Our Food Ambassadors giving evidence in the House of Lords

We were honoured four of our Food Ambassadors were invited to give evidence to the House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee. Dominic Watters, Kathleen Kerridge, Penny Walters, and Caroline Woollam each shared powerful testimonies about how the cost of living crisis is affecting families and their struggle to afford and access healthy food. You can watch the session in full here.

In this blog, they share their reflections about the experience.

Dominic Watters, Kent

What was it like presenting to the Lords?
It was great speak up for council estate single parents experiencing food insecurity as we don’t get heard.

Is there anything you wish you’d said or you wish you'd been asked?
Someone to financially support my campaign #FoodisCare so that real sustainable change can happen for the poorest in society.

What do you hope will happen next?
My speech has gone viral on TikTok so the impact will live on 🙏.

@singledadsw Council estate single dad in the House of Lords?? #CostofLiving #PoorPeople #FoodInsecurity #foryoupage #fypシ゚viral ♬ original sound - @SingleDadSW

Kathleen Kerridge, Hampshire

What was it like presenting to the Lords?
It was amazing to have the opportunity to speak to the Committee at the House of Lords; to feel as though my voice can be heard, and what I have to say is important, was amazing as living in any kind of poverty can easily make people feel invisible.

Is there anything you wish you’d said or you wish you'd been asked?
I'm slightly annoyed with myself for omitting certain clarifications, for example, when I mentioned I can spend £150 of my £180 weekly wages on food, I meant it's easy to reach that amount when buying a healthy sustainable diet for a family of four, but I'm sure the committee understood my meaning at the time.

What do you hope will happen next?
I would like to see firm action taken at a government level to reduce the amount of families struggling to purchase affordable healthy food. We're in crisis in the UK at the moment, and the situation has become untenable. I hope by speaking about my experiences to the committee, I have taken a step towards positive change.

Caroline Woollam, Chesshire

What was it like presenting to the Lords?
It was absolutely amazing to present to the House of Lords and I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat. I found it was a very calm, welcoming place to be.

Is there anything you wish you’d said or you wish you'd been asked?
There are a few things I wish I'd have asked but I also wish I had taken pen and paper to be able to jot stuff down as I feel I had so much more to say but I needed to be able to note the things I was thinking when the others in our panel were speaking.

What do you hope will happen next?
I had a lot to piggyback on but I hope from here, we are heard and we start to see a difference. I'm going to start pushing things locally and should the chance to do that again crop up I'd definitely do it again but more prepared.
 

• The Food, Diet and Obesity Committee was set up in February to consider the role of foods, such as ‘ultra-processed foods’, and foods high in fat, salt and sugar, in a healthy diet and tackling obesity. It has been inviting experts, citizens and organisations to submit their views on the issues and is due to publish a report with recommendations after the upcoming General Election.