Plant-based cookery school, Made in Hackney has joined Eating Better, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise of community-led, scratch cooking, using local, seasonal and sustainable fruit and veg. As the UK’s first fully plant-based community cookery school and charity, MIH has been a trailblazer for a “back to basics” approach, forging stronger community connections and demonstrating that healthy, sustainable and delicious plant-based dishes can be affordable and accessible to all.
On becoming an Eating Better member, Sarah Bentley, founder of MIH said:
"Made In Hackney is excited to join Eating Better, alongside the amazing organisations that are already part of the alliance. We have a lot to achieve to transition to a sustainable, equitable and compassionate food system. We won't do this by working in silos - but by working together and bringing our respective food skills, cultures and expertise to the table. Our work inspires people to grow, cook and eat more plants and it's that experience of joyful and inclusive plant-centred cooking that we bring to Eating Better.”
Welcoming MIH, Eating Better’s executive director, Simon Billing said:
“Eating Better is working to get more plants on plates and to normalise plant-based eating. This is what Made in Hackney has been doing, day in, day out for the last decade, long before sustainable eating had really taken root. Our Better By Half roadmap calls for training for chefs across food service to deliver delicious, balanced and varied plant-rich dishes. We’re excited that MIH is rolling out its programme nationally to inspire more public sector caterers and community groups to discover sustainable eating through plant-based recipes.”
Made in Hackney demonstrated during the pandemic that it was possible to deliver nutritious, plant-based cooking at scale. Its community emergency meal service went from 300 meals a day to 500 meals, within two weeks, at the height of the Covid crisis, all cooked and delivered by cycle courier to vulnerable households. The charity continues to provide this service, serving 1200 meals a week.
Plant-based eating needs to be the norm and to drive ambition MIH has gone national with its Plant Futures Programme, a training scheme and toolkit to promote sustainable, better eating. The scheme launched in Sheffield in early March and was attended by the city council, school contract caterers, Sheffield University’s catering team and community food groups. A national tour will follow to upskill, inspire and train other food collectives, businesses and civil society to evolve to a sustainable plant-centred food offer. MIH has developed a Plant-based toolkit to support this work and to encourage others to follow suit.