Rethink Food: New Leeds base for scheme to reduce child hunger set up by two former teachers

Rethink Food is targeting primary schools with a food learning programme which aims to deliver 10 million hours of food education by 2030.

The Rethink Food concept was established in 2014 by former teachers Nathan Atkinson and Kevin Mackay to tackle the immediate need of reducing food hunger as a barrier to learning.

It is officially launching its new mission and headquarters today to coincide with World Food Day.

Nathan Atkinson, co-founder of Rethink Food, said: “We’re using World Food Day as a starting point to refocus people’s attention on the issue of food education. There is so much more work needed in this area. By giving children and young people the tools to understand the importance of healthy eating and physical activity we can make a positive difference to the health and well-being of young people now and in the future.

“Our ambition to deliver 10 million hours of food education into 7,000 schools is not for the faint hearted. We know this is an ambitious target and we’ll have to move mountains to deliver this. But we absolutely believe that teaching the next generation about the food lifecycle from seed to plate, sustainably eating, food waste and how we can make better food and lifestyle choices to look after their bodies and the planet means that we can change their future for the better.”

Kevin Mackay, co-founder of Rethink Food, added: “Rethink Food started out in response to an immediate problem and that was, as teachers, we were increasingly seeing hungry kids which directly impacted their ability to focus and manage their own behaviour. We now help more than 300 Leeds families and schools each week with access to surplus food to help mitigate the immediate challenge of hunger, but we need to do a lot more.”

“There are huge time and resource pressures on schools, but we need teachers and parents to advocate for the health of the future generation and sign their school up to our Rethink Food Programme. It’s just £200 per year per school and this gives access to a wealth of curriculum approved learning resources and digital content that inspires children and young people.”

During the past year, Rethink Food has forged a partnership with The Greggs Foundation, the independent grant-making charity associated and supported by Greggs plc. Together they have trialled the delivery of a free education programme called Agents of Change – to teach children about the importance of food security and sustainability via the Greggs Breakfast Club network.

Schools can sign up for a free trial at rethinkfood.co.uk.