Cally Community Food Project

Islington Council and community partners are working with ReLondon on a six-month community food project, launching on 21 February in the Caledonian Ward, Islington. 

A range of activities - including a new community café, sustainable eating schools programme, community growing scheme, food re-distribution and training for local chefs – are planned to provide access to healthy and affordable climate friendly meals, reduce food waste and tackle local food inequality.  

The new community café and pantry, Jean’s Café, at the Jean Stokes Community Centre, will use local surplus food to offer low to no cost food and home cooking workshops for residents. Jean’s Café will be run by Manor Gardens Welfare Trust – a local charity providing health and wellbeing services to the community. A chef and co-ordinator have been recruited locally to run activities to give people cookery skills and the confidence to extend the shelf life of their food, reduce waste, and save money.   

This project is funded by the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance and aims to increase the amount of climate friendly food eaten locally and reduce food waste. These aims are aligned with Islington Council’s ‘Building a net zero Islington by 2030’ plan and through engaging residents at a hyper local level, will help shift the borough’s food system from the bottom up while delivering additional socio-economic benefits to the community.  

How to get involved 

Contact your Local Economies Officer at Florence.cole@islington.gov.uk. You can also follow @LonCally on Instagram for further updates and information about ways to get involved.

Meet the project partners: