back this year. Come along on Sunday 18th May, 11am-2pm at our Demo Garden in Preston Park. The event is organised in collaboration with the Brighton Organic Gardeners Group (BHOGG). It’s a great chance to swap or buy young plants for your garden. There will also be lots of family-friendly gardening activities including composting demonstrations and seedbomb workshops throughout the day. bhfood.org.uk 5
News
Uni dishes up better food
Hitting healthy eating goals with the Albion The Food Partnership has teamed up with Albion in the Community, the charitable arm of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club to promote healthy eating and help city residents manage their weight. New funding, provided by the City Council’s Public Health team, will allow us to further develop our Healthy Weight Referral Service for the next three years. This includes the popular Shape Up adult group sessions, Family Shape Up for 6-13 year olds and oneto-one weight management clinics. Last year 762 city residents who were above their ideal weight were referred to the service. Albion will run a Shape Up session for men at the Amex Stadium and Zip Zap clubs – healthy and fun activity sessions – for 5-7 year olds in schools.
Allotment strategy launched A new allotment strategy for the city has been launched by the City Council and Allotment Federation. It includes various new initiatives aimed at making the city’s allotments more enjoyable, inclusive, sustainable and affordable. Some of the key recommendations of the strategy are: • Better communication with those on the waiting list • Faster letting process for empty plots • More training and support for new plot-holders • Exploring additional sources of revenue to keep rent rises down • Making allotments accessible to everyone • More site participation including open days and tool share schemes • Increasing biodiversity on site including rainwater harvesting These recommendations will be gradually introduced, according to a ten year action plan. www.bhaf.org.uk
6 city food news
The University of Brighton has achieved the Soil Association bronze standard Catering Mark for many of their services including their largest halls of residence and conference facility. The catering mark is an independent endorsement that the university is taking steps to improve the food they serve including using fresh ingredients which are free from undesirable additives and better for animal welfare. The achievement compliments Brighton University’s pioneering work to develop a sustainable food policy which includes Marine Stewardship Council certification for their fish and organic milk served across all outlets.
“We care passionately about the quality and freshness of the ingredients we use. The awards we have received provide assurances to our customers, suppliers and stakeholders that sustainable food remains at the top of our agenda” David Hicks, Head of Hospitality, University of Brighton
Food businesses shake up London Road The finishing touches are being added to the new Open Market on London Road which plans to open Monday to Saturday from May. Expect fresh food, locally sourced goods and regular events. You may see some familiar faces when visiting the new market. The Food Partnership has joined forces with seedbomb expert and author Josie Jeffery to take a unit at the revamped space. The ‘Foodshed’ will be a space that showcases local producers and aims to inspire and educate shoppers with
pop up talks and demonstrations. ‘hiSbe’ the supermarket that shows us ‘how it should be’ also launched back in December. The store stocks local, seasonal and ethical food whilst trying to reduce waste and keep good food affordable for everyone. It’s located on York Place, near St. Peter’s Church and is open seven days a week. That’s two new exciting and eagerly anticipated ventures adding to the range of options for city residents looking to buy better food. bhfood.org.uk 7
Reviews
Reviews
New book lifts the lid on modern food system The Ecologist Guide to Food is a powerful new book that exposes the often unpalatable truths behind our everyday foods. We caught up with Andrew Wasley, the Brighton-based journalist behind the book, to find out what’s contained in its pages. Where did the inspiration for the book come from? The supermarkets have made us obsessed with cheap food but this is often an illusion as most items have a hidden cost behind them. We wanted to put out a guide to the real cost of food. The book brings together many complex issues in one place in an accessible way. So it’s designed and written with the purpose of introducing people to the issues and can signpost them to more in-depth articles and campaigns if they want more information.
big impacts; damage to the environment, animal welfare and human victims. Most people in this country are aware of factory farming and its effects. But many have been surprised by some of the other stories in the book, particularly around the human cost of food production. We wanted the book to highlight these issues that are less well known – not in a preachy way but to put the facts out there and help raise the alarm about some of this stuff. Did any particular story stand out as the most shocking? A lot of the tinned tomatoes that end up on our supermarket shelves come from farms that are blighted by slave labour in Southern Italy. Migrant workers that pick the tomatoes there are vulnerable to exploitation and do not have a voice. The use of slave labour, particularly in harvesting the food we eat, is a global phenomenon. From the salad fields in Kent to the developing world. It’s a good example of the issues lurking beneath seemingly innocuous food stuffs.
“this is a guide to the real cost of food”
What do you hope the book will achieve? The modern day food system has three 8 city food news
And what was the most inspiring alternative? The book is not meant to be an ethical
shopping guide – there are plenty of them out there already – but we did want to cover some pioneering producers who are doing things differently. One that stands out is a Community Supported Agriculture project in Chagford, Dartmoor. It’s a community garden where everything is done by horse power. They run a boxscheme where you pay up front and invest in the risks and rewards of the growing season. You are also expected to help out with the horticultural tasks. It’s still early days and small scale – providing food for 40-50 people – but I’ve seen it in action and it’s a really pioneering approach and tremendously inspiring. Do you see any links between the issues that you cover? At the root of all this is the modern industrial farming system and the scale on which everything is being produced. It’s hugely problematic on just about every level and in more ways than we think. The soya farms in South America leave an obvious footprint but we don’t always see the other effects. For example people who live near mega-farms in both the UK and developing world are suffering from pollution and conflict. It’s not easy to overcome but there are definitely solutions and inspiring producers who are showing how things could be done. The Ecologist Guide to Food is out now. You can read excerpts from the book on the accompanying blog. www.forkedmagazine.org
Seeds of sovereignty A film from the Gaia foundation and African biodiversity network in collaboration with MELCA Ethipoia and GRAIN. For thousands of gardeners across the city, Seedy Sunday marks the start of the growing season. But this year there was an air of uncertainty, as it was announced that it could be the last ever Seedy Sunday due to the New EU legislation that threatens to ban saving and swapping seeds and growing heritage varieties. Seeds of sovereignty is a short film set in Africa featuring stories of fear and of revival. Farmers tell us how they worship, honour, grow, save and cook the seed using knowledge handed down through generations and how they observe natures patterns; “when the ants come out to collect their food, we know that is the time to harvest our seeds” says Dr Million Bilay (AFSA). The film raises awareness of how important seeds are for the survival of the world and speaks of the effects of the introduction of Hybrid seeds. Seeds are at the epicentre of our lives and they carry our cultures and traditions within their tiny jackets. www.seedsoffreedom.info bhfood.org.uk 9
Food Growing
Sharing knowledge with French fruit growers Orchards without Borders is a joint project between fruit growers in Sussex and Normandy. Anne-Marie Bur, Project Coordinator, explains: Sussex was once awash with orchards – professional fruit growers reached their height in the late fifties but long before that, most farms and gardens had an orchard large enough to supply the household with apples, pears, plums and cherries. And fruit wasn’t just confined to rural areas. I spoke to a gentleman recently in Mouslecoomb who remembers scrumping his fruit from nurseries nearby. Most urban gardens had at least one apple tree and greengrocers were often supplied by local growers rather than fruit grown far away. However, over the years, the commercial orchards have died out after the market was flooded by cheap imports from across Europe. Many of the skills associated with growing, storing and cooking apples have slowly disappeared. In Normandy, orchards are still much 10 city food news
more a feature of the local landscape, economy and food culture. But France shares similar concerns about the need to preserve local fruit varieties and the cultural heritage associated with orchards. Last year, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership and Brighton Permaculture Trust linked up with an environmental centre in Normandy to share skills and knowledge. In France we learnt how to make an apple and camembert tart and about other ways to use apples in cookery that you wouldn’t expect. We learnt how apples are gathered from the ground, rarely from the tree – it’s quicker and ensures ripeness – and how sheep are used as lawnmowers and to hoover up damaged fruits that may harbour pests. In exchange, we have shown the French how to create school and community orchards and new trees have been planted on both sides of the channel. If you want to know how apples began, come along to a screening of the documentary The Origins of the Apple at 7.30pm on 31st May at the Brighthelm Centre. www.brightonpermaculture.org.uk
Growing for Well-being Recent evidence has shown that gardening and outdoor activities are very beneficial to your physical and mental-well-being. The recent allotment survey showed that 93% of allotment holders felt that having an allotment improved their mental health and provided stress relief. The Harvest evaluation showed that people who gained most from volunteering at community gardens were unemployed, or had a physical or learning disability, or a mental health issue. Three projects in the local area work specifically with vulnerable groups:
Richardson’s The Grow Yard Project
Roots to Growth
Is a new urban growing project based at the shipping container housing project at Richardson’s Yard, near Preston Circus. Residents, who were formerly homeless are now involved in regular food-growing sessions in the yard.
Have six acres in Washington, West Sussex, which is being turned into a therapeutic gardening centre and market garden, working with groups of vulnerable adults from Brighton & Hove. They are currently looking for trustees, friends and volunteers. Contact Zoe or Ben for more info@rootstogrowth. org.uk
Grow is an eco-therapy project which takes groups of people to Saddlescombe Farm on the South Downs Way. Recently the project released a report, on the ‘well-being benefits of nature connection for people with experience of mental distress’. The next eight week session starts on 22nd of May. Visit the website for more/to join www.growingwellbeing. org.uk.
bhfood.org.uk 11
Feature
12 city food news
TH II DE BE
ELIZA
Brighton-based Food Ethics Council has recently published a report which helps improve the understanding of the ‘food aid’ landscape in the UK. Informal food aid has existed in
various forms in the UK for decades. However, its scale and visibility is, undeniably, growing. Is that because the problem is getting worse? Or is it because the media and MPs have hijacked food aid to score political points about other societal issues? Most likely it is a mixture of the two, and our report, published in February this year, has been at the centre of that political game. This is disappointing, to say the least. People who access food banks are struggling and their plight should not be subject to political ya-boohing across the dispatch box. Food poverty means parents forced to choose between heating and eating, or buying their children chips for tea because
EF
Increasing numbers of people in the UK have resorted to food banks over the past couple of years. This trend has been well documented by charities like the Trussell Trust, Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty. The ensuing media attention means that food poverty is now firmly on the political agenda.
to meet rising need. In addition, our research showed that volunteers put all their energy and resources into collecting, sorting and distributing food for people’s immediate needs. This focus leaves very little spare capacity for developing long-term solutions to household food insecurity. All the evidence points to the need for everyone involved in making sure people are getting enough to eat – government, charities and businesses – to focus on RA REG G the short AND long-term I causes of food poverty in the UK. These ‘root causes’ include incomes that are inadequate for essential household needs, rising food (and other) prices, and lack of accessible shops stocking affordable food for health. These issues represent a tough political challenge for any government, but we believe that by learning from our report, and from listening to those who are suffering food poverty, this government can make real progress in banishing the spectre of hunger that stalks many thousands of people in this country every day. By Liz Barling, Food Ethics Council www.foodethicscouncil.org A FID D IN
New report lifts lid on rise in food aid
they’re cheaper than preparing freshly cooked food. It is surprising that there are citizens in a rich Western country unable to access affordable food that allows them to meet the needs of a healthy life. This is a structural issue, and it requires long-term solutions. Our research indicates that turning to food aid is very much a last resort for people in need. We looked at what had driven them to this position. Organisations at the front line – referrers (e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau) and providers (e.g. Trussell Trust food banks) – report a range of reasons. Benefit sanctions and benefit delays tend to be cited as the most prominent triggers, but ongoing problems of low income, indebtedness and rising food (and other) costs are also important drivers. We found no evidence to support the idea that increased food aid provision is driving demand and crucially our report found that food aid providers across the UK are vulnerable to not being able to meet existing or rising demand. Food banks and other informal forms of food aid are dependent on volunteers and food donations – which may not be enough
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cookery Cookery
Get freezing this Summer
Dining at your desk By Alan Lugton, Community Cookery Manager Do you eat ‘al Desco’ instead of al Fresco? Lunch at your desk or ‘desk dining’ as it is more commonly referred to, has increasingly become the norm in many workplaces, with a startling 60% of workers choosing to eat at the same place they spend their whole day working. Only one in five people in the UK now take the traditional lunch hour, with the vast majority often having less than half of that. But did you know that your office desk typically contains 400 times more bacteria than the seat of your toilet? Yet only 22% of workers say they clean their desk before eating. Apart from not taking time to enjoy the wonderful lunches you bring with you to work, desk dining usually means you are focused on work or a computer screen. It is also another hour that you are not moving around and getting that heart pumping. Take your lunch away from your desk to eat and enjoy – if the weather is not good then use a communal space with your colleagues. 14 city food news
Sophie’s Micro Adventures to get out of the office Lunch outside provides fresh air, sunshine (sometimes) and vitamin D – great for my bones. Arranging to meet someone for lunch in a green space or the beach means I have a good reason to get away from the desk. Book in to your daily work plan, even just a 10 minute stretch around the block. A friend of mine even suggested going on a micro adventure, seeing how far you can get or what exciting things you can see or do in your lunch break. That’s the first step, the second step is seeing what you can do before you go back to work the next day – anyone fancy camping on a school night?
By Anna Schwarz, Community Cookery Worker
I’ve recently become obsessed with freezing food, in boxes, with labels, and dates. One of my recent cookery groups said that this has reached the level where my catchphrase is “ooh! You could freeze that!”
Why it’s great to freeze your lunch,
Frozen ready meals seem to be very popular in the Food Partnership office – here are some other tips from us: • If you have two or three cooked things leftover you can put them in the freezer in same box to make a more elaborate ready meal. • Cook extra for frozen meals and regularly do a freezer stock take. • Think about when you are going to eat something before defrosting it.
• Love food hate waste – Making your own ready meals makes a virtue of having leftovers or veg that’s about to go off – old vegetables make great soups and stews which are the perfect to freeze. And a frozen soup won’t leak into your bag on the way into work. • It’s cheaper – Make the most of ingredients when they’re cheap and in season. Use quality meat on special offer to make a stew or bolognaise and freeze it with mashed potato or cooked pasta to make your own ready meal. • It’s quick and easy – Apparently it’s called ‘batch cooking’. Cook for a couple of hours at the weekend to make large quantities of a couple of things and then freeze them in individual portions to last all week. bhfood.org.uk 15
Cookery
We spend an average of £58 per month on work lunches. These recipes are cheap to prepare and great for using up leftovers
Pasta Vegetable Salad Ingredients – Makes one lunch • 100g Cooked Pasta • Olive Oil • Pesto • Rocket leaves or Mizuna • Mushrooms • Courgette • Cherry Tomatoes Method 1 Cook the type of pasta you prefer in boiling water for the recommended time on the packet. 2 Drain pasta then place in a large bowl and drizzle over the olive oil. Coat the pasta and allow it to cool. 3 Add a little oil to a frying pan and place on hob until it is at a very high heat. Cut the courgettes and mushroom into thick slices and place 16 city food news
them flat on the pan and allow it to sear the underside until golden brown. Then turn them over and sear the other side. Leave aside to cool. To assemble 1 Add a dollop of pesto to the cooked pasta and mix in well. Add other chopped herbs or spices like harissa for an extra kick. 2 Mix in the vegetables. This is a great time to add any leftover vegetable you want to use up – you can also consider adding feta cheese chunks, chickpeas or diced chicken for more protein. 3 Finally cut the cherry tomatoes in half and gently mix in along with the rocket for that peppery flavour. 4 Keep chilled until you are ready to eat.
More tipsok:
• Have a cook bo e swap at work. Th e more recipes w e or m e master, th s can he nc lu r varied ou er we be, and the bett r ou are at using up e. m food at ho oup lunch • Organise a gr are an in your office. Sh ur yo invitation with find a d an s colleague sunny spot.
Spanish Tortilla Ingredients – Serves two • 3 Free range eggs • 125g Parboiled potatoes • 75g Peas or broad beans • 75g Courgette • 2 Spring onions • 1 Clove garlic • 2 Tbsps olive oil for cooking Method 1 Heat a large heavy bottomed pan and add one tablespoon of the olive oil. 2 Gently fry the sliced spring onions and potatoes for five minutes. 3 Steam the peas or broad beans and courgettes until tender and add with the garlic to the onions and potatoes. Cook for a further two minutes.
4 In a large bowl beat the eggs until light and fluffy. 5 Add the cooked vegetables to the eggs and season with salt and pepper. 6 Using the same pan, heat the remaining olive oil and add the mixture. 7 Cook gently for about five minutes until the egg starts to set. Hold a plate over the tortilla to flip it over, slide back into the pan and cook for a further three minutes. Or place the pan under a hot grill to cook the top. 8 Serve hot or cold with salad.
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Feature
Business Lunches: How companies are serving better food to staff By Chloe Clarke, Food Partnership Project Manager Staff restaurants, as many companies like to describe them now, can act as the social hub of any business, bringing people together from different parts of the building to mingle and eat. The sheer volume of dishes served everyday also means that they can
18 city food news
have a huge impact, even when only making small changes to the way that they source their ingredients, or the nutritional content of their meals. The University of Brighton is leading the way in serving sustainable food in the city. Catering for 22,000 students and 2,500 staff, they are committed to supporting local producers and retailers and serve only organic milk and sustainable fish. All catering team members have attended nutritional workshops and attained the Food for the Brain award – so they know just what the students need come exam time. Menus include a widerange of vegetarian dishes and they actively promote the benefits of meat reducing diets for both personal health and the environment. Many other companies are also adopting new practices for their workplace food. The menus at Bupa International all identify the calories, saturated fats,
sugar and salt in each dish served, so their staff can make an informed choice about the food they buy. They also produce a special ‘Bupa Energy Bar’ on site, giving staff an energy boost with far fewer calories than many high street alternatives. Regular awareness raising campaigns like Fairtrade Fortnight compliment the practical measures adopted like only serving free-range eggs and sustainable fish. The city’s digital businesses are using food to bring teams together and boost creativity. Digital Consultancy firm NixonMcInnes eat breakfast together as a team every Monday. Everything is bought in from hiSbe (the new independent supermarket on London Road), so it’s all local, ethical and sustainable. There’s also a fully stocked fruit bowl, ad hoc sweets and beer and crisps for the Friday meeting! In the Public Sector, Brighton & Hove City Council – one of the largest employers in Sussex with over 8000 employees – has pledged to improve the food it serves every day to thousands of school children, clients, visitors, and employees across all its outlets from the Brighton Centre, to the Community Meals service (Meals on Wheels) to their own staff canteen at Kings House. The Food Partnership has been working with the council to develop a set of Minimum Buying Standards for caterers purchasing food and use its significant buying power
and influence to encourage more healthy and sustainable food production and consumption. The contract for the primary school meals has set the benchmark high, with all 7000 meals served every day being freshly prepared, featuring MSC fish, local free-range eggs and accredited by the Bronze standard Food for Life Catering Mark. Our Good Food Procurement Group brings together in-house and contract caterers from workplaces, venues, hospitals, universities, secondary schools, colleges and the council a couple of times a year to share ideas and experiences to improve the food they serve. If you’d like to attend on behalf of your organisation, email chloe@bhfood.org.uk Turn over to find out what your wokplace can do… bhfood.org.uk 19
Feature
…continued
What you can do as an employer:
What you can do as an employee:
The areas we can provide support for are:
• Tell us about your workplace canteen – good or bad, we’d like to hear from you. chloe@bhfood.org.uk • Speak to your caterer, ask them to take steps to improve the food they serve, such as only serving sustainable fish, free-range eggs and providing healthy options for all meal choices • If your employer buys fruit, snacks and breakfast goods – ask them to shop from independent retailers to support the local economy • Share recipes and food waste tips with your colleagues • Start composting at work! • Become a member of the Food Partnership. Sign up to our newsletter and stay up to date with food events and news www.bhfood.org.uk/join
• Healthier catering • Information and support on achieving Food for Life catering mark • Links and support on how to achieve Marine Stewardship Council certification • Sustainable fish • Sourcing local and seasonal food • Fairtrade • Promoting sustainable & healthy menu choices • Bespoke workshops on growing, cooking, nutrition, reducing food waste and composting • Information on national campaigns and promotions that your organisation can tap into • Team challenge days We have a section on our website dedicated to helping organisations and businesses: www.bhfood.org.uk/organisations
20 city food news
How to compost your office teabags Follow these steps to turn that pile of teabags, coffee grounds and banana skins into black gold: Firstly make some composting friends at work to support your initiative and consider the options of composting on site or using a food waste collection service. If your building has some outside space, you can compost on site using a plastic bin, womery or wooden compost boxes, which can be kept locked. Plastic compost bins are low cost and available to buy from the council’s ‘Get Composting’ page. It’s also worth checking online for some pre loved ones. To get you started we can offer you some basic advice on how to set up your scheme and tips on how to look after it. When the compost is ready it can be donated to a local community garden or school, further linking your organisation with the surrounding community. If your office has no outdoor space, you can compost indoors
using a table-top wormery. Alternately, Brighton Paper Round offers a food waste collection service to organisations and businesses including cafes and restaurants. They charge per bag collected, so there is no contract to sign. Paper Round converts the food waste into biogas to produce clean renewable electricity and liquid biofertiliser to spread on farmland so you know your waste is going to good use. If you are interested in setting up a scheme, get in touch with any questions. Jo@bhfood.org.uk
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Food Growing
Grow food in the office If your office has a windowsill that gets regular sunshine you can grow herbs, salad, chillies and even radishes. Choose windowsills that get plenty of sun – five hours a day or more. For salad crops you can try lettuces, rocket, winter purslane and even pea shoots. If you sow the seeds little and often, and treat as a cut and come again crop you will be able to have fresh and delicious ‘office’-grown salad leaves. Herbs are a great introduction to indoor edible gardening that can be added to your lunches. You can grow soft herbs such as Basil, Parsley and Chives, making sure you keep them well watered. For a spicy edge to your indoor office growing, compact and bushy Chilli varieties such as Apache and Prairie Fire can be grown on a windowsill that gets plenty of sunlight. However you need to make sure that sufficient pollination is taking place as insect pollination indoors is minimal. Using a small paintbrush gently rub the insides of the flowers and move pollen from bloom to bloom, mimicking an insect doing its work outside. Radishes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow both indoors and outdoors, and they’re ready to eat in around three weeks. It is a good idea to place your 22 city food news
containers/pots on a plate, tray or trough so that the water doesn’t seep through the holes in the bottom and onto your windowsill or your desk. The plate or trough can also act as a reservoir so that when you aren’t around for a few days, or during a sunny spell, the compost around the roots can be kept moist. When choosing containers, choose the deepest that you can - for salad leaves, herbs and radishes a pot 14cm across and 20cm depth is enough for good growth. Save yourself some money and make your planters from recycled materials such as large yoghurt pots, cans, plastic containers and newspaper. Let us know how you get on. Send us your photos, and we’ll include them next time. caroline@bhfood.org.uk
Start growing at your next away day Can digging really help build a healthy and productive workforce? Well apparently so… Over the past few years we have helped to arrange corporate volunteer days in community gardens in Brighton & Hove for large companies such AMEX, BUPA and Legal & General, as well as smaller local businesses. Corporate volunteering offers teams of work colleagues the chance to have a fun day out of the office whilst supporting local community projects. It has significant benefits in promoting team building, personal development, motivation; it’s a great stress buster and helps companies meet their social responsibility aims. Activities and challenges may range from helping to build raised beds, compost bins or sheds, to clearing ground and planting and harvesting. Some activities are seasonal and each session can be a half day or full day, tailored to suit the needs and abilities of the people in your group. If your company would like swap your computers for spades and become a team of gardeners for a day we would love to hear from you. jo@bhfood.org.uk
“Just spent a brilliant day volunteering. A bunch of us went from work and helped weed out old beds to make them ready for planting. It was really satisfying work in beautiful surroundings with refreshing cups of lemon balm and mint tea! Altogether a great experience, one which we all thoroughly enjoyed” BUPA employee “This was my first company community day and I was particularly impressed by how everyone worked together as a team. I had a fantastic experience and would love to do this again” KINEO E learning employee
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Community Nutrition
Eat well and stay active at work By Sophie Bradley, Healthy Weight Referral Coordinator Making exercise fit into your routine Given the chance my brain comes up with a hundred reasons not to do exercise later in the day, so I do mine first thing. For me, cycling to work is the easiest way to consistently exercise during the week. Once I’m at work I have no choice but to cycle home so exercise becomes part of my daily routine. I rely less on coffee because the cycle wakes me up.
Book a free workplace health check Did you know we offer free health checks for people at work? Recently, we coordinated a health check event with staff at the Wellesbourne centre in Whitehawk where the public could drop in any time on a particular day to access free healthy lifestyle information, a free weight health check and mini consultation. We used our special Tanita scales that also measure body fat and muscle mass. Thanks to the cooperation of Wellesbourne staff, including the 24 city food news
centre staff texting patients to promote the event and nurses on the day referring relevant people on to us, this event was a roaring success. Many people also signed up to one of our free programmes or clinics. Or to a different team at the Food Partnership, such as the cookery team. We also run health check events aimed at staff, such as at the local council offices. If your workplace is interested in a free health check event then get in touch on 01273 431 700. By Susan Morgan, Health Promotion Dietitian
I’ve done more steps than you! I used to live precisely seven minutes walk from work. When I got a Fitbit activity tracker I was appalled to discover that at work I hardly moved at all. The graph showed me sitting down for hours before shuffling home again. Having a pedometer or activity tracker makes it easier to find ways to fit more steps into the day e.g. taking the stairs. Now I get files from the cabinet one by one and a colleague suggested moving the bin away from my desk. Fitbit syncs to a website where I can compare my activity, so I can see when my friends and family have done more steps than me – making me more likely to go out for a run or an extra walk to beat them that day.
Eat before I’m ravenous If I have lunch before I’m really hungry I avoid feeling too low on energy and prevent the downward spiral towards thinking, “I’m hungry, I’ll grab anything that’s to hand, healthy or not”. I therefore have a regular time for lunch and stick to it. Setting a phone alarm can help this become a habit. On the other hand, aiming not to have eaten all your lunch too early in the day is helpful in reducing the temptation to go out and buy an unexpected extra – not great for the budget or the waistline. Spreading out your lunch, saving a piece of fruit for later, makes resisting the office biscuits that bit easier.
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Food Waste
Cut food waste and get sharing at the office By Vera Zakharov An over-stuffed fridge with heaps of mystery leftovers; a mess left in the sink; food gone missing. Sounds like a disorganised kitchen in a student house, but office kitchens can suffer from the same symptoms. It doesn’t have to be that way! All the common sense strategies that help you avoid food waste at home can be utilised in the office. Here are the Food Partnership’s tried and tested top tips for a zero food waste office kitchen. And it's not just about the bin. These tips can encourage an environment of sharing and enjoying food – a sure-fire way to bring your office together! The Fridge • It’s a small shared space so make sure it's organised well. • Have a permanent marker to hand so people can mark what’s theirs, or note that something (such as juice) can be shared with others. 26 city food news
• An overstuffed fridge will get warmer, so turn down the dial, or better yet get a fridge thermometer. • Know the right fridge spot for the right foods, like the lowermost shelf for your leftovers. Get the know-how at www.bhfood.org.uk/love-foodhate-waste. Compost caddy • Get composting at work already! Turn back to the next article to find out how and why your office should do it. Sharing corner • This is our favourite part of the kitchen at the Food Partnership, it’s a place to bring in a glut or a leftover cake from home. We’ve tried countless recipes and have enjoyed eating together. Not to mention all that food waste avoided. Start a sharing corner of your own. • If you have biscuits or fruit leftover from a meeting, why not share those too before they lose their freshness.
, miss... Don t Summer 2014 Spring Seedling Swap (FREE) Sun 18th May, 11am-2pm Preston Park Demo Garden, Preston Park, behind the Rotunda Café. Film – The Origins of the Apple Sat 31st May, 7.30-9.30pm The Brighthelm Centre, North Road Brighton & Hove Foodies Festival 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2014, 11am-7pm Hove Lawns Guided walk - Out and About in the Orchard (FREE) Thursday 10th July, 14th Aug & Sep 11th, 10.3012.15 Racehill Community Orchard Talk – Eating for Health (FREE) Fri 2nd May, 8pm Community Base, Queens Road Food Partnership Member Foodie Pub Quiz (FREE) Thurs 5th June, 6.309.30pm Quadrant Pub, Queens Road
The Level Community Celebration (FREE) Sat 14th June, 10am-6pm The Level Sussex Festival of Nature (FREE) Sun 22nd June, 11am-5pm Stanmer Park
Courses
Events
Grow and Tell workshops Sat 31st May, Sat 21st June, Sun 27th July & 20th Sept, 11am-1pm Plot 103, Weald Avenue Allotments An Introduction to Wormeries (FREE) Mon 2nd June, 1-3pm BUFCP Allotment
Cookery leader training Garden Gadabout Tue 6th May & Sat 21st-29th June Wed 7th May, Visit Various locations 10am-4.30pm the What’s Lewes On page on Community our website for Introduction to Permaculture Kitchen full listings Sat 21st June, Sun 22nd June, Sat 6th Crops in Pots Sept, Sun 7th Sept, Sat 10th May. 10am-3pm 9.30am-5pm. Varndean College Stanmer Park, Brighton. Bread making with Real Patisserie Markets Sat 10th May, 10.30amGeorge Street Farmers 4pm Market, every Saturday, Real Patisserie, New 10am-3pm. England House Churchill Square Farmers Market, every Culinary Herb Planting Wednesday, 10am-4pm. (FREE) Upper Gardner Street Mon 12th May, 1-3pm Market, every Saturday, BUFCP Allotment 8am-5pm. Farm Market, North Care of fruit trees Sat 24th May & Mon 26th Road, every Saturday, 9.30am-3.30pm. May, 9.30am-4.30pm Stanmer Park, Brighton bhfood.org.uk 27
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