MOO Food is a small, local organisation that 3 years ago set up a community fridge, orchard and 25 vegetable growing boxes in our Highland village. I have worked for MOO Food, in Muir of Ord since the beginning, and during that time I have seen several changes in perspective of ‘normal people’ with regards to their food. We’ve run a food education programme with the local school, food and mental health programmes with the local NHS team, and farmers’ markets and a food assembly to improve access to local food. And during the last 3 years, I have noticed a slow (but steady!) increase in the number of people who are interested in where their food comes from. I have seen folk take ownership of their food choices and make different decisions that benefit their health, the health of the local food system and the health of the planet as a whole.
However, I could never have predicted what would happen in March of this year. Everyone in the whole country was suddenly hit with the fear of food insecurity, caused by Covid-19. Our village felt it as much as anywhere, with empty shelves in our tiny supermarket, local shops closing and some residents being too frightened to even attempt to go to buy food.
During lockdown, we have found that the usage of our community fridge has skyrocketed. Our community fridge is open to everyone, and we use it to redistribute surplus food from supermarkets and local shops, which otherwise would end up in landfill. The huge increase in the number of people using the community fridge luckily coincided with a massive increase in the amount of food that supermarkets were donating. This showed us that after the initial shock of the first fortnight or so, supermarkets were then over-ordering and ending up with far too much stock. Food is now collected from Lidl, the Coop and Tesco every day by our amazing fridge volunteers, whereas before lockdown it was 2 or 3 times a week. The amount of food has increased from an average of 63kg for month to a massive 526kg per month! And the food disappears quickly – within minutes, sometimes.
Something else that has changed is the upsurge in other community fridges in the Highlands. Whilst working at MOO Food, I would occasionally get enquiries from other villages, asking if MOO Food could start up a community fridge in their area as well. We would always have to politely decline and encourage them instead to start up their own fridge, which they would manage themselves with local volunteers. This is something else that we have noticed change during Covid – we have heard about community fridges springing up all over the Highlands, with community taking charge themselves and just getting on with it. We have provided info and support when we are asked (we have created a free ‘How to’ booklet for setting up community fridges), but it is wonderful to see other local communities driving forwards with their own fridges and larders.
I don’t want to sound crass, but maybe it is good that Covid has given us all a food scare. Food educators will never again have to use the hypothetical ‘one day we may find we can’t buy food in the shops’ statement. Instead, we will refer to this shared experience of ‘remember when…’. Covid has made our argument for us.
Everybody needs to be aware of the looming insecurity that climate change will bring to our food system. But as well as looking at national and international solutions to this, let’s look a bit closer to home, and see what we can do in our own communities to feel empowered and in control of our own local food.