A Norwich community interest company is launching the Eat Social food challenge this October, asking people to feed themselves on just £3 a day for two days to draw attention to the growing number of families who cannot afford to eat properly. According to the Norwich Evening News, the challenge runs from 16 to 18 October, with participants encouraged to eat on a tight budget and donate the money they would otherwise have spent on food.
Eat Social operates a cafe on Wensum Street in Norwich. Lisa Vincent, who set up the company after hearing stories of children presenting with diseases caused by malnutrition, said the situation in the city was ‘unacceptable’ and she hoped the challenge would raise awareness of how many households are genuinely struggling.
One in six families with children facing food insecurity
The campaign is timed against a backdrop of worsening food poverty. The latest figures from the Food Foundation show one in six families with children are facing food insecurity, a term that covers not just going hungry but also poor nutrition and the persistent anxiety of not knowing where the next meal is coming from.
Vincent based the £3-a-day figure on research showing the lowest income families are feeding themselves on £25 a week per person, which works out at about £3 a day. ‘Living off £3 of food a day is going to be very boring, bland and probably not very nutritious,’ she said. ‘It is just about satiating hunger in the immediate moment.’
She was spurred to act after feeling ‘disgusted’ at reports of malnutrition among primary school pupils in the West Earlham area of Norwich, with a headteacher describing children with bowed legs. ‘Poor nutrition in childhood affects brain development and physical development, and you can’t get that back,’ Vincent said. ‘Once that development’s been hampered, you could have a brilliant diet, but you are not getting that back.’
Profits fund community meals in schools
Eat Social’s sandwich shop on Wensum Street launched three months ago. The company puts 100% of its profits towards a community meals programme that provides nourishing meals to groups in schools. People taking part in the £3-a-day challenge are also being asked to donate the money they save on food towards that same programme, turning the personal experience of restricted eating into direct support for others.
Vincent’s broader goal is straightforward: she wants people to understand, through direct experience, just how constrained daily life becomes on the lowest incomes. ‘We want to raise more awareness of this and for people to understand, this is tough,’ she said.
The Eat Social food challenge and the cost-of-living picture
Hannah Worsley, project manager for Norwich Food Bank, said the people she sees have already been cutting back for years, and it is still not enough. ‘Several years ago, the problem people were facing was a one-off thing, like losing a job, which was then resolved and people would be back on their feet able to cope again,’ she said.
‘Now, we’re seeing people who’ve made cuts maybe eating less or not using certain facilities like their cooker or their washing machine and it’s still not enough to live on.’ Worsley hopes the challenge will help people empathise with those who face this reality every day, not just for two days in October.
Food prices remain a concern. There are fears they could rise following extreme weather this summer, which resulted in poor crop yield, with further climate changes predicted. The government has previously said it recognises the level of household food insecurity in the UK is ‘unacceptable’ and that it is taking action to drive down prices of essentials, improve access to healthy food and expand free school meals.
Sign-ups for the 16-18 October challenge are open now through Eat Social’s community programme.
