Plymouth has high levels of child poverty and many people living in the city are at risk of food insecurity (particularly those living on lower incomes, such as families and older adults claiming benefit pensions). We know that we face a number of challenges in relation to food in the city. Food prices have risen, and some areas do not have access to affordable healthy food meaning that the number of people affected by food vulnerability continues to grow.
Food Plymouth’s current action on this theme is supporting the delivery of FoodSEqual, Plymouth. The Food Systems Equality Project (FoodSEqual) is part of the ‘Transforming the UK Food System for Health, People and a Healthy Environment SFP Programme’ a large, national research project funded by UKRI (UK Innovation and Research) which aims to fundamentally transform the UK food system by placing healthy people and a healthy environment at its centre.
The Food Equality Project consulted individuals and communities to co-create solutions and inform a Food and Poverty Action Plan for Plymouth. The project ended in 2021 and produced a host of important resources and a toolkit available via the link below.
Key resources
Healthy Start and Best Start Food: A Practical Guide
The aim of this guide is to provide support to families to help them to get the most out of the Healthy Start scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or the Best Start Foods scheme in Scotland. The guide provides a range of healthy family recipes using ingredients that can be bought through the Healthy Start or Best Start Foods schemes, and shows how these can feed the whole family.
