- The latest episode in the #Right2Food podcast series looks at Free School Meals – a government food scheme that has seen unprecedented exposure due to Marcus Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty campaign to extend the programme.
- The podcast, produced by award-winning Delicious podcast producer Gilly Smith and presented by The Food Foundation’s Children’s Right2Food Young Ambassadors, dissects the Free School Meals Scheme.
- Teen ambassadors Beth and Fayeth discuss the stigma around Free School Meals and the lack of healthy options offered to children on the scheme.
- The episode then looks at the trailblazing example of Scotland, where the Government have pioneered universal provision of Free School Meals to Year 4 children, with further extensions to the scheme planned.
The Food Foundation’s Right2Food podcast began in Lockdown as COVID quickly began to reveal the gaps in the food system. Its teenage ambassadors, all with lived experience of food poverty, had already been banging on the doors of Government, helped by their fellow ambassador, Dame Emma Thompson to get their voices heard, and had launched their Children’s Right to Food charter prior to the podcast.
Turning their phones into recorders and using Zoom to direct and produce, the young ambassadors co-created episodes with producer Gilly Smith. The first, Lockdown Life, was launched on BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme in July 2020 with our teenage food ambassadors co-presenting the show with Sheila Dillon.
In June this year, the podcast series won the prestigious award for Investigative Journalism at the Guild of Food Writers 2021.
The podcast has been used by the young food Ambassadors and the Food Foundation to raise awareness of the complexities of food poverty and has been heard by MPs and changemakers.
This is not just the story of food poverty, but of the extraordinary community spirit that emerged as a result of lockdown. It’s about the power of the phone and of Zoom to keep the ambassadors at the cutting edge of campaigning, using voice to take us right into the underbelly of British poverty. And to show impact as it reaches the seat of power.
©️ The Food Foundation is a charity working to influence food policy and business practice, shaping a sustainable food system which makes healthy diets affordable and accessible for all. 2021.