Made In Hackney has grown from a local initiative to an international inspiration. What do you think makes its message resonate so widely?
Food is essential to all and having access to enough nutritious, delicious, climate-friendly food of your preference should be a basic human right – and yet for so many people this isn’t the case and people want to galvanise to do something about this. We’re offering a practical solution that can be rolled out anywhere by local teams who know their local communities and food cultures. It’s also down to one of our many motto’s – And the most important ingredient – “joy” – which is a celebratory approach to food. We’re unapologetically plant-based (and by that I mean vegan) but we don’t overly focus on that or make people feel bad about their current food choices. We’re all about inspiring and up-skilling people to grow, cook and eat more plants and to make that as accessible, culturally diverse and appropriate as possible – and to shine a light on all the amazing grassroots food talent embedded in our local communities. Someone once described out approach as – “Very clever, almost sneaky, you don’t tell us to change, but you make us want to change what we eat” – and I think that’s key. Plant-based food should be delicious, nutritious, culturally varied and enjoyable – if it hits all those things, why would people not want to eat more of it?
You began your career as a journalist. What prompted you to trade the newsroom for the kitchen and the community garden?
I loved my career as a journalist, especially the early days as a grime, reggae/dancehall, UK garage and drum ‘n’ bass music journalist. But eventually I got tired of the toxic culture of media in the early 2000s (I have some shocking stories – men punching each other on the newsroom floor, being sent to do undercover reporting as a Champagne hostess age 24 with no one there to keep an eye on me) and not fully grasping whether my work was having the impact I wanted it to have. A conversation with Indian activist Vandana Shiva for a piece I was writing about industrial farming model in Africa and the terrible impact it was having lit in a fire in me that I couldn’t quell. I’d always been interested in food and had been veggie from the age of nine and vegan from the age of 19. I just suddenly realised – that was my path and calling.
The journey from grassroots project to award-winning charity can’t have been easy. What were some of the biggest lessons or turning points along the way?
It was both incredibly enriching, the deepest privilege and an absolute slog. Endlessly fundraising nearly put me in my box, no joke. I have ADHD and I’m highly sensitive so the idea that fundraising is never done and you’re always a few months away or a few disasters away from closure is VERY difficult for someone with my neurotype to manage. But thankfully it wasn’t just me but a whole team of amazing people who came together to make it happen, and one particularly amazing fundraiser called Fran who really took us to the next level and the charity will be forever indebted to her. Maintaining the energy and drive for fundraising is exhausting. What works for a few years doesn’t work forever so you have to be constantly ready to pivot, rethink and come up with new ideas to keep the finances coming in. All food charities of small to medium scale experience this – it’s an ongoing challenge.
We Cook Plants beautifully captures the spirit of Made In Hackney. How did you approach translating a community project into a cookbook?
I started by centring all our incredibly talented chefs, their recipes and the stories around them teaching them over many years in the community. We have so many incredible stories of community members changing their diets, lowering their insulin levels or blood pressure – I just included the one’s that were most memorable. But there are so, so many more. I knew I wanted people to grasp Made in Hackney and that it wasn’t just a warm fuzzy community project, but a deeply political act of resistance and defiance in a world that can be cruel, individualistic and health draining as opposed to supporting. So wrapping around the recipes different talking points and food justice issues was crucial. Some of this text is written by me – I love talking about this stuff – but a lot is in conversation with the chefs and other activists and thinkers. The photos of our work over the last 13 years really bring it all alive – the love, the care, the community. It was a bit overwhelming knowing I was holding the responsibility of so many people’s hard work over the years. So much had to be edited out. We could write five books!
The book celebrates plant-based food as both joyful and accessible. What myths about vegan or plant-based eating would you most like to dispel?
We have a whole section on dispelling plant-based myths near the front of the book. These include things like – it’s expensive, it’s unhealthy, it’s bad for children, it could bad for pregnant people, it’s bad if you’re training, and it’s all ultra processed. This guff has been intentionally planted in people’s minds by vested interests. There are so many benefits to people and planet eating a plant-rich diet has – that the meat and dairy industries have really pushed back with malicious and disingenuous narratives to try and get in the way of progress. It’s very sad. But we’re here to resist that and keep pushing the truth so communities, the planet and animals can thrive. In the UK over 80% of meat comes from factory farms, and yet most people when surveyed say they don’t agree with factory farms and don’t want to eat meat from then. If we’re going to make that change – people will need to be eating a lot less meat and more plants. And that’s fine, as plant-based food is delicious and nutritious and abundant, people just need to experience it and try it in a supported way.
You’ve spent years teaching everyone from SEN students to families how to grow and cook their own food. Is there a moment or story that best sums up why you do this work?
There are so many stories but one of my favourites is young Maisy. At just ten years old, she came to a Made In Hackney class with her Mum. She had a long standing bowel issue that was so bad she couldn’t attend school, do any activities and she was in pain most days. She’d been going round in circles with the NHS and no one had suggested diet change but she’d had lots of unpleasant tests. She came on a family cooking course with her Mum and we supported them to adopt a wholefoods plant-based diet at home. One of our teachers who’s a nutritionist supported them outside the classes and over six months Maisy’s bowel issues healed. She went back to school and now she’s loving life and doing normal childhood activities like trampolining and ice skating. Stories like that make all the hard work so worth while.
In 2023, you stepped into an ambassadorial role at Made In Hackney. How has that shift changed your day-to-day — and what new doors has it opened?
What a change that was! My son is PDA autistic and was deeply unhappy in mainstream school. I realised he needed to be homeschooled and that I would have to free up more time for him as opposed to being 24/7 Made In Hackney. I now have a wonderful part-time role at Plant Based Health Professionals UK as their campaign manager working on supporting healthcare settings to adopt plant-rich diets. I’ve also done a podcast pilot called Meet The Vegans and I’m producing a documentary. But I’d love to write more books and do more presenting and public speaking which is a real love of mine. I’ll always be deeply passionate about food justice work and community food and will be a proud ambassador for Made In Hackney for as long as they’ll have me. Bringing people together, striving for justice – social and food – it runs through my veins.
Hackney has always been a creative, community-led borough. How has living and working here influenced your philosophy around food and care?
Hackney is an incredible community of cultures, communities, religions, sub-cultures and every other group you can think of. It’s like the world in one place and there are so many community leaders, champions and groups who are all striving to support their people in different ways. We can all learn so much about each other and the world – both positive but also all the historic and present injustices different communities have experienced. If you have an open heart, are prepared to observe, listen, learn and stand in solidarity, you’ll build a deeper understanding of the world and how intersectional the various struggles and injustices are. Seminal activist and author Audre Lorde said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not lead single issue lives.” In a place like Hackney, you really live and feel this every day. If you want to learn and evolve as a person, it’s an incredible place to be. Sadly due to gentrification a lot of long standing community members and their families are being forced out the borough which is very sad. After 20 years we had to move to Leyton but that’s just 10 minutes up the road. Many people have had to leave London entirely due to soaring house prices and rents.
You often speak about “community care through food.” What does that mean to you on a personal level?
Chef Flo Francis who cooks meals for our COMMUNITY MADE project answers this really eloquently in the book. But to me it means offering a level of care that comes from a place of solidarity not charity. A place of kinship and love, compassion and empathy, not judgement and condescension. It’s about showing up even when times are hard, or especially when times are hard. It means listening to people, taking feedback, even brutal feedback, and trying again until you get it right. Having resources and paid staff to provide community care (although we also rely on hundreds of volunteers to make it all happen) is a deep privilege, so you must do everything you can to ensure you’re providing the support most wanted and needed by the community. Some examples of this would be ensuring the meals you give out are no lesser standard than what you would feed yourself and your family, explaining what the meals are and giving people the information they need. Offering bespoke food programmes that meet people’s cultural needs – such as cooking courses for type two diabetes patients of Afro-Caribbean or West African heritage. Or classes that celebrate and spotlight different cultural cuisines. It’s circular. We’re all two steps away from crisis or needing support. It’s knowing that and being part of a community that provides that care.
And finally — when you’re not cooking or writing, where do you love to eat, shop, or unwind in Hackney?
Great question! Getting a meal from the amazing Sister Atreka’s All Nations Vegan House is a treat I always look forward too. It’s a family run business and you often see one of her sons behind the counter helping out.I also love to buy Gözleme from Akdeniz bakery run by my friend Hassan who fed my gozleme when I was working hard as a patchwork farmer for Growing Communities, then to my boy in his buggy when he was a little one, and now as a treat when I visit Hackney. Mustafah’s falafel stall on the Narrow Way and Ridley Road market is next level good. If I’m not eating (as you can see I do a lot of eating) – then Hackney lido, Hackney Marshes and the canal tow path are all lush places to be on a nice day soaking up the local atmosphere.
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