Hunger on our doorstep (Part 2)

Episode summary

Hunger on our Doorstep is a two part podcast about food poverty in the UK. It explores the issues and potential solutions through the eyes of three food campaigners with firsthand experience of food poverty in urban communities, as well as others working to tackle the problem. The often bleak picture of poverty, inequality and exclusion painted in episode one contrasts with inspiring stories of the solutions being put into practice across the country in episode two.

This podcast is produced with the support and contribution of the Food Foundation, a charity focused on changing food policy and business practice to ensure everyone, across the UK nations, can afford and access a healthy and sustainable diet.

About the project

This two-part podcast is part of our Reckoning with Regeneration project, looking at the question “Can regenerative agriculture deliver nutritious food and a just food system?” For farmers and others committed to transforming our food systems, the term regenerative agriculture has become a unifying concept and one which has enabled a wider community of producers, retailers, financiers and others to embrace an agenda of change. But how confident are we in regenerative agriculture’s environmental and productivity claims? And what would a regenerative shift in UK agriculture mean for how we eat, grow, trade and buy food? This research is funded by the Agile Initiative.

[ Transcript available ]

About the guests

Ryan McShane

Ryan is a politically-minded campaigner, acting as a former member of the Scottish Youth Parliament and advocating for children in care. He is very strong speaking on the policy changes needed to protect children’s right to healthy and affordable food, and wants to make sure the good practice taking place in Scotland in relation to the monitoring of school food is adopted throughout the UK.

Glory Omoaka

Glory Omoaka is a mum of two, an activist and an agent of change who has sat at a roundtable and kitchen table with politicians, local authorities, community members and charities organisations especially refugee-led organisations to accelerate changes in the things that matters to us all as a community and society in general. She works in the healthcare sector because of her passion to help the vulnerable. Glory has used her lived experience and voice to contribute to changes. Because Glory loves cooking, and healthy food that is acceptable, available and affordable, she has decided to join other Food Ambassadors to challenge or contribute to policies that will ensure a sustainable food system that is delivered in a dignified manner.

Dominic Watters

Dominic Watters is a voice of the poor that has gone on to influence government policy. He speaks up for unheard council estate communities on issues of fuel and food insecurity and is leading research in resilience and sustainability at the University of Southampton. Find out more on Dominic’s website here, and you can contribute to the Estate2Plate project via GoFundMe here.

Jonathan Pauling

Jonathan Worthy-Pauling is the former Chief Executive at Alexandra Rose Charity. 10 years ago he helped develop its new mission - to improve access to healthy and affordable food for all. Jonathan built the Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg Project to pioneer the use of financial incentives to help families on low incomes avoid food insecurity and food related ill-health. He now is the director of the Pesticide Action Network.

Dr Effie Papargyropoulou

Effie Papargyropoulou is an environmental social scientist at Leeds University, interested in food security and sustainability. She takes a systems approach in her research to explore ways we can achieve food security (i.e. access to enough, affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food for all, in a sustainable manner) while respecting planetary boundaries. Her research is transdisciplinary by engaging with academic and non-academic stakeholders, and interdisciplinary by combining approaches from various fields.

Before joining the University of Leeds, Effie worked as a Lecturer in Sustainability in Malaysia at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for six years, and before that as environmental consultant in the UK.

Ana María Narváez

Ana María Narváez is a policy and advocacy professional with over eight years of experience working on food policy through a human rights lens across the UK, Latin America, and the Caribbean. While working as Senior Policy and Advocacy officer at the Food Foundation, she coordinated their 2025 The Broken Plate report. Ana María is a lawyer qualified in Colombia and holds a Master of Science in Food Policy from City, University of London.

About the hosts

Richard Kipling

Richard has a background in ecology and expertise in high nature value and climate friendly livestock farming. Before gaining his PhD in pollination ecology in 2011, he worked as a countryside ranger at a number of internationally important UK nature reserves. Since 2011, his research has included applying quantitative and qualitative methodologies to problems as diverse as guillemot breeding productivity, the pollination niches of buttercups and the research priorities for animal health modelling. His current research focus is on understanding the meaning and implications of different models of regenerative agriculture, and on investigating barriers to and solutions for more local, resilient food systems. Prior to joining the Table team, he was Head of Research for the Sustainable Food Trust and continues to work one day a week with the charity as a Senior Research Advisor. Away from work, he is a keen walker and writer.

Ruth Mattock

Ruth spent several years writing about the London arts scene and teaching English as a Foreign Language in London, Paris and Lima before interests in nature, climate and agriculture coalesced, and she completed a MSc in Environment and Development at the University of Edinburgh. After a period with Scottish Government working on Scotland’s Climate Assembly and climate justice policy, Ruth joined TABLE as a Research and Communications Officer in 2023. Her interests include the role of participation and justice in food systems, and how demands on our land and ecosystems conflict and converge. She has a BA in English from Cambridge.