The Food Foundation Podcast

This week, in the third of this 12-part series on the Food Foundation’s annual Broken Plate report on the state of the nation's food system, we're talking about the UK’s obesity epidemic. Guest presenter, Dr. Saliha Mahmood Ahmed, MasterChef winner, gastroenterologist and author of The Sunday Times bestseller, The Kitchen Prescription sees the impact of obesity and overweight on her patients every day in her NHS clinic. With Kat Jenner from the Obesity Health Alliance, GP, Dr Pandora Frost, Mimi, one of the Food Foundation's Young Food Ambassadors and Hannah Brinsden, head of policy and advocacy at the Food Foundation, she explores one of this year’s Broken Plate report's key metrics, how the rising prevalence of obesity in children across England and Scotland, who are  living in the most deprived fifth of the population, is posing a serious threat to that vision.

This week, ahead of the launch Leiticija Petrovic, Food Policy lead at The Food Foundation tells us about a new food justice toolkit developed by Birmingham City Council.It is designed to help cities assess their own councils' strengths and weaknesses, to identify stakeholders to engage with to progress action, and potential interventions to work towards more equitable and just food system. For more information of the Birmingham Food Futures Conference last year, click here

In the latest Pod Bites episode from the Food Foundation podcast, Kate Howard, Children's Food Campaign Coordinator at Sustain introduces us to Recipe for Change. a campaign calling for an industry levy to make food healthier.Click on the links to find out more and how to get involved, and check in at Food Foundation for the bigger picture on why we need to make healthy food accessible to all children in the UK

Zoe McIntyre, advocacy manager and children's food at the Food Foundation explains why it's such an exciting week across London as the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, rolls out Free School Meals to all primary school children in the capitol.Regardless of background, 287,000 additional children will be benefiting from a free school meal for a whole year as part of the Mayor's intervention in the cost of living crisis. Zoe explains why the Food Foundation hopes it's just a start in the fight for all children in the UK to have access to healthy food

As the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan rolls out Free School Meals for every primary school child across the capital next week, journalist, brodcaster, author and food critic, Jimi Famurewa catches up with Saff, one of the Food Foundation’s Young Food Ambassadors.She has been campaigning about the importance of Free School Meals, and here Jimi and Bite Back's Luke Hall celebrate Saff's win as Youth Activist of the Year at the Good School Food Awards at Jamie Oliver HQ.

This week, Kate Anstey, Head of Education Policy at Child Poverty Action Group tells us about the limitations and the current free school meals policy. CPAG's most recent figures find that 900,000 children in England don't currently qualify for a free school meal, and Kate explains why that matters.Click here for more information on CPAG's Imagine campaign

Sarah Lawson, engagement and programme manager at Health Equals at the Health Foundation on its campaign for better health opportunities in the UK. Health Equals was born out of the need to rebuild foundations to improve life expectancy and reverse health inequalities in the UK. Here Sarah talks about the work it does with The Food Foundation and why it matters.

Hannah Brinsden head of policy and advocacy at The Food Foundation digs into the recent report from EFRA, the Government's committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Focussing on food security, it comes at a critical time when food inflation is at 17% and food prices have increased by up to 25% in the last year, according to Food Foundation figures. To read more on the report, click here

In the second of this 12 part series on the state of the nation's food system, we're talking about the marketing of baby and toddler snacks. Dominique Woolf, author of Dominique's Kitchen and winner of the Jamie Oliver Great Cookbook Challenge on Channel Four unpack one of the key findings of the Food Foundation's flagship Broken Plate report. With expert analysis from Dr Kawther Hashem from Action on Sugar, Camilla Kingdon, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Zoe McIntyre of the Food Foundation, MP, Alison Thewliss and first time mums, Sara and TJ.