Hull wins Peas Please Veg City Prize 2022!

Congratulations to Hull Food Partnership who join national winners of the Peas Please Veg City Prize.

In the first live ceremony for two years, the Food Foundation’s executive director Anna Taylor presented awards to the seven category winners of the 2022 Peas Please Prizes at a ceremony in the Yorkshire heartland of Leeds.  

Hull Food Partnership won this year’s Peas Please Veg City prize after two years as runner up. The prize was awarded for the team’s recruitment of 35 local partner organisations who have produced a total of 48 pledges to raise veg consumption.  

“Hull Food Partnership is delighted to be nominated for the third year running for the Peas Please Veg Cities Award, and we are very happy to be included in such good company with Veg Cities from across the UK sharing their expertise and enthusiasm for all things veg,” said Darren Squires, Hull’s Veg Cities campaign co-ordinator. “We could never achieve the things we do without the committed members of our Food Partnership and Grower’s Network. They go out in all weathers to support community veg growing and put on events to encourage people to eat and share more veg. They are the driving force behind Hull’s success and we salute every one of them.“ 

Sofia Parente, Sustainable Food Places Policy and Campaigns Coordinator at Veg Cities was equally delighted by Hull’s success: “After two years as runner-up, it is fantastic to see Hull Food Partnership win the Peas Please Veg Cities prize this year,” she said. “They have really demonstrated the impact of collaborating with council, food businesses, voluntary and community sector organisations. They are in a perfect position to ensure these actions are embedded in the city’s long term food strategy.” 

Now in its fourth reporting year the Peas Please initiative has over 100 pledgers from across the food sector and including 92% of retailers who have all made pledges to promote and encourage people to eat more veg.    

The seven awards all celebrate the achievements of imaginative businesses that are leading the way with schemes to drive up vegetable consumption. 

Since the Peas Please initiative launched in 2017 food industry pledgers have delivered an additional 636 million portions of vegetables into food systems across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  

But the 2021 Peas Please progress report released at the end of last year, shows a serious deficit in veg consumption, with less than a quarter of adults eating enough vegetables a day, and almost a third of children eating less than the equivalent of one portion a day.  

Research has shown that such poor diets are linked to almost 18,000 premature deaths a year in the UK. 

“We are delighted by the huge growth in industry support for the Peas Please project,” said Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor. “More and more businesses are recognising they have a crucial role in tackling the poor nutrition crisis which is causing an epidemic of obesity and ill health. It has been a particular pleasure and a privilege to work with the forward-thinking organisations that have won this year’s prizes.”

For more information about the Peas Please, please visit www.foodfoundation.org.uk/peasplease