After celebrating the achievement of receiving the Sustainable Food Places Silver Award, ShefFood is set to improve its engagement city wide.
ShefFood, a partnership of organisations across Sheffield which is committed to creating a more sustainable food system for the city, recently celebrated silver success.
The Silver Award is evidence-based and demonstrates the diverse, ethical, and sustainable food partnerships in place.
Rachael Treharne, partnership coordinator said:
“The award recognises Sheffield as a place that’s taking a holistic approach to transforming the food system. It’s really nice to have that recognition because we know there’s so much fantastic work going on across the city and a lot of that can fly under the radar.”
Sheffield’s next steps
In 2023, Sheffield food bank provided 34,524 emergency food parcels over six months for those who couldn’t afford the essentials. Although ShefFood is constantly striving for improved accessibility around the city, it is still aware there is more to be done.
Treharne said:
“Now we have got the Silver Award, it is important to take a moment to think about what we have right now. Sheffield’s a really complex city. It’s a really diverse city. We have a lot of work to do in making sure that as a partnership we’re genuinely representative of that city and right now we’re not there.
“The most important thing for us to do is to be going out and having conversations with people in different areas of the city where we haven’t had much engagement yet”.
What makes a good food system?
Sheffield is full of local food suppliers which allows the community to support its local producers and growers, which helps strengthen the local economy.
For ShefFood, a successful food system allows everyone to be able to “access food that is affordable, healthy, meets people’s tastes, preferences and cultural backgrounds.”
Steps you can take to support ShefFood
There are a number of ways in which individuals can help to build up this sense of community and support the ShefFood campaign. These include changing buying habits – especially to support local producers – and reducing food waste. Talking to others about the project can also help.
On the often-overlooked importance of starting conversations, Treharne says:
“Your voice is so important. I think it’s great to change what you buy, change what you eat, but also think about what should be different and talk to your elected representatives, talk to your neighbours, talk to your family. That is so powerful because that is something that really has the potential to make a bigger change”.
ShefFood also encourages individuals who may not be affiliated with any organisation to sign up to its charter to further help strengthen the community.
The charter aims to provide affordable and culturally appropriate food to everyone in Sheffield while reducing waste, creating communities, and promoting our local producers.
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