Our first food seminar entitled The Food System in the UK – how good is it? was held on Thursday 2nd October at the Cunard Building to a capacity audience who listened attentively to Sheila Dillon our guest speaker from BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme. She was excellent, as were the two Showcasers: Becky Vipond from Squash Liverpool and Andrew Rogers from North by Sud-Ouest Charcuterie.

Here is a report on the evening by Engage Board member Diana Heredia:

Our Autumn Seminar Series on Food Culture in Liverpool was kicked off Thursday evening (02.10.25) by the incredibly charismatic and knowledgeable Sheila Dillon, presenter of The Food Programme on BBC 4 and host of the annual BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards.

Sheila managed the balancing act of informing the audience about the state of The Food System in the UK without sugarcoating the problems whilst also giving credit to many positive and encouraging initiatives of which we can be proud.

Leading into the topic with a quote about the food industry by Henry Dimbleby, author of the National Food Strategy, an independent review for the government published in 2021, Sheila talked about the monetisation of the food system and its implications for national health with a knock-on effect on other systems like the NHS budget with 9% (£10bn) of it having to deal with a huge rise in type 2 diabetes: Cost of Diabetes to UK report. Following on were the staggering cost of economically inactive people due to health problems, the rise in obesity in children, the low quality of school meals, food waste and the pollution and carbon emissions caused by large food producers.

Sheila illustrated how big business hijacked a food culture that was previously about buying fresh local food at markets, preparing it and eating with family and friends around the table, and has now been monetised under the guise of providing more choice for better value – with value meaning a lower visible price tag with a huge hidden cost to the NHS, the environment and climate as well as the benefits bill.

She laid bare how everything is interlinked, and one issue cannot be looked at in isolation.

After this daunting account she shifted the attention to the more promising developments and sustainable producers centred around sustainability, animal welfare and a refocus on local economies that offer a return to the places they are based in, rather than funnelling profits into tax havens overseas.

Among this new cohort of pioneers were one of our showcases: Andrew Rogers of North by Sud-Ouest Charcuterie, Winner of the BBC Food and Farming Award for Best Food Producer 2024, who in partnership with Edge and Son’s Butchers (another previous award winner), “uses exclusively high welfare free range, slow-grown, local, rare breed, mature pigs, produces traditionally cured meats with a nose to tail ethic.”

Also mentioned amongst others were:

• Chefs in Schools with a mission to improve tasty food served to school children
• Hodmedods championing sustainable food production in the UK
• Our Cow Molly, a family dairy in Sheffield, that is decarbonising their farm working with the local community
• Tebay Services, a motorway service station focussing on locally sourced ingredients and fresh food supporting the local economy
• Sole of Discretion, a collective of small-scale fishers committed to sustainable fishing
• Tablehurst Farm, a community farm, shop and café working with regenerative practices

All these small businesses are working towards the stronger regional and local food systems necessary for national food security as laid out in the Tim Lang Just in Case Food Resilience Report 06.02.25 and the hosting website of the National Preparedness Commission. 

Closing the circle Sheila references recent reports of UK teenagers getting 70% of their diet from ultra-processed foods  UKRI MRC Epidemiology Unit blog (19.07.24) and the implications this might have for their future.

She reiterated that everything is interconnected: food, culture and politics and emphasised that a wider understanding of these links is needed.

After this assessment of the UK’s food landscape, the audience gets to hear from two of our local forward-looking enterprises that are working on a more sustainable future.

Becky Vipond of Squash Liverpool, our local pioneering community space, shop, café and gardens, tells of how their approach from the start looked at the interconnectedness of food to everything. She mentions one feeling that often gets left out of debate despite being at the core of what food is about: Joy. It is at the core of the programme that the group offer to the community and the emphasis here is on a slow growth in tune with nature ensuring sustainability and longevity. Not many businesses have a 100-year plan!

Following on the theme of slow-growth Andrew Rogers of North by Sud-Ouest Charcuterie explains how his process of creating his award winning charcuterie focusses on preventing waste and working closely with local farms with high animal welfare standards.

During the following Q&A, that is an integral part of all Engage seminars, Organic North (a co-operative providing organic food to the North) gets a mention as well as Food for Thought, who promote the wellbeing of children through a Good Food Culture.

A wish for a good food culture is exactly why people came together at this first part of our Seminar Series. Join us for the second part: Farm to Fork – is our food journey sustainable?

And finally, here are some statistics from the feedback forms on the night:

• 93% of attendees said they learned something they didn’t know before
• 93% of attendees said they met someone they didn’t know before
• 70% of attendees had never been to an Engage Liverpool event before
• 93% of attendees said they’d come to another event like this in the future

This year, our feedback form asks attendees for one action they’d like to see, to improve Liverpool’s food culture. Our attendees’ responses were fascinating!

School meals and food education was the most dominant theme, with attendees calling for universal or improved school meals, cooking education for children and adults, and better nutritional standards in schools. Many see this as both an immediate benefit and a catalyst for broader cultural change.

Many attendees commented on local food markets and producer access – demanding more regular, accessible food markets (weekly rather than monthly), better venues for local producers to sell, and improved visibility for Liverpool-grown or produced food, including at locations like train stations.

Community engagement and education came up too – with requests for more events like this one, better outreach to diverse groups (young people, universities, workplaces), and increased public awareness about food system issues. Several mentioned the need to involve councils and government more effectively.

Following on from a theme raised in our 2024 seminar series, there were calls for a reduction in food waste and regular “waste food collectives” across Merseyside to address surplus and redistribute food.

And finally, there were a cluster of responses around support for local food businesses with some attendees asking whether the council and government could better support independent food organisations, community businesses, and local suppliers, including creation of food business networks and higher hospitality standards across the city.