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Food Club is a chance each week to meet familiar faces and collect some fantastic fresh foods – all of which would have previously gone to waste. £3.50 is a great price for the amount of food in each box, affordable for most families. It is a good place to talk about our home cooking, as well as discover new foods. I love having chats about strange and oversized fruits and vegetables and how we might try them at home!
For me, Food Club is an opportunity to be working face to face (from a safe distance!) with families in the community. I love getting to know and catching up with families. I really enjoy talking to people about different foods, how they use them at home and which recipes they enjoy making. It has been great sharing ideas, photos and recipes together face to face and on our Facebook group, it gives us a real chance to connect within these Coronavirus restricted times. I do enjoy it when children come to help collect the box and are fascinated by everything in it – what a great way to learn about different foods!
A typical week, I arrive at St Peter’s Methodist Church to help pack the boxes from the Fareshare delivery, it’s always fun to see what is in the box each week – there is often an ingredient we’ve not tried before that we chat about how we might use and introduce to families. Parents start arriving in their pre-allocated time slot (for social distancing), at the first door we take payments, and at the second door we offer the food options and hand over the food. I personally prefer dealing with the food, my lovely colleague Sara is happy taking the payments and cashing up – something I have struggled with before! After all the boxes are collected we pack away, clean up and prepare for the next week – it can be quite tiring being non-stop for 2 hours but in a great way!
I would love to see food clubs continuing to run across Bristol and become more sociable once Covid-19 restrictions have been relaxed. Although I have only worked at a food club during the Coronavirus outbreak, I have spoken to Simon from Family Action about how food clubs run in non-restricted times and they sound fantastic. A really great place for communities to come together and learn about food and cooking and share their own recipes and ideas. Once it is safe to do so, I look forward to seeing this club being more open, where families can come in to select their own food and stop to chat over a cup of tea.
To find out more about Food Club or to sign up please get in touch - 0117 3532899 or eastbristol.childrenscentres@bristol-schools.uk.
East Bristol Food Clubs:
Broomhill Every Tuesday St Peter's Methodist, 170 Allison Rd, Brislington, Bristol BS4 4NZ
Oldbury Court Every Thursday Oldbury Court Children's Centre, Frenchay Road, BS16 2QS
Speedwell Every Friday Meadow Vale Community Centre, 42 Meadow Vale, Speedwell, Bristol BS5 7RF
