Lewes District Food Partnership is delighted to introduce Holly, a student at the University of Sussex, who has joined us for her Global Work Experience placement. Throughout Good Food East Sussex month, Holly has been coming along to different events, workshops and drop-ins. This is the first of her guest posts, reporting back from the sold-out Harvest Feast at Lewes Town Hall on the 12th October.
Lewes District Food Partnership values community as a core part in our mission in increasing food sustainability within the district. The Community Fridge is an amazing organisation run by volunteers in Lewes, that allow people access to free food that would have gone to waste otherwise, helping to combat food insecurity and food waste. I recently received the pleasure of going to the Harvest Feast that they had organised in collaboration with Community Chef, with the menu being entirely made-up from surplus food. By doing so the Community Fridge had brought community and sustainability hand-in-hand for an amazing event.
Upon arrival the Mayor of Lewes, Imogen Makepeace, greeted everyone warmly with a high spirit, showing how fundamental community is within the food scene in Lewes. As everyone got seated, on the tables were recipes for the three course meal that was being served- displaying how waste food can be used within our every-day lives. Music also filled the hall as a reggae band played wonderful music and were later joined by a valued guest – a Ukrainian violin player. It is inspiring to see so many volunteers pull together to work on a shared mission within this community-centred approach to reducing food waste.
A stand-out moment was when the Mayor, The Community Chef and Stewart led speeches that encouraged people to eat sustainability by reducing food waste, and bringing awareness on how much waste food damages the environment. As the Community Chef said “every single meal on your tables was made with waste food”, it brought striking imagery to the message that the community fridge promotes.
The Harvest Feast wouldn’t have been possible without the passion that the volunteers who work there have. The Harvest Feast showed that small changes, one step at a time, can bring about a wave of positivity and motivation to work between a common goal.
Post by Holly Culver, student placement at LDFP.
You can follow us at @lewesdistrictfoodpartnership to find out about more free community events. Join us to build a Good Food Movement.
Lewes Community Fridge is run by volunteers as part of Lewes Climate Hub. The fridge opens at the town hall, 10.30-11am on a Saturday.
Community Chef CIC runs cookery courses, demos and workshops around Lewes District and beyond. You can find out more about what’s coming up here.
