Soup-erb success with Young Marketeers

Wednesday 10 February 2016

A partnership between School Food Matters and Borough Market saw school kids from the Young Marketeers project selling homemade soup and bread with proceeds going to FareShare London.

The young traders made delicious soups using surplus vegetables and raised £280.50 for FareShare, which means 1,122 meals for vulnerable families.

Rachel Ledwith, FareShare London Development Manager said, “It has been a real delight working with the school children on this project. When introducing FareShare and the concepts of surplus food to them in their school assemblies, I am always surprised by their ability to quickly see how they can make a difference to food waste in their own lives. Their energy and enthusiasm at the Borough Market sale is boundless resulting in a fantastic amount of money being donated to FareShare London. Their stories about their wonky vegetable growing exploits and how they market them for sale puts a smile on everyone’s face.

“The children came to FareShare London in Deptford and got involved in picking orders for our Community Food Members. One group commented on how there wasn’t a rotten vegetable insight, they couldn’t believe the food in the warehouse was there and not on shop shelves. They all excitedly discussed their soup recipe ideas as they selected vegetables from the stock we had that day before heading out to meet a Southwark-based FareShare Community Food Member organisation. Before leaving many asked if they could come back and volunteer with us, which is something we can consider.

“Another positive impact from the Young Marketeers project has been a school offering to run a food drive for the FareShare Community Food Member following the visit. The project not only engages children and young adults with where their food comes from and the challenges of the current food system, but it also brings together groups within a community who may not have met otherwise. The power of food to bring communities together to help each other is central to the work of FareShare and to have it so clearly demonstrated in this project is fantastic.”

Photography by Borough Market – Adrian Pope