In 2024, we celebrated two decades of transformative work, marking 20 years since we helped form the first food partnership in Brighton & Hove. This model – of working cross-sectorally across a food system – has now flourished into a national network of over 100 partnerships. But this milestone was just one chapter in a year filled with growth and learning. Here, we share a bitesized reflection on the contributions we’ve made across our three main areas of focus (below)—and invite you to explore the full Annual Report from the financial year 2023-24 for a deeper dive.
Transforming Food Systems – supporting the successful development of food partnerships to strengthen local food systems
Food and Criminal Justice – working to see food as central to rehabilitation and recovery in the criminal justice system
Capacity Building – helping groups and communities navigate complex or divisive issues
Transforming Food Systems
Sustainable Food Places:
We work in partnership with Sustain and the Soil Association to deliver the Sustainable Food Places programme (SFP). SFP initiates and supports the growth and development local food partnerships (LFPs). By fostering cross-sectoral connections, LFPs facilitate food system transformation. We design and deliver training for LFPs, supporting them to engage in meaningful community conversations.
- SFP reached a milestone, with 100 food partnerships across the UK now part of this network.
- 11 food partnerships received grants to support their work on engaging their communities in conversations about food systems change. Their reflections were shared through webinars, peer learning sessions, and case studies.
- 1,200+ case studies of food partnership impact, documented across 33 food system impact areas, now sit in the Sustainable Food Places impact hub which we helped launch in January. This hub shows tangible actions that partnerships have taken and the ways it has had impact, to help make the case for more investment in food partnerships.
- 22 food partnerships received a SFP award this year, with 7 silver and 15 bronze titles awarded. This year the awards process underwent a full review, with the Food Matters team contributing to the redesign of the awards, through leading the participatory processes that were part of the network consultation.
Policy, Advocacy, and Campaigning:
We were part of the campaigning team taking action against the impacts of the cost-of-living, looking at measures such as extending the household support fund. We joined a national coalition of food campaign charities to petition for policy interventions including retaining the Household Support Fund in the short term whilst reviewing welfare support systems in the long term. The HSF has currently been extended to March 2025.
- We developed and deliver the REDI for Change: Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion toolkit, supporting food partnerships to engage with meaningful and structural anti-racist practices.
- Engaged with over 50 MPs at the SFP Day of Celebration and Action in Parliament.
- Spoke at ‘the future of crisis support’ meeting with 180 attendees The Household Support Fund was later extended to March 2025.
- From Australia to Brighton, the REDI review tool was used by food partnerships to help them appraise, consider, and transform their local food systems.
Building + supporting partnership working:
We delivered a learning programme as part of the Greater London Authority ‘Food Roots 2’ programme, which offers financial support, training, networking, and peer support to food partnerships and poverty alliances across London to create more resilient partnerships to support strategic long-term work on food insecurity in the city.
We worked with the Greater Brighton Economic Board to identify potential food systems infrastructure investments that could be made across the Greater Brighton region, culminating in a systems change project fro the region called ‘Greater Brighton: The Future of Food’, which will feed into a Greater Brighton Food Plan due to be published this year.
We continued to coordinate and grow the ‘Good Food East Sussex’ network, leading the development of their long-term strategy and developing a ‘Good Food for East Sussex’ campaign toolkit.
- We worked with 21 food partnerships and poverty alliances providing facilitation, peer support, buddying elements, and training
- Worked with 7 local authorities, 3 major educational establishments, and 4 business partners over 3 months to create the Greater Brighton Future of Food.
- Worked with the 4 local food partnerships in the Good Food East Sussex network with over 255 members, holding 1 strategy foundry event and 1 ‘suppleirs and buyers’ event with over 50 attendees. Through demonstrating the value of network + partnership working, East Sussex County Council committed £250,000 longer-term funding for East Sussex food partnerships.
Food and Criminal Justice
Her and His Wellbeing:
We worked with digital teams at multiple prisons to pilot interactive versions of our Her and His Wellbeing publications, which provide information to support wellbeing with a food focus.
- Reached all 122 prisons in England and Wales through in-cell digital content, with a potential readership of 88,000.
- Distributed 3,000+ hard copies of “Her Wellbeing” to women in prison.
- Published 12 monthly nutrition columns in Inside Time, reaching the custodial audience.
- All 26 back issues of Her Wellbeing and 8 issues of His Wellbeing are available in PDF format to people residing in the 18 prisons, where everyone has access to an in-cell Launchpad laptop.
The Feel Good Food Club:
We have piloted an interactive online version of our in-cell learning course, ‘The Feel Good Food Club’.
- Our course was used as a flagship model to demonstrate the use of Moodle in enrichment courses for prisoners.
Food Matters in Prisons:
We published a policy briefing, Food Matters in Prisons, highlighting how food can improve prison life, and where opportunities already exist for this work to happen. We begun producing a monthly nutrition and recipe column in Inside Time newspaper, a charity-published monthly newspaper available to all men and women serving custodial sentences.
- 14 research organisations + NGOs contributed to this report. We have worked with 100s of prisoners over our 12 years working in prisons, which fed into this report.
- 2 webinars with nearly 200 sign-ups were held on the topic of ‘Exploring Best Practice’ and ‘The Role of Food Within a Rehabilitative Culture’ to disseminate the findings of the report and stimulate discussion. The report was featured in 1 podcast episode, 10 articles by national + international publications, 3 further blogs on our website, and received over 6000 impressions on X.
Capacity Building
Community Cookery
We deliver food and wellbeing sessions in the community, including running the year-long ‘MoodAF’ programme working with young people experiencing trauma and disadvantage, delivering sessions that combine cooking with wellbeing activities focusing on gut health, mindful eating, harvesting + foraging, and more.
We also developed a bespoke webinar for Carers UK as part of their Healthathon webinar.
- Worked with 7 different organisations supporting young people across Brighton & Hove to deliver MoodAF.
- Delivered 1 bespoke webinar for the Carers Active April campaign, and 2 sessions on food + wellbeing for the East Sussex Social Work Team as part of Word Social Work Day.
Facilitation
We use participatory facilitation approaches to develop and facilitate workshops and major events for our own, and our partners’, projects.
- We facilitated over 25 workshops, meetings, and strategy + away days, with organisations ranging from Sustain to Leicestershire County Council
Want to be involved with Food Matters over 2025? Stay up-to-date with our latest news via our newsletter here; learn more about our consultation, evaluation, and facilitation services here; and check out our various toolkits and reports here.
In 2024, we celebrated two decades of transformative work, marking 20 years since we helped form the first food partnership in Brighton & Hove. This model – of working cross-sectorally across a food system – has now flourished into a national network of over 100 partnerships. But this milestone was just one chapter in a year filled with growth and learning. Here, we share a bitesized reflection on the contributions we’ve made across our three main areas of focus (below)—and invite you to explore the full Annual Report from the financial year 2023-24 for a deeper dive.
Transforming Food Systems – supporting the successful development of food partnerships to strengthen local food systems
Food and Criminal Justice – working to see food as central to rehabilitation and recovery in the criminal justice system
Capacity Building – helping groups and communities navigate complex or divisive issues
Transforming Food Systems
Sustainable Food Places:
We work in partnership with Sustain and the Soil Association to deliver the Sustainable Food Places programme (SFP). SFP initiates and supports the growth and development local food partnerships (LFPs). By fostering cross-sectoral connections, LFPs facilitate food system transformation. We design and deliver training for LFPs, supporting them to engage in meaningful community conversations.
- SFP reached a milestone, with 100 food partnerships across the UK now part of this network.
- 11 food partnerships received grants to support their work on engaging their communities in conversations about food systems change. Their reflections were shared through webinars, peer learning sessions, and case studies.
- 1,200+ case studies of food partnership impact, documented across 33 food system impact areas, now sit in the Sustainable Food Places impact hub which we helped launch in January. This hub shows tangible actions that partnerships have taken and the ways it has had impact, to help make the case for more investment in food partnerships.
- 22 food partnerships received a SFP award this year, with 7 silver and 15 bronze titles awarded. This year the awards process underwent a full review, with the Food Matters team contributing to the redesign of the awards, through leading the participatory processes that were part of the network consultation.
Policy, Advocacy, and Campaigning:
We were part of the campaigning team taking action against the impacts of the cost-of-living, looking at measures such as extending the household support fund. We joined a national coalition of food campaign charities to petition for policy interventions including retaining the Household Support Fund in the short term whilst reviewing welfare support systems in the long term. The HSF has currently been extended to March 2025.
- We developed and deliver the REDI for Change: Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion toolkit, supporting food partnerships to engage with meaningful and structural anti-racist practices.
- Engaged with over 50 MPs at the SFP Day of Celebration and Action in Parliament.
- Spoke at ‘the future of crisis support’ meeting with 180 attendees The Household Support Fund was later extended to March 2025.
- From Australia to Brighton, the REDI review tool was used by food partnerships to help them appraise, consider, and transform their local food systems.
Building + supporting partnership working:
We delivered a learning programme as part of the Greater London Authority ‘Food Roots 2’ programme, which offers financial support, training, networking, and peer support to food partnerships and poverty alliances across London to create more resilient partnerships to support strategic long-term work on food insecurity in the city.
We worked with the Greater Brighton Economic Board to identify potential food systems infrastructure investments that could be made across the Greater Brighton region, culminating in a systems change project fro the region called ‘Greater Brighton: The Future of Food’, which will feed into a Greater Brighton Food Plan due to be published this year.
We continued to coordinate and grow the ‘Good Food East Sussex’ network, leading the development of their long-term strategy and developing a ‘Good Food for East Sussex’ campaign toolkit.
- We worked with 21 food partnerships and poverty alliances providing facilitation, peer support, buddying elements, and training
- Worked with 7 local authorities, 3 major educational establishments, and 4 business partners over 3 months to create the Greater Brighton Future of Food.
- Worked with the 4 local food partnerships in the Good Food East Sussex network with over 255 members, holding 1 strategy foundry event and 1 ‘suppleirs and buyers’ event with over 50 attendees. Through demonstrating the value of network + partnership working, East Sussex County Council committed £250,000 longer-term funding for East Sussex food partnerships.
Food and Criminal Justice
Her and His Wellbeing:
We worked with digital teams at multiple prisons to pilot interactive versions of our Her and His Wellbeing publications, which provide information to support wellbeing with a food focus.
- Reached all 122 prisons in England and Wales through in-cell digital content, with a potential readership of 88,000.
- Distributed 3,000+ hard copies of “Her Wellbeing” to women in prison.
- Published 12 monthly nutrition columns in Inside Time, reaching the custodial audience.
- All 26 back issues of Her Wellbeing and 8 issues of His Wellbeing are available in PDF format to people residing in the 18 prisons, where everyone has access to an in-cell Launchpad laptop.
The Feel Good Food Club:
We have piloted an interactive online version of our in-cell learning course, ‘The Feel Good Food Club’.
- Our course was used as a flagship model to demonstrate the use of Moodle in enrichment courses for prisoners.
Food Matters in Prisons:
We published a policy briefing, Food Matters in Prisons, highlighting how food can improve prison life, and where opportunities already exist for this work to happen. We begun producing a monthly nutrition and recipe column in Inside Time newspaper, a charity-published monthly newspaper available to all men and women serving custodial sentences.
- 14 research organisations + NGOs contributed to this report. We have worked with 100s of prisoners over our 12 years working in prisons, which fed into this report.
- 2 webinars with nearly 200 sign-ups were held on the topic of ‘Exploring Best Practice’ and ‘The Role of Food Within a Rehabilitative Culture’ to disseminate the findings of the report and stimulate discussion. The report was featured in 1 podcast episode, 10 articles by national + international publications, 3 further blogs on our website, and received over 6000 impressions on X.
Capacity Building
Community Cookery
We deliver food and wellbeing sessions in the community, including running the year-long ‘MoodAF’ programme working with young people experiencing trauma and disadvantage, delivering sessions that combine cooking with wellbeing activities focusing on gut health, mindful eating, harvesting + foraging, and more.
We also developed a bespoke webinar for Carers UK as part of their Healthathon webinar.
- Worked with 7 different organisations supporting young people across Brighton & Hove to deliver MoodAF.
- Delivered 1 bespoke webinar for the Carers Active April campaign, and 2 sessions on food + wellbeing for the East Sussex Social Work Team as part of Word Social Work Day.
Facilitation
We use participatory facilitation approaches to develop and facilitate workshops and major events for our own, and our partners’, projects.
- We facilitated over 25 workshops, meetings, and strategy + away days, with organisations ranging from Sustain to Leicestershire County Council
Want to be involved with Food Matters over 2025? Stay up-to-date with our latest news via our newsletter here; learn more about our consultation, evaluation, and facilitation services here; and check out our various toolkits and reports here.
