Here is how we can turn round our failing food supply

Every day, I help to feed thousands of people across the capital. London’s Community Kitchen LCK) is one of the country’s largest surplus food redistribution projects, ensuring that good food doesn’t go to waste and instead reaches those who need it most.

- TAZ KHAN

This journey didn’t start in a boardroom or with a policy paper but on the ground, witnessing silent suffering in plain sight.

When I founded LCK in 2014, I never imagined the scale of food insecurity I would encounter. I understood the value of food, but it wasn’t until I saw families queuing outside food banks, children going to school hungry, and working parents unable to afford basic groceries that I realised how broken our system truly is.

In 2021, I wrote in Metro: “Poverty is closer than you think.” That wasn’t a slogan but a truth confronted daily. The face of food poverty isn’t only the homeless person on the street: it’s your neighbour, your colleague, your child’s best friend at school. And the issue isn’t just the lack of food but the erosion of dignity, choice and security.

I have seen both the best and worst of our food system. The best are the volunteers who dedicate their time, the businesses that donate surplus food, and the communities that rally around each other. The worst: the shocking amount of edible food wasted daily, the policies that favour big corporations over people, and the utter lack of accountability from those in power.