Sustainability is about more than just getting cars of the road, flying less or insulating our homes. It is about making sure that our way of life sustains the places we live in. A part of this that can be easily overlooked is the way we eat. To learn about what is happening in Liverpool we joined “A walking tour through the heart of Liverpool’s sustainable food scene” run by Helena Ashkanfar-Appleton, who is passionate about the topic and spreading the word among visitors and residents.
We met Helena over twelve years ago when she was working in the Baltic Triangle and already then, her love of good quality food was apparent. Since then, she retrained in environmental management at the University of Liverpool and subsequently worked in sustainable food organisations on sustainability strategies, as well as with food producers and charities working for a more sustainable food system.
After becoming a mother, with limited time and resources, she thought about how she could blow the trumpet for amazing local organisations who support access to local food and are tucked away from the main concourse, which most tourists would not be aware of. The walk starts at Squash – a community organisation based on Windsor Street in Toxteth centred around community, arts and health with the ambition to affect positive social change through education and participation. Their ambition becomes clear when they talk about their 100-year plan to transform the neighbourhood through inclusion and an approach close to nature. Their shop, café and garden is so impressive that it won the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2019 for Best Shop.
Anita welcomes us with delicious food and drinks and introduces the group into the work Squash is doing in the community and talks about the different places created over the years. They work closely with the local school and food producers in the area. In fact, the cream cheese we get to has been made by one of the team. And that is another thing that is done here: Empowering people through skills, confidence and training to start their own businesses. Here, food is about more than just being fuel, it is about community, self-determination and care. Outside the café you will find an A-frame with tokens, where everyone who can afford to, can “Soup it Forward”. This buys a soup for anyone less fortunate.
At this moment there is a need for support to access food in the city. It is currently provided by NGO’s including religious organisations rather than Liverpool City Council. One of the group members, who is visiting from Wales, mentions how for many people going to a food bank can carry a stigma and how in many places food pantries or community markets can be used without a referral.
After the meal and a stroll through the shop in which 80% of the produce is organic we walk on to the Grapes Community Food Garden talking along the way about the variety of local food producers based in the John Archer Hall.
In the garden Jackie joins us to tell about the workshops happening here: seed swaps, composting and cooking are part of the offer. Once we learn about the importance of sharing food and sitting together around the fire we suddenly forget how close we are to a busy city centre. The conversation turns to the meaning of gardens, togetherness and the benefits of spending time outdoors in gardens for mental health and wellbeing, which has found its way into social prescribing; in some places giving healthcare practitioners alternatives to prescribing drugs. Beyond sustainability there is a strong link between access to good food and better health outcomes.
While the garden was very inviting and tempted us to linger and explore, we had to move on with our walk and were guided through St. John’s Garden discussing foraging, nutrition and soil health and again, forgot that we were in the middle of a bustling metropolis debating the quality of the local spring water and the history and future of food in the city centre.
The tour culminates in Bold Street, which has over the years turned into a street revolving mostly around food. At Ropes & Twines we are welcomed by Tian with biodynamic wine and ethical chocolate and an immense knowledge about his produce. Surprisingly, the talk turns to the soil again. And yes, it makes sense that to create a great product that grows from the soil, you have to take care of it and nurture it and suddenly, despite this place being so different from our starting point today, there is the connection: Care for your produce, care for the land, care for the plants, for the community. The wines are created with passion and care and it shows in the way they taste. The pairing with the chocolate and charcuterie board works supremely well and we feel very well cared for.
It gives us a strange sense of joy to eat something that has been made in our region, especially knowing about the background. The award-winning Table chocolate is the first bean to bar chocolate produced here and not just is the taste divine, but the idea that the production shows care to every person in the chain, by paying a fair wage to bean producers, making sure the beans are of the highest quality and preventing slavery, makes it taste even better. The same goes for the charcuterie lovingly made in Bootle by North by Sud-Ouest another award winner. All the pork used is by Edge & Son Butchers, which means locally sourced, native, breeds from farm to fork just across the water on the Wirral. They family butcher going since 1844 won the BBC Farming Awards for Best Local Retailer 2014.
After the walk we feel inspired by the offering of good quality food right on our doorstep and discuss with Helena where most of the food we buy ourselves comes from. The realisation sinks in that there is a big range of supermarkets in the city centre, which often undercut producers, often making it unviable for them to keep going, while at the same time a local farmer recently related in the news relates his struggle of finding enough people to work for him resulting in a decision to reduce the variety of products he can supply. There is great produce, but the access is limited to those who can travel to the markets, where it is offered.
Having good food in a region does not just mean having a wide range of restaurants in urban centres. It also means having agency and choice; it is about community and independence and while in the city centre we have choices at all ends of the spectrum other areas close by are not as well served.
A conversation is needed on how a region so rich in passionate producers can also be home to the poorest communities, who have no access at all and live in food deserts, defined as areas with limited access to nutritious and affordable food.
Of the ten most deprived food deserts in England three are in Liverpool Neighbourhoods, one is in Knowsley, which is in the Liverpool City Region (LCR), while at the same time 140000 tonnes of food is wasted in the LCR producing approximately 368,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, the equivalent of the CO2 produced by 80,033 cars in one year (https://www.merseysidewda.gov.uk/2021/04/news-alchemy/).
It feeds (excuse the pun) into the UN Sustainable Development Goals: 1. No Poverty. 2. Zero Hunger, 3. Good Health and Wellbeing, 10. Reduced Inequalities, 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, 12.
Responsible Consumption and Production and in the longer-term aids with goals 13-15 (Climate Action, Life below water, Life on land)
Access to sustainable food is not just about greater sustainability, it is part of making Liverpool a better place to live. To learn more about Liverpool’s Good Food plan visit Feeding Liverpool.
To learn about what Liverpool already has to offer, join a That Tastes Wild Tour with Helena and be treated to fantastic local produce and a wealth of information about good food in the city.
This article was written by Diana Heredia following the Walking Tour with her husband Thomas Moezer. It is part of the 2024 Seminar Series Sustainable Liverpool.
Image courtesy of Squash Nutrition and shows part of their shop.