Real Bread - For all in Hackney & Beyond

Join us for an engaging evening discussing the problem that access to delicious, nutritious Real Bread tends to be an ‘us’ and ‘them’ situation, divided along socio-economic lines, including income, class, culture, colour and ethnicity. How can we convince public sector caterers (and other people) what the many benefits of Real Bread are, made by a small, independent, neighbourhood bakery, while exposing the often forgotten/hidden, displaced costs of industrial alternatives? 

And who will pay for the shortfall between what it costs a small bakery to make and sell Real Bread, and what people in that community on lower incomes are able to afford? How do we address other practical and conceptual barriers to access?

Join the conversation with people working to address issues of food accessibility, affordability and inequalities; caterers; bakery owners, farmers; and people acutely affected by the cost of living crisis.

The evening includes a screening of filmmaker Zev Robinson: Real Bread Bakers, an informative panel discussion followed by a Q&A and delicious sourdough pizza fresh from our ovens to end the night.

Programme

6.30pm Doors open

7pm Film screening

7.25pm Break. Audience invited to consider questions for the discussion

7.35pm Panel discussion and audience Q&A

8.45pm Pizza served - Time for further conversations

Tickets

Entry is by suggested donation of £15. There are costs involved in running this event, including paying people to organise and staff it, so please select the contribution you are able to make. We want people that this affects most to be part of the conversation, so if you are unable to afford the suggested price, please use one of the 25-100% discount codes below, no questions asked.

Bread25 / Bread50 / Bread75 / Bread100

The film

In his documentary Real Bread Bakers, Zev portrays the relationship between baking bread, nutrition, community and agriculture. The film presents examples of Real Bread making that aims to close the loop between producer and consumer by redistributing profit share and eliminating the middleman. Questions it asks include: how can a re-localised supply chain be achieved under today’s capitalist system? How do we bring people closer to the source, and how do we make better bread accessible to all? Zev is a Canadian-British artist and filmmaker who has been making documentaries about food and related issues since 2008 as part of his art, film and food project The Art and Politics of Eating. @zev_robinson

The conversation

Beyond redistributing surplus loaves via charity/community projects, what can be done to make Real Bread affordable and accessible for people on lower incomes?

How do we balance this with ensuring that small, local, Real Bread bakeries remain economically sustainable and that neither people or their products are undervalued?

This event is designed as a conversation between people involved in making and supplying food, and people in their communities struggling more than ever. Please come prepared to ask questions; present challenges and examples of problems and/or solutions; and (if you are comfortable doing so) sharing your personal experience.

The panel

Nicole Pisani 

Nicole Pisani is a chef who has worked at Yotam Ottolenghi’s Soho restaurant NOPI and Anna Hansen’s The Modern Pantry in London. Within 18 months of working at NOPI, Nicole was promoted to head chef in charge of the kitchen team. It was an incredible learning experience and her love for food was stimulated every day. She gave up that role to engage in helping future generations of children eat well and develop healthy food habits. She co-founded the charity, ‘Chefs in Schools’ to inspire change in school food by freely sharing knowledge of what works well, both in kitchens and classrooms, to schools across the country. She worked closely with Naomi Duncan (CEO) and a great team of hardworking colleagues. @saltbutterbones

Roshni Shah

Plant Futures Programme Manager at Made in Hackney, Roshni began her career in fashion but always had a love for cooking and hosting passed down from her very talented mum. After volunteering as a project leader at Foodcycle and starting her own plant-based supper club, she noticed a disconnect in values between her work and extracurricular life. So, in an effort to seek more purpose, she transitioned to the third sector through the On Purpose Programme. Since then she has worked in tech for good and various community organisations. She is passionate about promoting equality, diversity and community building and volunteers for organisations that reflect these values; currently Newington Green Alliance, The Girls Network and the Women’s Equality Party. At Made in Hackney, Roshni has found an organisation that truly lives their values, and combines her love for plant-based food and community building. @roshpics

Sarena Shetty

Sarena is a programme designer at Participatory City Foundation working on the Every One Every Day project based in Barking and Dagenham, helping to build a fully inclusive Participatory Ecosystem in the borough. Her role involves developing a range of inclusive participation opportunities that build capacity amongst residents by designing programmes, partnerships and support systems across the borough. Alongside this she's working to develop the concept of collaborative businesses - ways to do business that are better for both people and the planet. Before Participatory City she was a Year Here fellow specialising in community resilience, working on projects around social isolation and loneliness, particularly for older people. She's focussed on building stronger more connected communities that leave no one behind. @everyone_org

Chris Young

Chris has coordinated the Real Bread Campaign since March 2009. His work involves running the Campaign’s international supporter network, creating and running initiatives including Sourdough September, Real Bread Week, Together We Rise (therapeutic/social baking), calling for an Honest Crust Act of better loaf labelling and marketing laws, and No Loaf Lost (surplus and waste reduction), as well as the Lessons in Loaf and Bake Your Lawn programmes for schools. He’s the author of the Slow Dough: Real Bread recipe book and Knead to Know…more microbakery handbook, plus numerous bready reports, and editor of True Loaf magazine. In 2022, Chris began work on Real Bread For All, a renewed focus on how Real Bread can be made more affordable and accessible to more people. @RealBreadCampaign

Lizzie Parle - Moderator

The panel will be moderated by Lizzie Parle. Lizzie has been a sourdough baker since 2017. Previously e5 Bakehouse’s head baker, during her time there she helped lead the Just Bread programme, teaching migrants how to make sourdough. She also put together and taught sourdough workshops for local school children, sharing the joy and simplicity of making and eating delicious bread. In 2021 Lizzie co-founded Curry Club (@curryclubldn) an organisation formed during the pandemic which provides joyful, nutritious meals cooked by chefs free of charge to people in need. She now lives and works in Paris, baking at Ten Belles Bread. @lizzieparle