Last week, we held our groundbreaking Good Food For All workshop.

One of the most positive aspects of the workshop was bringing together a wide range of stakeholders with various areas of expertise. Participants included representatives from local government, Cambridge University, the NHS Foundation Trust, COFCO, Sustainable Food Cities and Cambridge Sustainable Food. The workshop was a demonstration of the collaboration needed to make the Good Food For All project a success.

Participants used the ‘Value Mapping Toolkit’, developed by the Institute for Manufacturing, to identify opportunities lost through food poverty and the value that could be gained if these opportunities were properly harnessed. They analysed the way people are accessing food at present, the inherent inequalities of that system and how it is giving rise to food poverty, and  then worked to devise solutions in which the Sustainable Food Hub will make good quality, healthy and sustainably produced food more accessible to local households that are on a low income. Because what is being sought is missed value opportunities, the solutions should have little or no financial cost for organisations involved.

The workshop lasted all day (with a break for a delicious vegan lunch). It began with brainstorming using post-it notes on ‘value explorers’. Participants then broke into groups featuring a range of organisations and mapped out how they imagined the Good Food For All project would work, before presenting their ideas. Key ideas included ‘Education’, ‘NHS Vouchers’, ‘Procurement’ and ‘Research Potential’. Diagrams were created highlighting the potential for value exchange between different organisations, an example of which can be seen below.

Whilst there is still a lot of work to be done on the Good Food For All scheme, the workshop was an essential first step towards ensuring this innovative project becomes a reality, delivering tangible benefits for all members of our community.

“With the Good Food for All Scheme, we’re aiming for a paradigm shift, moving beyond
emergency food provision schemes that operate under the premise that ‘any food is better than nothing’, towards ensuring that everyone in our community, regardless of income level, can access healthy, sustainably produced fresh fruit and vegetables. In doing so, we will be able to reduce environmental impact, food waste, and inequality
in our society.” ~ Organisers of the Good Food For All workshop

“‘The outcome of the workshop is a set of embryonic ideas which, when developed further, will lead to the creation of an innovative business model that goes beyond conventional two-way value exchanges. This will result in a much more equitable distribution of food so that all people within a community can eat healthily, and in which the hidden costs of ‘cheap’ food are not passed on to public health providers or the environment. The ramifications of successfully delivering what we have set out to achieve would be very exciting indeed.” ~ Duncan Catchpole