Nationwide campaign to get the UK eating more beans to launch this Autumn

Exciting nationwide campaign to get the UK eating more beans to launch this Autumn, with Ark agency appointed to lead ambitious digital campaign

The Food Foundation and Veg Power, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, have today announced the November launch of a new UK wide campaign and programme of work with one simple mission: to get people eating more beans, pulses and legumes.

ARK Agency, a strategic and creative agency founded by Mat Goff, former Adam and Eve chief executive, and Mike Wilton, former Anomaly managing director, have now been confirmed to create the accompanying digital campaign.

The Food Foundation and Veg Power are the teams behind the highly effective Eat Them To Defeat Them and Peas Please campaigns, which reached 36 million people since 2019, and led to over 1.1 billion additional portions of veg being sold in the UK respectively.

A group of organisations⁽¹⁾ are now joining forces to support the UK in improving dietary health and achieving environment goals.

With headlines showing food prices going up at a faster rate again, increasing the consumption of beans, lentils and pulses is a simple and affordable way to get people eating a healthier diet and upping their intake of important nutrients.

At the same time, more and more people are looking for ways to eat sustainably while avoiding ultra processed foods, this campaign says beans have the answer!

Beans are high in fibre, a rich source of protein and a good source of micronutrients such as potassium, magnesium, iron and zinc, as well as counting as up to one portion of your 5-a-day.

As just 4% of Brits currently eat enough fibre and only 17% of adults eat their 5-a-day, more beans in our diets would have a positive impact on the UK’s dietary health.

Not only are they good for human health, beans also have low carbon footprints and are good for nature.

Their nitrogen-fixing qualities mean they can reduce the need for fertilisers, supporting soil health and biodiversity goals.

With all these benefits, beans are an affordable and versatile food, that are currently under consumed and under appreciated in the UK.

New stats from Eating Better and The Food Foundation found that 73% of people agree beans are good for them, and 62% agree they are tasty, but still only 24% are eating beans two or more times a week.

When it comes to cooking beans only 42% of people feel confident, even though 66% agreed that beans are easy to prepare and cook⁽²⁾. The stats reveal that there is huge potential for beans to form a more prominent part of UK diets.

The Food Foundation and Veg Power will be calling on chefs, retailers and manufacturers, wholesalers, food service companies, youth organisations, community groups and caterers to join them in the bean revolution and commit to serving and selling more beans as well as turbocharging the marketing and promotion of beans.

On top of encouraging participation from national food businesses, other activities will include a schools' programme and outreach, running student focused activities with Kent Students’ Union, and working with Birmingham City Council to activate the campaign at a local level.

This campaign has received a three-year grant of almost £1.4m from The National Lottery Community Fund, the UK's largest funder of community activity, and aims to reduce the impact of diets on greenhouse gas emissions, whilst creating a long-term shift towards healthier and more sustainable dietary habits.

The campaign will also be partnering with Beans Is How - a global campaign to fix the future by doubling global consumption of beans, peas, lentils and other pulses by 2028.

Through the power of collective action, it amplifies and makes visible the importance of beans as a simple, affordable solution to our global health, climate and cost of living challenges. Mobilised by the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, it is backed by 120+ coalition partners across 70  countries.

Rebecca Tobi, Head of Food Business Transformation at The Food Foundation said: "Beans are the ultimate ‘superfood’, and a win-win-win when it comes to health, environmental and affordability goals.

"So we are incredibly excited to be kicking off this three-year programme of work thanks to the support of The National Lottery Community Fund.

"With rapidly rising levels of diet related disease in the UK, and the impacts of climate change increasingly being felt, now is the perfect moment for a campaign to boost bean consumption.

"Beans should be seen as a hero food for all businesses looking to meet Net Zero goals and cater to rising consumer demand for healthy, affordable foods, and we are keen to work with businesses to ensure beans are much more appealing and available in the supermarket aisle and when out and about."

 

Dan Parker, Chief Executive, Veg Power, said: "At Veg Power we’re dedicated to making healthy, sustainable eating easier so we can’t wait to get started on this campaign to get the UK eating more beans.

"Not only will beans support an improvement in dietary health but they are also good for our planet and stretched budgets.

"We’ll be contributing our expertise to run the social media and influencer campaign, developing fresh and exciting creative ideas and running a schools’ programme in 750 UK schools to get children eating more beans."

 

Mel Eaglesfield, The National Lottery Community Fund’s Funding Strategy, Innovation and UK Director, said: "There are real benefits to eating more beans for our health and the environment, as well as our pockets.

"And with food prices going up, there’s even more of an incentive to add more beans to the dishes we make.

"This is why projects like this are so important, as they provide communities with the tools and information they need to make informed choices, both for themselves and for the environment.

"The National Lottery Community Fund supports communities across the UK to become more environmentally sustainable, so we’re delighted to fund this initiative through our Climate Action Fund.

"It’s a perfect example of an ambitious partnership project that links climate action with everyday life, benefitting people and the planet."

 

Matt Goff, of the Ark Agency, said: "I've had the privilege of working up close with The Food Foundation and VegPower before, so I know the kind of behaviour change they deliver.

"This new challenge is exactly the sort that we founded ARK Agency to address and the chance to work with the team again was almost too good to be true.

"The Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign sets a very high bar in terms of marketing effectiveness, but records are there to be broken. We are looking forward to getting the whole nation inspired to eat more beans."

 

Rebecca Green, Director of Student Engagement and Advocacy, Kent Students’ Union, said: "The Food Foundation has been a fantastic supporter of Kent Students’ Union in our work tackling the cost of living and food insecurity over the past few years.

"That’s why we’re absolutely thrilled to be partnering with them again, this time to help boost bean consumption on campus!

"We’ve seen an increase in demand from students for more plant-based options, and we couldn’t be more excited to support this shift. Beans are affordable, sustainable, and packed with health benefits making them a perfect addition to student life."

 

Paul Newnham, CEO of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, said: "Beans and other pulses are a small but mighty food with the power to transform diets and food systems.

"Through the Beans is How coalition, we are working across more than 70 countries to double bean consumption by 2028, showing how this humble ingredient can drive healthier diets, affordable nutrition, and climate resilience.

"In partnering with The Food Foundation to bring this global mission to life in the UK, we hope to demonstrate that when chefs, retailers, schools and communities act together, beans can become a cornerstone of both better public health and a more sustainable food future."

 

Cllr Mariam Khan, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care at Birmingham City Council, said: "I am very proud that the work we started through our Full of Beans campaign at Bring it on Brum! is growing to be part of a national food movement.

"We are excited to be involved in the next stage of this journey. Not only are beans nutritious, sustainable, and affordable, but they are also used in dishes from cultures across the world, making Birmingham’s incredible, diverse population perfect for local work as part of this national campaign."

FOOTNOTES
⁽¹⁾  The Food Foundation, Veg Power, Kent Student Union along with project collaborators Birmingham City Council, The University of Kent and Beans is How

⁽²⁾ Online Omnibus. Figures collected and supplied by Savanta. Total sample size was 1733 adults (N= 563 England, N= 531 Scotland, N= 459 Wales, N= 180 Northern Ireland). Fieldwork was undertaken in August 2025.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Please contact Juliet Grant on 07929 075489 or email juliet.grant@foodfoundation.org.uk

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ABOUT THE FOOD FOUNDATION
The Food Foundation is a charity working to influence food policy and business practice, shaping a sustainable food system which makes healthy diets affordable and accessible for all. We work in partnership with researchers, campaigners, community bodies, industry, investors, government and citizens to galvanise the UK’s diverse agents of change, using surprising and inventive ideas to drive fundamental shifts in our food system. These efforts are based on the continual re-evaluation of opportunities for action, building and synthesising strong evidence, convening powerful coalitions, harnessing citizens’ voices and delivering impactful communications.        
Registered Charity Number 1187611.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Thanks to National Lottery players, The Food Foundation, alongside Veg Power CIC and Kent University Student Union, will encourage people across the UK to eat sustainable food sources such as beans, lentils and pulses, as a way of helping them take achievable and affordable climate action. The project has received almost £1.4m from The National Lottery Community Fund, the UK’s largest funder of community activity, and aims to reduce the impact of diets on greenhouse gas emissions, whilst creating a long-term shift towards healthier and more sustainable dietary habits.

With the support of local and national food businesses, activities will include a digital campaign to engage the public. 
This grant comes from the Climate Action Fund, a £100 million commitment over 10 years from The National Lottery Community Fund to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change and involve more people in climate action. This forms part of one of the funder’s four key missions in its 2030 strategy, ‘It starts with community’ - supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable. Our campaign refers to beans as a shorthand for talking about all pulses, beans, lentils and legumes given the limited familiarity of these terms among the public. While the public facing part of our campaign is focused on pulses, we include both legumes and pulses within the more ambitious business commitments to our programme in order to allow for greater innovation and opportunity. Peanuts are excluded from our campaign given their nutrient profile is more in keeping with the nut category where they are typically categorised.

This grant comes from the Climate Action Fund, a £100 million commitment over 10 years from The National Lottery Community Fund to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change and involve more people in climate action. This forms part of one of the funder’s four key missions in its 2030 strategy, ‘It starts with community’ - supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND
We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name. We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives. As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

1. Come together 
2. Be environmentally sustainable 
3. Help children and young people thrive 
4. Enable people to live healthier lives. 

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4bn of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life. National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.