12 deliciousmagazine.co.uk
in the know.
Cooking brings joy
in a time of crisis
Last year saw the launch of many creative
initiatives in response to growing food
insecurity and social inequality. Here are
two using the power of food for good.
Social Bite runs five cafés in Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Aberdeen, where one in three
employees have previously struggled
to find employment or been homeless.
They’ve launched ‘Boxes of Joy’ – UK-wide
deliveries of four brownies to eat or give as
a treat (£12, social-bite.co.uk). Money raised
from this service will sustain work running
employment programmes and housing
projects to break the cycle of homelessness
in Scotland. There’s also the option to ‘pay it
forward’ and gift a brownie and hot drink to
someone experiencing homelessness.
Free My Meal founder Hayley Steere
came up with the idea for a food sharing
project during lockdown and launched it in
August. Organised via local private Facebook
groups (there are currently over 50 active
across the UK), it lets people offer free
cooked meals to be requested by others via
private messaging. With a simple handful of
guidelines to follow for cooking and sharing
safely, it’s open to
anyone who’d like to
give or receive.
Find a group near
you, sign up to receive
or cook a meal, or
make a donation at
freemymeal.co.ukNearlyhalftherespondentstoa poll
by soft drinks brand Soda Folk* think
we’ve become kinder as a nation
during the pandemic, with almost two
thirds planning to carry out more
good deeds after it’s over.
The East Midlands ranked as the
most helpful region, followed by
Scotland, the Northwest and
Wales, while 42 per cent of
Londoners said a stranger
had come to their aid.
More than two
thirds feel they could,
or should, have done
more to help others,
however... and a
shocking 53 per
cent admitted to
lying about doing
a good deed to make themselves
feel better – naughty, naughty.
The average Brit carries out 10 altruistic acts a year, with the top
ranked including donating blood or an organ, volunteering time and
giving money or food to people experiencing homelessness – not to
mention saving someone’s life (!). How many do you do?The pandemic ha
made single-use
plastic a hot topic
(see p50): the
Refill campaign,
whichencourages the use of
reusable containers, has
launched an app to find wher
to refill coffee cups and water
bottles, and shop plastic-free.Over 30,
locations are listed, including branches of
Morrisons and Lush as well as more than
100 zero-waste independent shops. Search
for ‘Refill’ in the App Store.s
e
r*SURVEY OF 1,500 UK ADULTS C
ONDUCTED BY SAPIO
IN SEP
TEMBER
2020
GO
OD NEWSThe average Brit does
10 good deeds a yearIs Britain getting kinder?