Chew the fat, spill the beans, talk turkey, break bread; all idioms related to food to refer to talking, conversations, exchanges, connections. And, I want us to do more of that, talk, talk food, food talk, conversations about food, discuss our relationship with food by relating to one another, forming relationships, which is why I have launched my own podcast ‘Alright Raiders’.
I love showcasing my reduced price food finds on Instagram https://www.instagram.com › reduction_raider1, sharing what I’ve cooked with surplus foods. It’s great being able to write about my experiences here, provide you guys, with tips, the odd recipe. What I also want, is to bring it back to good old fashioned conversation. That’s why we enjoy gathering at the table right? Family dinners, fancy restaurants, casual dinning, celebratory meals, picnics, barbeques, cutting cake. it’s not simply the food sharing, but the conversations, the time, space to connect with one another. Food is symbolic, meaningful, social, political and can affect change. Food is community, cultural, it feeds into our identities – pun intended, it unites us. Sadly, it can also divide use. Food poverty, food politics, food systems, food deserts, food accessibility, food insecurity, food privilege.
I often describe our increasing ability to live independently, those of us who are relatively comfortable that is, as one of the reasons that we are so wasteful in UK. In the UK, hunger impacts 8.4 million people – that’s the rough equivalent to London’s entire population – while 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted by the food industry every year. Food waste is one of the root causes of hunger around the world, alongside extreme poverty and conflict. https://www.oddbox.co.uk/blog/world-hunger-day-food-waste-food-poverty
We can have food delivered, from around the world, to the comfort of our homes, any time, day or night, without having to interact with the outside world. We do not need to see who grows, farms, harvests, produces our food. Who it is that transports it, stocks it, even delivers it. We can avoid those who are in need and have to rely on others for their next meal. We can go unseen whilst the salad in our fridge wilts away, no one has to know when we throw away food that could have nourished us, someone else.
I’m hoping that Alright Raiders will open up the conversation, get us speaking to one another, connect with each other, build a community, have us putting food waste on the table. Each week, I ask a different guest the same six questions; who they are, what is their current relationship with food, how does this differ from their past relationship with food, what do they do well in terms of food waste, what do they want to do more of, and what changes do they want to see in the world? It’s been amazing how the same questions have led to different conversations; to date we have talked sustainability, food systems, colonialism, charity, disordered eating, health, child-care, community, environmentalism, and veganism.
I’ve really enjoyed breaking bread with each guest, and I hope you come and join the conversation too; I’m going to be dining out on this podcast, and these puns, for a while lol! Alright Raiders, enough typing, more talking, pull up a dining table chair and search for Alright Raiders on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Reduction_Raider1 
