The Food Foundation Podcast
The Food Foundation
The Food Foundation podcast is the voice of the charity that tackles the growing challenges facing the UK’s food. Reporting from the frontline of food insecurity, it reveals the gaps in the food system and the inspiring initiatives that are fixing them. From the stigma of free school meals to the enormous impact of holiday activities and food on hungry children, we find the stories that change lives, bind communities and make the politicians sit up and listen. The podcast, then named Right2Food, was the winner of the 2021 Guild of Food Writers' Awards for Investigative Food Work.Producer: Gilly Smith for the Food Foundation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 19, 2025 • 6min
Pod Bites: Christmas on a shoestring
Alicia Weston, CEO of Bags of Taste explains why rising prices and food inflation can make a traditional Christmas unaffordable and inaccessible for too many people in the UK.Read our latest food insecurity report here and sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date with updates about the food system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 12, 2025 • 10min
Pod Bites: Child Poverty - are we failing?
Explore the new child poverty strategy, aimed at tackling food insecurity and bridging opportunity gaps. Hannah Brinsden highlights the critical role of cross-sector collaborations, involving communities and businesses. Food and nutrition take center stage, with commitments to free school meals and updated support measures. Discover the implications of rising infant formula prices and the launch of a new crisis resilience fund. Lastly, Hannah stresses the need for long-term policy action to ensure every child is nourished and ready to thrive.
6 snips
Dec 5, 2025 • 16min
Pod Bites: What's going on in our food industry?
Dive into key findings from the new State of the Nation's Food Industry report for 2025. Discover the urgent need for mandatory standards and transparency in food businesses. Learn how UK retailers lag behind Europe on protein targets and why healthy options cost families more. Explore the surprising scarcity of fruits and vegetables at train stations, and the influence of unhealthy food marketing, particularly in gaming. Finally, hear calls for policy changes to promote healthier and more sustainable food systems.
Nov 28, 2025 • 12min
Pod Bites: The Budget and food bills
Hannah Brinsden, Head of Policy and Advocacy at the Food Foundation has been digesting the autumn budget through the lens of diet and health inequalities, and gives us a quick whistle stop tour of some of the key announcements relevant to the work of the Food Foundation.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto, read our Budget blog here and here to sign up for the newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 21, 2025 • 8min
Pod Bites: Closing the gaps in NHS Healthy Start
This week, Tilda Ferree, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at the Food Foundation gives us an update about the Healthy Start campaign and why the Food Foundation is pushing for this government to strengthen the scheme as part of the child poverty strategy.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 14, 2025 • 7min
Pod Bites: Will the PM deliver on school food?
In this week's Pod Bite, Anna Taylor, Executive Director of the Food Foundation tells us about the launch of the Government's School Breakfast Programme from its new Office for the Impact Economy, a single front door for impact investors, philanthropy and purpose driven businesses to partner with government and collectively grow social impact across the UK. Click here to read our latest blog on the subject and here to sign up for the newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 7, 2025 • 8min
Pod Bites: Bang in Some Beans
Chloe McKean, Food Business Transformation Manager of The Food Foundation, tells us about a brand new campaign with Veg Power: Bang in Some Beans, which aims to double the consumption of beans in the UK by 2028.Click here to sign up for The Food Foundation newsletter and here for more information on the Bang in Some Beans campaign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
10 snips
Oct 31, 2025 • 48min
Just the Start: Nutrition in Early Years Settings
Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, shares insights from the frontlines about food poverty in childcare settings. Sarah Ambrose discusses the importance of curriculum-led food education and the practical challenges of meal planning. Dayna Brackley highlights gaps in the policy surrounding free meals for under-fives. Charlotte Stirling-Reed emphasizes the significance of nutrition in the critical first 1,000 days of a child's life. Together, they advocate for better training, funding, and regulations to ensure every child has a nutritious start.
Oct 24, 2025 • 6min
Pod Bites: Millions struggling to afford food
Shona Goudie, Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Food Foundation tells us about our new report, Roadmap to Reducing Food Insecurity which investigates the impact of food insecurity over the past few years and what we can learn from it.The report aims to understand the scale of the problem, the extent to which people are struggling, and identify who is at most at risk so the government and local authorities can most effectively target support.Click here to read the report, and here to sign up to our newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 17, 2025 • 7min
Pod Bites: The Protein Revolution
Lydia Collas, Head of Natural Environment at Green Alliance tells us about their report published this month which explores the consequences of eating more plant-based food for food security, for economic growth and for our health. Click here for the full report, here to learn how climate change is affecting food prices and here to sign up to our newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
