World Food Day
This year’s theme, Innovate today, nourish tomorrow, highlights how new ideas can combine with traditional knowledge and inclusive approaches to help ensure everyone has access to good food while protecting our planet for future generations.
In this blog, Simone Riddle, Food Justice Programme Manager at Lewisham Local, reflects on Lewisham’s approach to food justice and shines a spotlight on local organisations finding innovative ways to support their communities.
Three years ago, Lewisham Council launched its Food Justice Action Plan, recognising that food insecurity is a public health issue that requires a whole-system response. To help deliver the plan, we created the Lewisham Food Justice Alliance, bringing together community organisations, public services and local partners to tackle food injustice collaboratively.
Since then, the Alliance has grown into a borough-wide network of organisations sharing expertise, lived experience and local knowledge to drive change. From community food growing and research projects to innovative pantry models and wraparound support services, partners across Lewisham are finding new ways to make good food more accessible, affordable and dignified.
To celebrate World Food Day, we're highlighting just a few of the organisations helping to shape a fairer food system in Lewisham.
AFRIL supports sanctuary seekers in Lewisham through a food bank and its Allotment of Refuge project. I went to visit the allotment on a rainy Monday morning in June 2026 to learn more about their work.
“The issue is that our members can’t afford to buy the food that they would usually choose to cook,” Louise, AFRIL’s Monitoring and Operations Officer told us. Alongside providing healthy food and supermarket vouchers, AFRIL creates opportunities for people to grow their own produce, build connections and improve wellbeing. Food grown on the allotment is shared with members and helps supplement food bank parcels.
Whilst AFRIL members access food projects, AFRIL's Casework Team provide immigration advice and housing and welfare casework, to support people to enforce their rights and maximise their income. This integrated service model, supports the AFRIL community to address all their key needs within one, trusted organisation.
Coco Collective is an Afro-diaspora-led community garden using food growing as a tool for tackling food insecurity, supporting wellbeing and strengthening community connections. Commissioned by Lewisham Council, they are currently leading community research into the drivers of food injustice experienced by Black communities in the borough, ensuring local voices help shape future action.
Coco Collective was featured within the Unearthed exhibition last year at the British Library. Through four short films, their inspiring Afro-diaspora-led community garden was brought to life, showcasing how it fosters community resilience, cultural connection, and sustainable living.
CC Foundation is helping build a fairer, healthier Lewisham by supporting local people to develop the skills and confidence to access healthy, affordable food. With a £3,000 Food Justice Community Grant from Lewisham Local, the charity launched a programme combining nutrition education and food growing activities to help residents become more self-sufficient.
Participants took part in hands-on workshops, planted seeds and received packs to continue growing at home. Inspired by founder and UK musician Fekky's own food-growing journey, the project has shown how growing food can boost wellbeing and confidence while bringing people together.
One participant said: “I’ve never taken the initiative to grow before… at home things grow on big farms, now I know the process I’m going to keep growing.”
Read more about the CC Foundation on the Good Food Lewisham website.
Downham Gleaning Pantry was founded by Steph Holgate as part of the Downham Mutual Aid response during the Covid pandemic. From packing food parcels in her front room, moving into Brook Lane Community Church and later developing a ‘pantry’ model where residents join and spend £5 a week for a weekly shop, the Downham Gleaning Pantry is a great example of a thriving grassroots community-led food project.
Steph said: “The pantry model gives a sense of ownership. Members don’t feel like they’re being given a handout, we communicate that they are contributing to the running costs and paying it forward to help others – this isn’t charity, this project rescues surplus food from going to waste, so we make sure members know that they are supporting this aim and are part of it.”
Read more: Spotlight on: Downham Gleaning Pantry
.jpg?h=300&w=400)
St Peter's has transformed its traditional food bank into a Community Table model that combines food support with advice services, community meals, volunteering opportunities and social connections. The approach recognises that food insecurity is often linked to wider challenges and aims to build belonging alongside practical support.
As a result of these changes, Anne Whyte, who is part of St Peter’s Leadership team, told us: “Many more issues are being solved, connection and belonging are emphasised, and emergency food provision is an added bonus to that.”
Read more: Spotlight on St Peter’s Brockley – a journey from foodbank to pantry to community table
Get involved
Lewisham’s Food Justice Action Plan is ambitious, which is why we want to work with organisations, community groups and anyone who has an interest in or can support this important work.
- If you are part of an organisation or service who is working to achieve food justice in Lewisham and would like to join an alliance of partners who are working together to help deliver actions from the plan, we would love to hear from you. Contact foodjusticeactionplan@lewisham.gov.uk to get in touch
- If you are a local resident passionate about food justice and transforming the world of food in Lewisham, join the Good Food Lewisham network
- Volunteer or donate to the groups featured in this article. You can find other food justice organisations local to you on Good Food Lewisham’s directory: FOOD MAP | Good Food Lewisham.
Find more ways to get involved to support Lewisham’s Food Justice Action Plan online.