SHARED meals will help to fulfill rising levels of loneliness and isolation, a latest survey has found. The poll, undertaken by the charity FoodCycle, confirmed that the vast majority of individuals who were surveyed (84 per cent) left its weekly community meals feeling “less lonely”.
Established in 2009, FoodCycle takes surplus food donated by local businesses and turns it into shared community meals. It currently operates mealtimes in 83 national locations, and hopes to extend this to 100 sites by the top of this 12 months.
Of those that visited, 92 per cent said that they felt happier at the top of every meal, and 88 per cent felt “more a component of their community”. The research exercise was undertaken at the top of last 12 months.
“This 12 months’s guest and volunteer survey confirms what our teams see each week,” the chief executive of FoodCycle, Sophie Tebbetts, said. “The latest national figures report rising numbers of individuals feeling lonely often, and we consider FoodCycle’s community-dining model can play an enormous part in tackling this pandemic.”
Volunteers participated within the survey alongside guests. Two-thirds (64 per cent) of those that had signed up to assist with the meals said that they’d been motivated by the social must combat loneliness. Meeting people from other backgrounds was a highlight for 77 per cent of volunteers questioned, while 40 per cent said that they’d made latest friends.
One FoodCycle volunteer said: “As relatively latest to the UK, it has given me a chance to fulfill latest people and make a difference locally. I like cooking, and FoodCycle has given me a chance to make use of my skills effectively.”
The 2023 survey polled 1448 FoodCycle guests, and 1093 volunteers. It also bears out the findings of other data from last 12 months. The UK Office for National Statistics reported last June that one in 4 adults within the UK (26 per cent) said that they often felt lonely.
The same month, a report from Age UK’s Campaign to End Loneliness (which is as a result of close in April) found chronic loneliness to be an issue for 3.83 billion (7.1 per cent) of the UK population.
Clergy can even experience the identical problem. In February last 12 months, a survey commissioned by the Clergy Family Network suggested that 44 per cent of clergy families suffered from isolation and loneliness, and experienced “issues with isolation/making friends” (News, 17 February 2023).
The strategy to tackle social isolation was through community dining, by “empowering communities to share great food and conversation in a warm and welcoming space”, Ms Tebbetts said.
A 12 months ago, FoodCycle issued its Your Place on the Table report, based on a survey of 2000 people. Two in three respondents felt that not enough was being done by local councils to advertise local dining projects, and 96 per cent of the respondents had not heard of such initiatives.
