The UK’s food system is fundamentally broken. As a researcher of the global agricultural system, I believe drastic, bold change is needed – and that community restaurants are an important model to consider.
Subsidised community restaurants could serve seasonal dishes made with locally grown plant-based food, produced on farms that encourage wildlife through widespread tree cultivation, the use of cover-crops, and improvements to soil health. A mass roll-out of such restaurants could help tackle the UK’s food poverty and malnutrition, while also increasing agriculture’s resilience to climate breakdown and raising farmers’ incomes.
