Hackney Council yet to join the good eggs
Good eggs. Photo: timlewisnm
With Channel 4’s top chefs championing sustainable seafood in the Big Fish Fight and the Greater London Authority’s commitment to ensuring that all food it buys is traceable to its production source, the public’s growing appetite for sustainable food is palatable.
As far as community-led sustainable food initiatives go, Hackney is pioneering. It’s the home of Growing Communities, which provides locally-sourced organic fruit and vegetables as a real alternative to the mainstream food system. It also hosts the award-winning Community Tree Nursery and Edible Forest Garden on Hackney Marsh and the acclaimed Hackney City Farm.
But while neighbouring councils have received well-deserved praise for providing sustainable and environmentally sound food, Hackney Council is lagging behind.
In November last year, Good Food on the Public Plate awards were presented to 22 London universities, hospitals and publicly-funded bodies that have taken great strides to make the food they serve better for the environment and for animal welfare.
Camden and Islington Councils were praised for using RSPCA Freedom Food meats, seasonal and local fruit and vegetables and Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish, as well as minimising food waste.
Tower Hamlets – which, like Hackney, is one of the poorest boroughs in the country – was commended for recycling food waste and using minimal food packaging. All three councils received praise for using free range eggs.
Hackney Council received no mention and, when asked, was unable to cite any policy on environmentally sustainable food provision.
However, the borough has committed to supporting 60 community food growing spaces by 2012 as part of the Capital Growth initiative for London.
This was one of the recommendations of a scrutiny review of local food growing, completed by the council’s Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission in September 2010.
Other recommendations included that it nominate a first point of contact for all food growing enquiries in the borough and clear information about local food growing, with a request that all recommendations be complete by the committee’s meeting this month.
The Citizen will be keeping a close eye on this issue in the coming months.