FoodSEqual-Health – fresh street vegetable fair

Professional audiences

What’s on offer?

This is a two hour participatory public engagement event to be run in the Salvation Army community venue in Whitleigh, Plymouth, as part of the ‘Holiday Hunger’ (Feast of Fun) series of events.

What’s it about?

It will bring together community food researchers, food system stakeholders, community members (families, individuals) and FoodSEqual research team members, to celebrate all things VEGETABLES. By enabling knowledge exchange around the socio-cultural determinants of food, participatory creative methods will be used as a vehicle to discuss and debate topical local food issues to create a vision for food that can be carried into the future.

It is well known that fruit and vegetable intake is strongly associated with socio-economic status (Food Foundation 2023), i.e. consumption is lower in areas of high deprivation (NDNS, 2019). Such areas, often described as ‘food deserts,’ offer easy access to cheaper, poor quality foods (high fat, salt, sugar) and poor access to fruit and vegetables. As a result, health outcomes are negatively affected, e.g. obesity, diabetes are more prevalent.

This event is being run in response to a series of recent local community Vegetable workshops we ran (as part of FoodSEqual) the results of which indicated that local citizens want better access to and affordability of fresh vegetables. It will act as a catalyst for FoodSEqual's new project arm FoodSEqual-Health, celebrating the health and sustainability elements of vegetables. By engaging with local communities and stakeholders with an interest in vegetables, we will use creative approaches to share knowledge and consider ways to improve access to and intake of vegetables within the local community.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only. Please email clare.pettinger@plymouth.ac.uk

or lisa.howard@plymouth.ac.uk for further information.

Who’s leading the event?

Dr Clare Pettinger, Associate Professor in Public Health Dietetics and Lisa Howard, Creative facilitator and producer in Plymouth based at Fotonow and Food Plymouth CIC.