The right to food: bringing lived experience into the conversation

[This blog was written by Jenny Joyce. Jenny Joyce is a member of Just Fair’s Lived Experience Advisory Group and a Disability Activist. In this blog Jenny reflects on the process of putting together a report for the Rights to Food UK Commission and attending the launch in Parliament.]

The right to food: bringing lived experience into the conversation

What does the right to food mean in everyday life? Through my work with Just Fair’s Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG), I have returned to this question. For me, it is about much more than food being on a shelf. It is about being able to afford nutritious food, access places where it is available, and finding support that works in everyday life. It is also about dignity: being able to choose and access the food we need without shame or having to go without so someone else can eat. In helping to develop our submission to the Right to Food UK Commission, I worked alongside other members to bring our experiences of these barriers and our ideas for change into the conversation.

On Tuesday 20 October, I attended the launch of the Commission’s Roadmap in the UK Parliament. Having helped develop our submission, I felt personally connected to the experiences shared. In Parliament, I heard accounts of mothers going without food so their children could eat, and of children developing health conditions, including rickets, linked to inadequate nutrition. The work and evidence presented were both humbling and harrowing. It was difficult to sit with the weight of what I heard, knowing these were not abstract concerns but realities in people’s everyday lives.

One speaker looked back at parliamentary records from 1826 and 1926, when food insecurity and poverty were also discussed. As I reflect on their words, I find it deeply troubling that these concerns have persisted for so long. Their message was simple: we should not still be confronting the same issues today. For me, that thought brings sadness, but also a stronger resolve that these conversations must lead to change.

Evidence rooted in everyday experience

My involvement with Just Fair’s work on economic, social and cultural rights stems from the belief that everyone should have a say in the decisions that affect their rights and their lives. As one of five members with diverse experience in the LEAG, I help shape a more participatory, rights-based approach. At one meeting, we worked through the Commission’s ‘Workshop-in-a-box’ toolkit. That conversation formed the basis of the LEAG’s submission to the Commission. We explored barriers to securing sufficient nutritious food, the support available, and what a law guaranteeing the right to food should mean in practice.

Affordable food must also be accessible

When we as a LEAG talked about food prices, the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables was a particular concern. Our conversation also reminded me how closely affordability and accessibility are connected. Travelling between shops for cheaper options, collecting discounted food at the end of the day, or using food collection apps simply is not practical for everyone. As we discussed, being able to do these things may depend on being well enough to travel at a particular time. Delivery can offer another way, but our submission showed that cheaper products were not always available that way. For me, this is an important reminder: cheaper food does not necessarily mean it is within someone’s reach.

Support matters, but it must meet people’s needs

Our discussions as a LEAG reminded me how much relationships and community support matter. Practical help with shopping can make a real difference to someone who cannot get to the shops. As a group, we wanted stronger neighbourhood services that could reach those who need assistance. We also agreed that free school meals should continue and expand. For me, the value of this support lies in its ability to respond closely to people’s everyday circumstances and make access to food more reliable.

We also returned to the role of food banks. We recognised the vital help they offer, as well as the growing demand and pressure on local charities. Our conversation raised questions about nutritional quality, how far people must travel, and whether the food provided is practical to prepare. Listening to the experiences shared in our group, I was reminded that providing food is only part of the picture: people also need to be able to collect and use it. Our discussion held two things together: the need for support now and the hope for a future in which people no longer must rely on food banks.

Learning from gaps in emergency support

My account in our submission describes my efforts to secure food during the Covid-19 lockdowns. I shared how support stopped, how difficult it became to obtain basic provisions, and how community networks stepped in to organise deliveries. I find that experience hard to reflect on, yet the help those networks offered me gives me hope. It also leaves me with a strong sense that people should not have to navigate gaps in support alone. Emergency food provision needs to be accessible and inclusive, with systems that identify who needs help rather than leaving people to find their own way to support.

What should a right to food law deliver?

The ideas we developed together grew out of these everyday experiences. The LEAG’s submission calls for affordable, nutritious and accessible food for everyone, with government and businesses taking responsibility for addressing the barriers we described. We discussed how supermarkets could play a more active role in reducing usable food waste and making food more affordable and accessible. We also wanted greater government control over food prices and support for local authorities to build community-rooted services that identify and help people facing food insecurity. For me, these proposals connect what we shared with the practical changes we want to see.

From listening to lasting change

Looking back on the launch, I keep returning to the connections between affordability, accessibility and the support people can turn to. Community organisations and personal networks offer essential help, but they cannot solve these problems alone. I feel the weight of what we have shared, alongside hope for what could change. For me, bringing lived experience into the conversation means making room for people’s accounts, listening carefully to what is not working, and taking their ideas for change seriously. I want our experiences to be more than something people hear and then move on from. My hope is that these conversations lead to something lasting: a system where everyone can access enough good food.