Food – The Green Tau

Green Tau: issue 120

21st November 2025

Why poor diets are a systems issue not just a food issue.

Part 1

Recently The Eat-Lancet Commission updated its Planetary Health Diet. This is a scientifically developed diet that can be followed anywhere in the globe using local, traditional ingredients. As the name ambiguously suggests, it is a diet that both promotes our physical health and planetary health. It is a diet rich in plant based foods with small amounts of fish, meat and dairy items.

The 2025 overview begins with the arresting sentence: “The food we eat is more than a personal choice.” Can what we choose to eat make that much of a difference to the lives of other people?

The report continues: “It is a public issue with global consequences. What we eat affects agricultural land use, greenhouse gas emissions, water availability and quality, labor systems, and public health. Today’s food systems are, in many ways, failing. Millions face hunger, while others suffer from completely preventable chronic diseases. Food production contributes to environmental degradation and deepens inequality, when it could be the primary source of environmental regeneration, and justice. The EAT-LancetCommission’s approach to food addresses these challenges by linking health, sustainability, and justice. It promotes a shift in both consumption and production patterns, making healthy and sustainable food more accessible and reducing pressure on planetary boundaries. Transforming food will require cooperation across sectors, cultures, and regions. But the science is clear: changing what we eat is essential to building a future in which both people and planet can thrive.” (1)

What we choose to eat can shape how much land has to be used to produce our food and if that is less than at present, then more land can be used to restore biodiversity and the natural resilience of the world’s ecosystems.

What we choose to eat can reduce greenhouse emissions and so contribute to ensure a more amenable (or perhaps just less disastrous) environment for everyone.

What we choose to eat can reduce the amount of water needed for agriculture and so can make water available for more essential needs such as drinking and sanitation.

What we choose to eat can have an impact on the welfare given to livestock, the welfare given to the soil, the welfare given to agricultural workers and food producers. (For example a cheap cup of coffee may come at the expense of deforestation where the beans are grown, at the expense of an inadequate price paid to the person growing and processing the beans, at the expense of a poorly paid barista, and at the expense of society if the coffee chain doesn’t pay its taxes. (2))

So yes, the EAT-Lancet Commission is clear that diet is not just about the food we eat but also about the systems that being the food from the farm to the plate. And not only that, these systems also impact our health not just through the food produced but through the impact that food production has on our environment – and thus on our health – and that it has an impact on incomes earned by those in the food industry which again (as we will see in more detail below, impacts health.

Part 2

In many way the Planetary Health Diet as a guide, is not hugely dissimilar from the UK government’s Eat Well diet guide (3) – although the later increases the proportions of plant based foods at the expense of cereals/ starch and animal based foods. This Eat Well guide dates back to 2016 which itself is not very dissimilar to the 2014 guide known as the Eat Well Plate.

The UK government produces a regular National Diet and Nutrition Survey. This is “designed to assess the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general UK population … is used by UK governments to monitor progress towards achieving diet and nutrition objectives and to develop food and nutrition policies”. (4)

Has the Eat Well guide improved healthy eating in the UK? Sadly not.

According to analysis of the data by Field Doctor, the most recent survey shows :-

only 17% of adults eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetable a day
We eat 100% more sugar, and 25% more saturated fat than is recommended
96% of adults eat an insufficient amount of fibre
18% have sub optimal levels of vitamin D (5)

Whilst the Roadmap for Resilience: A UK Food Plan for 2050 (produced by The Agri-Food for Net Zero Network), notes that under 1% of people in the UK fully meet dietary guidelines and comments: “Poor diets cost the UK dearly – through pressures on the NHS, lost productivity and poor quality of life. Shifting towards healthy diets is a win-win that cuts emissions, saves public money, and helps improve the quality of life and work for productivity.” (6)

And The Broken Plate Report 2025 (produced by the Food Foundation) highlighted the following findings from its research:-:

Over a third of supermarket promotions on food and nonalcoholic drinks are for unhealthy food.
Over a third of food and soft drink advertising spend is on confectionery, snacks, deserts and soft drinks, compared to just 2% on fruit and veg.
Three quarters of the baby and toddler snacks that have front-of-pack promotional claims contain high or medium levels of sugar.

And

On average, healthier foods are more than twice as expensive per calorie as less healthy foods, with healthier food increasing in price at twice the rate in the past two years.
To afford the government-recommended diet, the most deprived fifth of the population would need to spend 45% of their disposable income on food, rising to 70% for those households with children.

And

children in the most deprived fifth of the population are nearly twice as likely to be living with obesity as those in the least deprived fifth by their first year of school
Ditto twice as likely to have tooth decay in their permanent teeth. (7)

Clearly both poverty and the high cost of healthy foods, plays a big part in the unhealthy diets of many people in the UK. Other factors are also relevant, some linked to poverty and inequality such as

lack of access to cooking facilities (especially true of people living in hostels, bed and breakfast or other shared accommodation). Research carried out in 2020 revealed that 1.9 million people in the UK didn’t have a cooker and 900,000 didn’t have a fridge. (8)
Lack of access to local shops selling fresh produce – so called food deserts – affecting 1.2 million people. (9)
Lack of time to prepare and cook meals especially for households juggling multiple jobs and/or long hours (apparently this hasn’t been widely researched (10) but in one recent survey of 2000 adults, 21% sited lack of time as a reason for not eating healthily (11)).

And other factors that have an impact across the board

Power of advertising in promoting ready meals and ultra processed foods. This report from Obesity Action Scotland is very clear as to the advertising has on diets. (12)
Lack of experience of cooking from scratch – again this is area which has received little research so the conclusion is conjecture.

What I think these various surveys show is, that whilst lack of financial resources a major factor in poor diets, unjust social systems may be a more embracing reason. It is unjust social systems that means that households do not have adequate cooking facilities, do not have access to fresh food shops, so not receive adequate incomes and especially so for those households with children. At the same time big businesses have a disproportionate amount of power in influencing what is advertised and to whom, and in controlling (or at least influencing) where and how food is sold, and a major role in continuing to underpay their workforce.

Systems change is essential nationally and globally if we are to ensure everyone has a healthy diet (ideally the Planetary Health Diet) and a healthy environment in which to live.

Postscript

The Food Foundation produced a manifesto report to educate new MPs as to what changes were possible to improve healthy diets for all. https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/Election%2024_Manifesto.pdf

(3) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5bbb790de5274a22415d7fee/Eatwell_guide_colour_edition.pdf

(4) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey-2019-to-2023/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey-2019-to-2023-report

(5) https://www.fielddoctor.co.uk/health-hub/uk-eating-habits-2025

(6) Page 17 https://www.agrifood4netzero.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AFN-ROADMAP-SUMMARY.pdf

(7) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-01/TFF_BP_At a Glance_FINAL.pdf

(8) https://www.turn2us.org.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/press-releases-and-comments/millions-across-the-uk-are-living-without-household-essentials

(9) https://sheffield.ac.uk/social-sciences/news/12-million-living-uk-food-deserts-studys-shows

(10) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666306003813

(11) https://www.psychreg.org/busy-lifestyles-hinder-healthy-eating-many-britons/

(12) https://www.obesityactionscotland.org/media/as3leiwg/food-and-drink-advertising-briefing-2023.pdf

Counting on … 182

7th November 2025

The Eat-Lancet Commission reports that report, currently the “wealthiest 30% of people drive more than 70% of food-related environmental impacts” (1) but this is not the only way that wealth and food produce inequalities. Lack of money means many people go hungry and many others cannot afford a healthy diet.

Here in the UK the Food Foundation’s research showed that 14% of households experienced food insecurity in June 2024 affecting approximately 7.2 million adults. 18% of households with children experienced food insecurity in the same period affecting an estimated 2.7 million children. Their report, The Broken Plate, also noted that “many people in the UK lack the financial means to access decent food and that much of the food readily available and marketed to us is damaging our health and the planet.” (2)

Further they also highlighted that such inequalities affect not only the individual’s wellbeing but also that of their communities. “Food is a huge part of all of our lives, nourishing and fuelling us. It impacts our health, happiness and overall prosperity. But the current food system is holding our nation back. Because it is so difficult to eat healthily, poor diet is now the biggest risk for preventable disease, placing massive strain on our NHS.” (3)

Food, including food production and access to food, is a climate issue, a health issue, an economic issue as well as a justice issue.

(1) https://eatforum.org/update/eat-lancet-commission-warns-food-systems-breach-planetary-limits/

(2) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/publication/broken-plate-2025

(3) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/nourishing-nation

Counting on … 181

6th November 2025

Bang on cue! Yesterday saw the launch of a new campaign – Bang on Some Beans – to encourage us to eat more beans and pulses in the best interests of our own health and for the health of the planet.

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/bang-some-beans

The Guardian offers a selection of appetising recipes (although the quantities look as if they would feed many more than the recipes suggests).

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/nov/05/magic-beans-the-protein-rich-superfood-in-a-potful-of-top-chefs-recipes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Another go to site for recipes is Hodmedod’s who are a British grown beans, pulses, grains etc. Their recipes include ones using bean flour – dried beans milled into flour are a great way to increase protein and fibre and reduce carbon hydrates and can be used in making cakes, biscuits, bread, pasta etc.

https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/recipes

Counting on … Lent 21

2nd April 2025

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

The Earth provides a bountiful supply of food that can satisfy everyone. Ensuring a sufficiency for all underlies God’s wisdom, God’s purpose. Ensuring that everyone can access this sufficiency however requires that we humans act responsibly. The following sound advice comes from the German Advisory Council on the Environment.

“…sufficiency is a long-established concept in the environmental sciences. It is distinct from efficiency (less input per output) and consist (more environmentally friendly input). In contrast, sufficiency aims at the absolute reduction of outputs, ie a conscious collective self-limitation of ecologically critical goods and services. Secondly, sufficiency with the meaning of “enough” (lat. sufficere) can be linked to questions of justice: sufficiency aims to ensure that all people have sufficient access to natural resources. For people living in poverty, “enough” can therefore also mean “more”. Sufficiency requires “less” for resource-intensive groups. These are the middle and upper classes, especially (but not only) in rich countries. A life of dignity for all within planetary boundaries is therefore also the guiding principle of German and international sustainability strategies.”

https://www.umweltrat.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/04_Statements/2020_2024/2024_06_Sufficiency_as_a_Strategy_of_the_Enough.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

Counting on … Lent 14

24th March 2025

When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ John 6:5-14

The feeding of the 5000 occurs in all the gospels and in the Hebrew testament, Elisha feeds a 100 prophets with barley loaves (2 Kings Chapter 4 42). These stories tell us that when we have the desire and will, we can feed everyone with food to spare.

There is enough food to feed the world, even as the total population is still growing. The problem of hunger stems from inequalities in accessing food – poverty, oppression, the impact of wars etc – the power of big businesses in controlling prices, problems of food waste, and ethical questions about growing vast amounts of food to feed to a growing industrialised livestock programme when such food could be fed to people.

God has given us all that we need to eat, but it is we who fail to distribute it fairly.

https://www.ft.com/content/99204d14-a585-4743-ba95-c5fca64cb4a4

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/hunger-global-citizen-festival-advocacy-food/

Thanks for table fellowship

15th February 2025

Trust in the Lord and be doing good; dwell in the land and be nourished with truth.
Let your delight be in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, and he will bring it to pass. Psalm 37:3-5

You Lord are the bread of life;

feed us with your wisdom.

Our meat is to do the Father’s will.

guide us in all we do

Whenever we eat or drink

Let it be to the glory of God.

Reading Mark 6: 38-44 ( from The Message)

But he was quite serious. “How many loaves of bread do you have? Take an inventory.”

That didn’t take long. “Five,” they said, “plus two fish.”

Jesus got them all to sit down in groups of fifty or a hundred—they looked like a patchwork quilt of wildflowers spread out on the green grass! He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples, and the disciples in turn gave it to the people. He did the same with the fish. They all ate their fill. The disciples gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. More than five thousand were at the supper.

Table Piece

Around the table, smallest to largest,

youngest to oldest – comfortable and companionable.

Bread, first mixed and kneaded,

shared together at the table.

Wisdom, debated and pondered,

gathered from around the table.

Gentle chiding, loving acceptance, laughter –

differences reconciled at the table.

Thanks given, prayers said, hands clasped

a place of worship at the table.

Kith and kin, friends – all welcome: love

a community built around the table.

Prayers

We give thanks O Lord, for the food we have to eat,

for the opportunities we have to eat together,

for the times we gather to share and learn together,

and for the joy of worshipping at your table.

We pray Lord, for all who struggle to get food to eat,

all who lack the companionship of friends and family,

all who are exploited and all who are fall prey to disinformation,

and for all who have yet to feel included at you table.

Stir us Lord, to respond with generosity and determination

to feed the hungry,

to transform the inequalities of society,

to reach out to those starved of love,

and to nourish all with your word.

Amen.

God’s kingdom – food for all

8th February 2025

Psalm 37:3-5

You Lord are the bread of life;

feed us with your wisdom.

Our meat is to do the Father’s will.

guide us in all we do

Whenever we eat or drink

Let it be to the glory of God.

A Reading from Mark 4:3-8

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Pause for reflection

Response:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

So may we store water for when and for whoever needs it,

and safeguard those living with the threat of flooding.

As the earth brings forth and sprouts,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So may we harvest what is needed,

sharing the bounty so no one goes hungry.

So shall God’s word be that goes forth; it shall not return empty,
but it shall accomplish that which is purposed
and succeed in the thing for which it is sent.

May we pay attention to God’s word,

following the ways of wisdom that God desires

for the wellbeing of all creation.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

May we protect the fertility of the soil,

not polluting it with chemicals

nor stripping it of nourishment.

And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

May we treasure those who tend and farm the land,

paying fair wages and sharing profits.

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations:

May we welcome God’s kingdom with all our being,

following God’s law with hands, hearts and voices.

(Based on Isaiah 55:10,11 and 61:11)

The Grace is said together

Counting on … day 25

5th February 2025

Fairtrade helps ensure fair working conditions for workers which for many consumers is an issue of social justice that means they are willing to pay a higher price for the product. Ensuring workers have a fair wage and good living conditions is also about the sustainable use of resources. People are resources that we need to value and to treat with respect.

Food systems here in the UK and in Europe, are highly dependant on the use of part time cheap labour. In these situations workers are not paid fair wages nor are they provided with continuous year round work, holiday and sick pay etc.

This article from the Guardian describes the case of Julia Quecaño Casimiro, from Chile, who came to pick cherries in Herefordshire. When she left the farm a month later, she was homeless with little more than £100 in her pocket. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/nov/22/seasonal-cherrypicker-from-chile-files-unfair-dismissal-claim-against-uk-farm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 24

4th February 2025

Producers of products such as cocoa, coffee and bananas also face problems due to fluctuations in prices triggered by speculators. Fairtrade can help, by guaranteeing a minimum price but also be developing direct, long term relationships between producers and buyers.

“Many initiatives in the cocoa, tea, banana and flower sectors aim to improve the social, environmental and economic performance of producers. They typically focus directly on achieving change at producer and worker level ….[However] trading relationships can have an important influence on a producer’s economic viability and capacity to invest in sustainable practices. In the banana sector in Ecuador, for example, more secure contracted volumes enable banana plantations to provide more stable year-round employment to their workers. Without these guarantees plantations are often confronted with cancellations in buying orders, making it too risky to provide job security to workers.” (1)

Sustainable food systems need to protect producers and workers, and this does ultimately protect consumers by better ensuring a steady supply of food.

https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/legacy/doc/The-Case-for-Fairness-in-Trade.pdf

Counting on … day 23

3rd February 2025

“Farmers are the backbone of our agricultural industry, working tirelessly to bring food to our tables. However, the practice of price manipulation in agricultural markets has severe consequences for these hardworking individuals. One of the most significant impacts on farmers is the financial struggles they face, coupled with a sense of uncertainty about their future.” (1)

Food waste can also be linked with capital waste. Farming requires capital inputs – seed, fertilisers, equipment – for which the return can be unpredictable. Crops may fail due to adverse weather or pests. Prices may fall because of changes in demand or because of the manipulation of the markets by investors such as hedge funds.

Recently there seemed to be a surge in demand for British grown fruit – apples, cherries etc. demand peaked and with inflation consumers (and supermarkets) opted for cheaper imports. What do farmers do who have invested in planting orchards? It can be years before the capital is repaid: should they grub up the new trees and cut their losses?

Do we need more control over prices – limiting the role of investors who are simply playing the market, using subsides to guarantee prices for British grown produce?

https://fastercapital.com/content/Price-Manipulation-in-the-Agricultural-Markets–Impacts-on-Farmers-and-Consumers.html