Food Heroes: Queen of Greens mobile greengrocer in Liverpool

National World - LocalTV

The Queen of Greens is a mobile greengrocers' which delivers fresh fruit and veg to communities hit by food insecurity right across Liverpool and Knowsley.

Transcript

00:00Queen of Greens is a bus which delivers fresh fruit and veg to help tackle food insecurity.

00:05The mobile Green Grocers visits the likes of health and community centres to provide people

00:10with better opportunities to shop for nutritious food closer to their home or workplace.

00:15I work for Feedback. We're a charity that is all about trying to make food more accessible

00:20for everybody but also to be good for people and planet. And our kind of ways of working

00:27are about an action, education and advocacy. So this is our action.

00:33The bus is operated day to day by Green Grocer Paul Flannery.

00:36I've been involved in the fruit and veg since 1979. I've done this particular job for

00:45the best part of 15 years and I'm pretty passionate about it because I like getting about

00:52meeting people, helping people and introducing different fruit and vegetables to them.

00:58The route takes in neighbourhoods classed as food deserts where residents have to travel

01:02more than a kilometre or walk 15 minutes to reach a supermarket selling green produce.

01:07When you see people who haven't got much and we provide this service through the voucher scheme

01:14and the health fee starts, it's just rewarding I think.

01:18The bus also carries recipe cards with ideas for healthy meals people can make on a budget.

01:22Sometimes you're not always familiar with what the vegetables or the fruits are because there's

01:28things there I've never tried. But if you have a word with our Paul, Paul will always tell you

01:32what to do with them, how to cook it etc. And the beauty about the Queen of Greens is also

01:38we sell everything loose so you don't need to buy like a big bag of something that you're like

01:43what am I going to do with this? Everyone is welcome to buy from the bus regardless of income.

01:48Customers can pay for their shopping with Alexander Rose vouchers and healthy start

01:51vouchers as well as cash or card. Only one in two adults in Liverpool eat their five recommended

01:56fruit and veg a day. Only 12% of children aged 11 to 18 eat their five a day and it's estimated

02:02a third of adults in Liverpool are food insecure where food is a source of worry, frustration and

02:07stress. In September we're going to be working with Sustain who are helping us to put organic

02:14food on the bus so we're going to have some organic veg but the prices will not change

02:18because we've got funding to cover what's called the gap. Their usual branded bus is currently out

02:23of action which they say has meant people aren't able to spot them as easily meaning parts of the

02:28community could be missing out. We run as a social enterprise so we don't have lots of money. All the

02:33money that we earn basically goes back into running the service and we have a lovely bus

02:39but unfortunately it's having to undergo some repairs at the moment and we don't have a spare

02:44bus so it's meant that we've had to hire one which of course is then eating even further

02:49into our expenditure. Like a traditional green grocers the Queen of Greens bus prioritises

02:53stocking local and seasonal produce where possible with a focus on quality and choice.

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