About TFTA
Talking Food Taking Action was all about community engagement...
Apart from eating it, most of us are totally disconnected from food, where it comes from and the system that produces it. Over time, we have completely lost sight of the true value of food. Our contention is that food choices are largely shaped by the food supply chain, that is, where it comes from, how it's grown, what goes in it, how its packaged, how much it costs, who can buy it and where it is sold.
Food and diet are issues which have become major concerns for people in the North West. Our Life believes that many of these problems are often largely attributable to the food system.
Our view is that understanding of the food process is low and that the appreciation of the value of food is also low. At the same time, little has been done to ask people what they want from their food and its supply.
In conjunction with local community-based partners, Our Life created a discussion - Talking Food Taking Action - around what kind of food system people want to see. The initiative won the Centre for Public Scrutiny's community influence award in June 2011.
Eight Food Inquiries across the North West brought together residents within deprived local areas of Lancashire, Cumbria, Merseyside and Cheshire, and Greater Manchester to share knowledge and experience and to consider the opinions of outside ‘experts'.
Food Insiders Inquiry
The first event, a Food Insiders Inquiry in May 2010, was organised for those who are on the inside of the food system in the North West but who have little power and few opportunities to have their voices heard.
Supermarket workers, allotment holders, food factory workers, mums and many others gathered in Skelmersdale to have their say about the food industry and the food system and how it could be improved.
Participants identified a range of issues which they felt needed to be discussed, including, supermarket power and the ingredients in the food people buy to help increase access to healthy food.
Visit the resources page to learn more about the Food Insiders Inquiry.
Local Inquiries
The Inquiries were held in Lancashire, Cumbria, Merseyside & Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Our Life supported local residents to lead their own inquiries into the food system and each inquiry saw members of a local community discussing the things that prevent them from accessing healthier food.
Those attending worked together to prioritise the barriers they face around food. They heard from experts on the subjects they had prioritised to learn why they exist and about how to campaign for change.
Visit the resources page to learn more about each of the Inquiries.
Young People's Inquiry
Young people also had their say. In partnership with North West Regional Youth Work Unit (NWRYWU) Our Life delivered the Young People's Food Inquiry to young people, all aged between 14 and 19, in Oldham.
Visit the resources page to learn more about the Young People's Inquiry
Campaign weekend
The weekend was the culmination of the ten months of food inquiries. It provided lots of opportunities to find out what issues all the inquiries had in common, for the participants to agree and set some priorities for a 'local vision for food' and to start to design some campaign actions to achieve this vision. You can read what happened during the campaign weekend here.
The real experts throughout the TFTA process have been the participants themselves, who have produced a shared vision and campaigns actions which they believe will allow the people of the North West easier access to healthy food, produced fairly and sustainably. Using this vision, the participants are taking targeted campaign actions to bring the changes they want to see, and you can read more the campaigns here.
