Food is central to holiday traditions, but food insecurity is becoming more difficult this winter for many families in South Wales
For many, Christmas traditions include gathering with family for a big meal. Extra helpings happen without a second thought and passing around mince pies make for the perfect end to the day. For the children facing food poverty, the privilege of experiencing traditions such as this isn’t always possible.
Food poverty, or food insecurity, is something many families in South Wales have battled with for a long time. Anxiety is a constant feeling for the parents who never know where the next meal for their children will come from.
Christmas won’t look like Christmas. It won’t and it never has
Recent increases in both unemployment and food prices are impacting those already struggling with food insecurity in Newport. Chelsey Maddern, from the Newport youth charity the Community Youth Project, said, “We’ve definitely witnessed it.”
The Community Youth Project is a scheme run by the Community House charity based in the neighbourhood of Maindee. It helps young people aged around 6-25 who come from struggling families. Youth workers like Chelsey do a variety of things to help the young people of the city, including making food parcels.
“We’ve seen a lot of families going without food and on the cusp of homelessness, especially through Covid-19,” the 23-year-old explained.
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The Welsh Government’s annual labour survey revealed that Newport saw the highest increase in unemployment in Wales over the last year. The city’s unemployment rate increased by 4.4% to 6.2% between July 2020 and June 2021. This comes as the coronavirus pandemic affected the labour market and led to redundancy in many sectors across the UK, particularly the motor vehicles industry.
The parents of the children Chelsey and her colleagues work with have been “hit hard” by unemployment. Sourcing sufficient food is a weekly issue, especially because the children often come from large families of up to eight siblings.
Rising food prices aren’t making the situation any easier, as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) expects this Christmas to be an expensive one. Food prices saw a 0.3% increase for the first time in October in 10 months and it won’t be stopping there.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of BRC, stated, “Tight margins mean retailers may not be able to absorb all of these new costs, so prices will continue to rise.” This follows a BRC survey which showed three in five retailers expect prices to increase this festive season.
Chelsey explained the parents can’t always afford healthier foods because they are more expensive. This leaves the children with few options when it comes to eating substantially this winter.
A meal for all
With a clear need for food aid, FoodCycle recently landed in Newport to help. The national charity takes surplus food from businesses and supermarkets and cooks it into free meals for anyone that comes along.
It has been running weekly in Newport since September and many of the Community Youth Project children attend the gathering.
Alex Hatherly, 29, South West regional manager of FoodCycle, explained the children get to try different vegetables at the meal they otherwise couldn’t. They sometimes react with “funny faces” to the foods but they always end up enjoying it.
“One of the kids was like ‘This is a 20/10’, it’s really nice to have that feedback,” said a FoodCycle volunteer from Newport. Her role is to cook for and serve guests and she finds the gratitude of the children rewarding.
The Community Youth Project workers are equally grateful for FoodCycle because it ensures the children are having a hot meal at least once a week.
“We don’t know if they’re being fed day-to-day, we don’t know what they’re being fed at home. Parents only tell you so much because there is such shame and stigma around poverty,” explained Chelsey.
Sarah Miller, 29, lead youth and community worker at the project, added that the children enjoy the concept of the three-course meal they experience at the gathering. “I remember in week one they didn’t know what it meant,” she said. Now the children eagerly await Friday to come around so they can be served at their meal.
Uncertainty this Christmas
Even though initiatives like FoodCycle are making healthy food accessible weekly, uncertainty still looms this winter for the children who face food insecurity.
The holiday season particularly brings unguaranteed access to healthy and substantial food because the children aren’t covered by school meals.
Chelsey and Sarah expect that if the children have something to eat this Christmas it won’t be the big dinner most others enjoy. Instead, “It will be something they always eat,” said Chelsey, “Nothing fancy.”
While the rest of Wales indulges in food this Christmas, traditions will be something many of these children won’t experience. As Sarah said, “Christmas won’t look like Christmas” for these children. “It won’t, and it never has.”
