Paul Flynn, chef and owner of the Tannery Restaurant and Cookery School Dungarvan, yesterday launched a new food initiative in Cork which aims to create over 100,000 meals for people suffering from food poverty.
Surplus food will be collected on a daily basis from Lidl stores in Cork and through a partnership with the Bia Food Initiative redistributed to 56 charities in the region. It is estimated that 10% of the population currently suffers from food poverty so this is a very welcome initiative indeed as Paul explained to Neil Delamere on the Anton Savage Show.
Paul paid tribute to Lidl for undertaking the initiative, which will see the retailer team up with Bia Food Initiative to gather surplus food (meats, fruit & veg; bread & bakery and ambient lines) from Lidl stores in Cork (Midleton, Ballincollig, Ballyvolane, Churchfield, Togher and Cornmarket Street; and the Distribution Centre in Charleville) then redirected to over 56 charities. Each store will have chilled cabinets and Lidl also providing a refrigerated van, with motor insurance and fuel with Bia Food volunteers looking after everything else.
It is an extension of Lidl’s structured food donation programme in Dublin with Crosscare where Lidl has donated over 53.7 tonnes of surplus food to charity (130,075 meals). As Paul says, it is hoped the initiative will be rolled out nationwide this year.
Over 10% of the Irish population is affected by food poverty. Simply cannot afford to provide themselves and their families with the recommended daily amounts of healthy and nutritious food. People affected are those living alone; families on low incomes; single parents and large families.
Paul says his involvement with the drive was ‘a real eye opener’ as he did not realise that so much food is regarded as being surplus and that so many people are literally food poor.
He thinks the basic skills of cooking are dying out as more people resort to takeaways and ready meals. Many he spoke to live on sandwiches for days on end, their budget stretched so much that they cannot afford proper food.
He says people need to know how to cook simple, good food. It’s not complicated and not about showing off. On even the smallest of budgets Paul thinks people could eat well and healthy.
In the meantime, the Lidl and Bia Food Initiative will bring food to thousands in the Cork area.
For more, see www.biafi.ie and www.lidl.ie
