Eating Better

Over 30 people from across the sustainable food and farming sector recently gathered in London for an honest conversation about what solidarity actually means in practice.

Kicking off 2026 at the Oxford Real Farming Conference is always a jump-start for the year ahead. Eating Better ran two sessions; a workshop exploring the actions we can take against industrial livestock production and a lively panel discussion on power in the food system and its relationship to dietary change.

The beginning of a new year is often the time when people are rethinking their household habits and choices. Whether it’s to be healthier, save money or make more sustainable choices, consumers need reliable and factual information about how they can make a positive impact within their communities and homes. With this in mind, we are delighted to welcome Possible to the Eating Better alliance.

The Eating Better team has been in mainland Europe numerous times over the past few months. Read to hear what we've been up to and our takeaway messages.

The sustainable food, farming and land sector is working towards equity but is shaped by inequitable systems. As a broad movement, we share goals yet differ in priorities and approaches to change. Sustain and Eating Better have a responsibility to help the movement progress together. Introducing Disrupt to transform: Alternative approaches to movement building.

We are delighted to announce that AFN Network+ (UKRI Agri-food for Net Zero Network+) is now a member of the Eating Better alliance. They are a long-term collaborator on our work programmes including Changing the Narrative and Nourishing Justice.

Earlier this year, Eating Better, alongside Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, Obesity Health Alliance, Wildlife and Countryside Link and Plant-based Food Alliance formed the Food Strategy Alliances. Together, we represent over 160 civil society and business organisations spanning health, animal welfare, conservation, food production, farming and social justice sectors.

It’s no secret that here at Eating Better we’re bonkers about beans. The new Bean Facts report from alliance member The Food Foundation shows how people are still not eating enough beans despite the health, cost, and environmental benefits. We’re joining the call to ‘Bang in some beans’!

CLEAR joins the Eating Better alliance as a partner network. We have collaborated with the organisation on our Changing the Narrative programme and we are excited to welcome them to the alliance to further progress action towards fairness and sustainability in food and farming systems.

For the UN’s International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, we’re celebrating the theme of ‘Stop food loss and waste. For the people. For the Planet’ by highlighting the work of Eating Better alliance member FoodCycle.

There are so many young people in the UK who want to make a difference to food systems. Following our spotlight on organisations in the alliance working with and for young people, we spoke to some of the Food Foundations’ Youth Ambassadors about their motivation to better understand and change our current food environment.

A new Eating Better x Food Foundation survey finds that public willingness to reduce meat consumption is growing, but misconceptions persist.

Eating Better is delighted to welcome Anthony Field, Head of Compassion in World Farming UK to continue to represent the importance of animal welfare on the Board and further Eating Better members’ collective goals. We issue our heartfelt thanks to Carol McKenna who steps down from our Board of Trustees after a decade of support.

For this week's continuation of the summit blog series, we have invited Nicola Scott (Pathways to Land for BPOC project) to share insight from the workshop she ran titled Decolonial Decision Making.

Following the publication of Food Foundation’s Meat Facts and a new analysis of the impact of processed meat, we spoke to Dr Shireen Kassam, Founder and Director of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, to see where we go from here with processed meat and public procurement.

As a continuation of the summit blog series, we invited some of our brilliant facilitators to share key highlights and reflections from the workshops they facilitated. Mali Evans, Head of Engagement and Advocacy at Feeding Bristol talks us through how they created a space to discuss the power of food identities.

Welcome to our next round up from The Gathering Table. We explore how those working in food and farming can build brave spaces for honest conversations, challenge systemic inequality and practise meaningful allyship. Highlighting key learnings on power, privilege and the role of solidarity in shaping a fairer food system.

The Board of Trustees of any charity has the overall responsibility for the governance of the organisation. At Eating Better, trustees bring a broad range of expertise from across food and farming, from our members and beyond. We are excited to announce that we are adding two new trustees to the Board.

Eating Better is pleased to announce that we have appointed an interim Executive Director, Rebecca Sunter, to cover for Sarah Wakefield who will be on maternity leave from September 2025 for 12 months. We would like to extend our congratulations and well wishes to Sarah at this exciting time.

The Eating Better alliance grows even stronger with two new impactful organisations joining the fold. They bring with them valuable perspectives on shifting diets towards more plants and how this is progressing internationally, as well as on the farming transition towards sustainable agricultural practices. 

When the world went into lockdown in 2020, all eyes turned to wildlife markets. But what if the next pandemic doesn’t come from a faraway forest, but from a farm just down the road?

Following the government’s announcement on mandatory reporting at the weekend, alliances representing over 200 organisations, plus 25 individual organisations representing health, farming, environment and animal welfare, are asking the government to ensure mandatory reporting goes beyond healthy sales to incorporate key health and sustainability criteria.

Following our Retailer and Manufacturer messaging guides, Eating Better have been gearing up to develop our messaging guide focused on supporting better engagement with producers. As part of our Changing the Narrative project, we hosted an event, ‘Farming and dietary change: building common ground’, split over two days. These talks, farm tours and workshops were for the Eating Better alliance and beyond, helping to  bridge the gap between NGOs, funders, researchers, civil servants and farmers.

Eating Better launches a comprehensive definition of industrial livestock production and makes the case for change across the UK food system.