Falkirk’s Sarah is a befriending charity manager who loves to cook. She also took part in #TheFoodConversation deliberations last year. She spoke about her experience at the Scottish launch of the ‘Citizen Manifesto to Fix Food’, back in April.

“In my household, we’re always trying to work out ways to better fit food into the way we live. Weekends are spent batch cooking and sorting ourselves out for the week ahead. We cook freezable things like croquettes, casseroles and what I call ‘slop’” she says, laughing, “which is where whatever vegetables are around are pulverised in a tomato sauce. It’s good for pizzas, pastas, soups, that sort of thing.”

It wasn’t just her love of food that inspired Sarah to join The Food Conversation. As someone who’s always been connected through volunteering to environmental and social justice projects, Sarah was intrigued by the importance of food in the community – and the imbalances in the food system:

“I don’t think food is fair right now. Food touches so many things”, she explains. “It’s our connection. It’s what keeps us alive. As my experience of The Food Conversation has shown me, a lot of people understand this, and a lot of people know that food is in really urgent need of repair. This is the common ground.”

Sarah enjoying a BBQ outdoors

Sarah sees the way food connects people in her day job, where she works on a project that brings established locals together with incoming refugees and asylum seekers. Here, food plays a “restorative role” and helps people to adjust to new and evolving communities. “Food helps to re-establish life after experiencing a lot of upheaval, so I'm very aware of how food is important to everyone, whether we know it or not."

This is most clear at her work’s language and culture events: “Food really lights people up,” Sarah says, “particularly those who are carrying the burden of trying to work out how to live in a new environment. I have seen again and again people who are quite reserved because they've got a lot of things to deal with - then suddenly, they’re talking about food, about something that's important to them, and the light behind their eyes just grows.”

This experience of seeing how important food is in helping rebuild lives has made Sarah passionate about tackling what happens when food autonomy is taken away. She talks about people in the asylum system who she works with, explaining that: “People in institutionalised asylum accommodation, like ex-hotels, are not allowed to prepare their own food. They’re served these school-style meals that are the same day after day. For me, from what I can observe, not having control over their own nourishment is a profound violence that people experience in that period of waiting, which can last from months to years.”

Food autonomy is something that an increasing number of people in the UK are struggling with. As poverty rates and the cost of living continue to rise, so too do the obstacles to healthy food for people and families on lower incomes. And even those who can afford healthy food find themselves bombarded with unhealthy food in shops, on the street, and in their digital and online spaces.

Identifying Big Food as a major player in all of this, Sarah points to the control that major food and drink corporations have over the UK food environment. "I don't think the food system is working for the majority of people because we're just getting unhealthier,” she says. “Businesses might say people don’t want change, but they do. People want choice but they're not choosing, because who controls the narratives around food and its place within our lives and culture, who controls where we find it and what we can afford?”

As Bite Back’s #CommercialBreak campaign shows, children in particular are flooded with junk food advertising – not only online, but in outdoor spaces and especially in popular hangout spots. “When Big Food have been able to hijack spaces with advertising,” Sarah says, “they’re taking away the space for community-generated narratives around food and its provenance, and the stories that we tell about food as connection. It’s a huge worry for me because that’s not a choice. That’s coercion.”

As well as controlling what we see, hear and experience around us, recent investigations from Food Foundation and Soil Association have demonstrated that, through lobbying, food and drink corporations have been able to influence food policy in favour of their profits. Sarah is frustrated by this. She wants real systems change, and for this to translate from local levels of decision-making to national ones. “It’s actions that count – not just words. That’s where the money is.”

Sarah sharing another delicious home-cooked meal

So, how do we begin? Or as Sarah asks: "How do we create a world where people are delivering what communities need, what is needed in the world beyond, and what the environment needs to thrive? How do we empower that system?"

On an individual level, for Sarah, it might begin with the “gospel of bread club,” where she bakes an extra loaf of bread to give to her neighbours, with no expectation of returning the favour - just a reminder that food is more than just a commodity – it's an opportunity to build community. But, she stresses, the responsibility cannot fall to the individual. Instead, she wants a more holistic approach to food policy that involves more stakeholders and organisations in decision-making processes.

“My view on this,” Sarah explains, “Is coloured by the impact that siloed policymaking has had on us at my work. When government changes policy, we’re often scrambling to pick up the pieces because we've not been consulted (or we’ve been ignored) and it's a mad dash to work out how we're supposed to help get people through yet another hoop. I can imagine that this is also happening in food. I want government to more honestly consider the knock-on effects of policy on other areas.”

For Sarah, a fairer food system also means listening more to communities to allow them to flourish:

"I think a good food future means looking to marginalised people and to everyone involved in growing, preparing and serving food - from parents to famers to delivery cyclists. Earlier, I mentioned people in the asylum system, many of whom having experienced horrors beyond imagining, who are absolutely lit up when others pay attention to, or are even just curious about foods from their cultures. I think a good food future means paying attention to what they and others like them need as they rebuild life, what various care sectors need and what the caring parts of each of us need.”

By reclaiming food narratives from Big Food, and by centring the voices of communities and citizens in a joined-up, holistic way, the current government has an exciting opportunity to step up to the challenge and implement real, positive change. Now, citizens who took part in The Food Conversation are working with government to develop a new Food Strategy – and ensure people’s everyday experiences of food are reflected. Until then, Sarah is in talks to host a Food Conversation at her work and is, of course, batch cooking more delicious meals.