Restaurants team up to tackle food poverty
Glasgow’s restaurant industry banded together this month to tackle food inequality through the second annual Let’s Eat Glasgow! food festival.
Organised by Real Food, Real Folk – a not-for-profit cooperative of eight Glasgow restaurants – the event saw member businesses joined by a further eight guest restaurants at Finnieston venue SWG3 to serve dishes. All profits went towards funding Real Food, Real Folk’s work to address food inequality in the city.
The 16 restaurants in attendance were also joined by nine local social enterprises: Freedom Bakery, Shettleston Community Growing Project, Slow Food Glasgow, The East Ate/Bottle of Ginger, The Milk Café, Unity Enterprise’s Spoon Café, Urban Edge, Woodlands Community Garden and the Zero Waste Wise Project.
The charitable groups were on hand to raise awareness of their food-based projects and sell their produce to a commercial market alongside over 30 other local food and drink producers.
Colin Clydesdale, chair of Real Food, Real Folk, said the organisation, which was formed in 2014, came together “because we wanted to be part of the growing movement of chefs across the world who are leaving the comfort of their kitchen to work with grassroots organisations helping improve access to good food”.
“We knew we couldn’t shout about the great food we have in Glasgow and across the west of Scotland without trying to do something to help address the very real food inequality across our town,” said Clydesdale.
“We are surrounded by great local produce yet we continue to be a long way from being a place where everyone has the choice and opportunity to eat well.
“We quickly discovered the wealth of really innovative and successful community projects working to improve access to good, local food here in Glasgow and designed Let’s Eat Glasgow! to raise money to help them.”
Restaurants in the Real Food, Real Folk co-operative are: Cail Bruich, Crabshakk, Guy’s Restaurant, Mother India, Ox and Finch, Stravaigin, The Gannet and Ubiquitous Chip.
Guest restaurants participating at this year’s Let’s Eat Glasgow! festival were: Banana Leaf, Café Gandolfi, El Perro Negro, Eusebi Deli, Lychee Oriental, Martha’s, The Hanoi Bike Shop and Wee Guy’s.
