Blog & GroupsRead the Good Food Report 👉 here
Produced in 2022, published in 2023, for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, with Sustain, and a panel of resident researchers (see blog below).
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or Visit the LBBD Good Food Partnership + Opportunities Webpage 👉 here
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As we like to say, Company Drinks is about much more than just bottling fizz. Our community enterprise is a shared production cycle which involves collaborators, partners, friends, exchanges, nature, wellbeing, commerce and community. We have always been interested in supporting healthier food systems and more collaborative food networks….. This is something we’ve explored over the years in our annual picking and drinks-making, our Digesting Politics Lunch Talks, our foraging walks, our visits to farms, our Molecular Fizz workshops and Youth Academy, our work with the Good Food Collective, and, most recently, our HAF Programmes with Made Up Kitchen….
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In 2022 we dug deeper into these ideas and networks, and we were commissioned by LBBD to work with the food charity Sustain on a piece of research to inform a Good Food Plan for Barking and Dagenham.
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The aim of this research was to develop an understanding of the local food landscape and the great work already happening in the borough, to identify the challenges and opportunities of our food systems, and to propose a set of recommendations for a healthier, more climate-friendly, more affordable, more culturally appropriate and nourishing local food system, for everyone.
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This blog tells you how we went about doing so….
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In June 2022, we were commissioned to carry out the Good Food plan research project in partnership with the food charity Sustain. Having spent 8 years already informally connecting to local food growers and initiatives, we knew that a priority would be to spread our reach and to partner with local residents to ensure we were speaking to the people who are usually excluded from this kind of strategic research….
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So in June we put a call out to our network and recruited a panel of 6 local residents, each working in some way connected to food, each representing the experiences and the cultural diversity of the borough. The Resident Research Panel are:
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- Kamila Bourouiba (Couleur Cafe, Barking)
- Andrew Williams (Hustle Eats)
- Nia Lopez (Thames Life Community Development Trust)
- Emdad Rahman (CST, local voluntary sector)
- Elisabetta Nasta (Local resident / EOED member)
- Mide Allen (permaculturist, Farmstead Project, Fruitful Garden)
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Together we set about coming up with a plan for going out into our communities, talking to residents, and hearing how people feel about local food topics, issues, initiatives and challenges.
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Here’s a summary of our research methodology and how we worked in partnership with the Resident Research Panel.
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Through working with the resident research panel we were able to interview a total of 367 residents from across the borough.
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Throughout June – Sept we also established an online survey for those who couldn’t attend our in-person sessions at Company Drinks or with the resident panel.
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We asked people for their feedback on a range of topics relating to food, and asked them to tell us their favourite dish, so that we could really get a taste of the rich, cultural diversity of our borough, through food!
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In addition to the resident interviews and online surveys, during the research process, we also went out into our community and interviewed local partner organisations, from across various sectors. We spoke with food growing initiatives, community groups, youth organisations and social enterprises. The aim was to get a broad, holistic view of the local challenges, needs, opportunities and ambitions, and to collate these alongside the feedback from residents.
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As part of this research we also carried out a series of workshops and visit to learn from people who we think are doing really great and inspiring work to tackle these four important categories… We identified four Good Food Champions, a series or organisations or individuals, who shared their stories and their learnings with a group of local residents, the Research Panel and partners.
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The Good Food Champions were…
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1. Land, Planet and Produce:
Growing Communities Dagenham Farm
Visit the Growing Communities website here, and a find out more about Dagenham Farm here.
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2. Better Access to Healthier, Fresher, Climate-Friendly Food:
Made Up Kitchen’s Kiran Chahal and the Explore the Wild: HAF’s Grace Duggan
Visit Made Up Kitchen’s website here, and visit Grace Duggan’s instagram page here.
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3. Good Food Enterprise:
Claire Pritchard, Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency (GCDA)
Visit the GDCA website here.
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4. Local Governance and Advocacy:
Dee Woods (Granville Community Kitchen, Landworkers’ Alliance and more…)
Read a great interview with Dee Woods here, and visit the Granville Community Kitchen website here.
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In a final co-production workshop with the Resident Research Panel, Sustain and LBBD, we shared feedback from all the research activities, and together drew out the most common and most pressing themes, and from this we came up with the 8 Community Demands…
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With sustain in the room, we were able to hand these demands over for some guidance on a set of strategic and practical recommendations to help guide LBBD in the process of developing a Good Food Partnership, an Action Plan, and an initial set of funded activities.
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These recommendations all fell into four categories, which we think capture the full scope of what makes a healthy, affordable, planet-friendly and culturally appropriate food system for everyone… Those categories are:
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We are extremely proud of the report, and how it has brought local, specialist voices to the decision-making process. With the cost of living crisis (or ‘Inequality Crisis’), climate crisis and nature crisis all taking their toll, there’s never been a more pressing need to rethink our food system and to support residents across the borough to play an active part in both demanding change and creating it.
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If you’d like to read more about the council’s Good Food Action Plan in response to the research, you can visit the LBBD webpage for the Good Food Partnership and Action Plan, and you can sign up to the Food Partnership mailing list to receive updates on future activities and opportunities.
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👉 Read the report + check out our full blog here
👉 Sign up to the LBBD Good Food Partnership Mailing List here
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A big thank you to LBBD for supporting this work, in particular Jo Wilson and Tess Lanning, and to the Resident Research Panel for helping to deliver this work. Thanks to Sustain for collaborating with us and helping to deliver a truly community-minded set of recommendations. Thank you to everyone who attended workshops, filled in surveys, joined us at the kitchen table and contributed to the research! A full list of collaborators, Good Food Champions and partners can be found below….
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If you’re interested in working with us on collaborative food programmes and research, or to find out more about this project… 👉 Email cam@companydrinks.info
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And check out the blog from Resident Panel Member Kamila Bourouiba below!
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THE GOOD FOOD PLAN: RESIDENT RESEARCH PANEL :
Blog by Resident Research Panel member Kamila Bourouiba
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6 Resident Research Panel members, 4 meetings between June and September, 367 people engaged.
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One set of demands… making a collective vision for a Good Food Plan
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Our Good Food Residents Panel was formed in early summer following a targeted outreach through Company Drinks’ local partners We formed a group of 6, who have experience of living and/ or working in the borough. Our panelists are all passionate about food issues in our communities and represent the cultural diversity in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
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Introducing our Residents Research Panel:
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Kamila Bourouiba (Couleur Cafe, Barking)
Andrew Williams (Hustle Eats)
Nia Lopez (Thames Life Community Development Trust)
Emdad Rahman (CST, local voluntary sector)
Elisabetta Nasta (Local resident / EOED member)
Mide Allen (permaculturist, Farmstead Project, Fruitful Garden)
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We held 4 meetings throughout this period, 3 of which took place before the research began and helped us shape the project. Focusing on ensuring better engagement across the borough. This was done mainly through our panelists who, being local residents, could each focus on our own networks allowing barriers of engagement to be broken through our personal connections with our communities.
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In order to raise more awareness, we set up our “Open Kitchen” drop-in consultations at the Company Drinks Pavilion and held meetings with local partners and partner organisations who joined us in open conversation to develop an understanding of existing growing, cooking, health and wellbeing options. They also identified our challenges for providing healthy food and wellbeing and opportunities to overcome these.
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In August the time came to conduct our resident research. Before setting out and conducting our research we all received basic training in conducting social research through interviews and how to record qualitative data. We were also provided with care measures to safeguard both ourselves and our interviewees.
The Resident Research was conducted over the period of one month. Giving us plenty of time to reach out to our communities. Panelists had 1-1 or group conversations with fellow residents and workers of the borough focusing on our survey for guidance. This allowed us to collect the specific information we were looking for; what change our residents want to see in the food availability in the borough, and the apprehensiveness of some food businesses in how they would make the change and whether they would be supported with guidance.
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During our final panel meeting we discussed our research journeys and findings. This revealed that there was an overwhelming demand for change and through-out the response to the research there were 8 x Community Demands agreed together as a group with Sustain and LBBD present:
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- Access to healthier, fresher food
- The Good Food Plan must be inclusive
- Develop and celebrate our Local Food Champions
- Affordability and cost of living must be at the heart of the plan
- Nuture a culture of Good Food Businesses and Enterprises
- Building trust and long-term projects
- More local food growing
- More choice and cultural diversity
We hope to see these demands be the focus points for the much anticipated change we all want to see in our borough’s food economy.
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The Good Food Plan research was made in good company….
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Report produced by Company Drinks CIC and Sustain with support from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Company Drinks delivery team:
Cam Jarvis, and Kamila Bourouiba. With support from Kathrin Böhm, Shaun Tuck and Walter Hall.
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Sustain delivery team:
Ren Piercey, Bella Driessen, and Sarah Williams.
With support from Fran Bernhardt, Fiona McAllister, Aryo Feldman, Ruth Westcott, and Carys Kettlety
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Report design and production by An Endless Supply
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LBBD team:
Jo Wilson, Food Sector Development Lead, Lily McSweeney, School Food Partnership Coordinator, and Tess Lanning, Head of Inclusive Employment and Skills
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The Resident Research Panel:
Mide Allen (permaculturist, Farmstead Project, Fruitful Garden)
Kamila Bourouiba (Couleur Cafe, Barking)
Nia Lopez (Thames Life Community Development Trust)
Elisabetta Nasta (Local resident / EOED member)
Emdad Rahman (CST, local voluntary sector)
Andrew Williams (Hustle Eats)
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Thanks to the local residents who took the time to contribute to Resident Research Interviews or the Good Food Online Survey.
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Special thanks to all the local partners, who were generous with their time, and shared their experiences and future food plans with our team:
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Partners we interviewed: BDCVS, BD Giving, Barking & Dagenham Park Rangers, BeFirst, Couleur Cafe, Dagenham Library / Church Elm Food Hub, Elevate Her, Every One Every Day, Farmstead Project, Future M.O.L.D.S Communities, Growing Communities Dagenham Farm, John Smith House Consortium, Kingsley Hall Community Centre, Make Your Mark, Soul and Sound / Healthy Mind, Healthy Grind, Thames Life Community Development Trust, The National Trust at Stoneford Cottage Garden, The Osborne Partnership, Woodward Arts & Culture Centre
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The Good Food Champions:
Growing Communities Dagenham Farm (Katy Barker, Julie Brown, Alice Holden)
Made Up Collective and Company Drinks HAF team (Kiran Chahal and Grace Duggan),
Brent Right to Food (Alex Colas, Rajesh Makwana, Dee Woods)
GCDA (Claire Pritchard)
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The LBBD Officers:
Darren Tranter, Donna Thacker, Lily McSweeney, Andy Johnson and Rebecca Nunn
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Members of the Good Food Economy group:
Andy Johnson, Darren Tranter, Craig Fitt-Cook, Monica Needs, Zoe Christodoulou, Zoinul Abidin, Latifah Miah, Paul Starkey, Jill Gallagher, Lily McSweeney, Erik Stein
