The Food Point x Cooking Class
Centrepoint have this amazing initiative called The Food Point. This is a social supermarket filled with donated produce, which provides Centrepoint users with simple advice to ensure they can create a nutritious meal out of their shopping.
Food insecurity is something nearly all young people supported by Centrepoint struggle with. When young people don’t have access to enough affordable, nutritious food, it can lead to poor eating habits. 60% of the young people surveyed in London and the North were skipping meals and going hungry because they didn’t have enough money for food and around 40% said they didn’t know how to cook at all, never having had the guidance from a guardian to show them how.
Many young people at Centrepoint would rather buy a takeout and then go hungry for a few days. This way they know they will have had at least one meal that they will like rather than risking a failed attempt at cooking. It might be difficult to understand this if you know your way around the kitchen, but when you’ve never eaten a home cooked meal this is all you know.
The food industry throws away 1.9 million tonnes of food a year and 250,000 tonnes of that is still edible. Centrepoint works with food waste charities to give a new life to this good quality surplus food that would otherwise be binned.
The supermarket is led by dietitian, Isabel, who walks the shop floor with the young people, supporting them to do a balanced shop, giving nutrition advice and helping with any dietary requirements. They're also provided with food safety information and guidance to help them navigate 'use by' and 'best before' dates, which foods go in the fridge or the freezer, and when foods are no longer safe to eat. Volunteer chef Ben is also on hand to give cooking tips and provide recipe ideas
Our relationship to food is intrinsically linked to our mental health, particularly for those who are experiencing food insecurity. For Centrepoint clients, worrying about when their next meal will be has a profound effect on their mental wellbeing. Another issue is universal credit being a big problem for many of Centrepoint’s clients. The long assessment period means that young people can be without any money for several weeks. The system requires you to have computer access, to be really on top of what’s happening. Often young people get sanctioned, and these sanctions can leave a young person without payments for another four weeks.
When this is the case, the Food Point is a vital service for the young people. New residents can also use the shop for free for six weeks – this helps to advertise the shop, but also alleviates their worries, particularly as it’s likely their benefits won’t kick in right away. The food shops have a variety of foods and are a massive step for many young people who have never had the opportunity to do a 'food shop' like many of us. The Food Point aims to give young people the chance to experiment with food, even if they haven’t got much to spend on it. It also provides a social space for the young people, to learn together.
As this is clearly a crucial initiative, we were delighted to base one of our next fundraising events on this in the form of a cooking class led by the talented Oliver Tarrant! This was a cook along session, with good food and company. Over 90 minutes we learnt to cook some delicious Harissa Crostini and an amazing Ragu Bianco with a minimum donation is £25, of which all proceeds going to Centrepoint.
We thank everyone for their support of the session, it's helping change young people's lives.
