NGO report calls for return of government-funded restaurants

According to The Observer​​, ​a forthcoming report, entitled Public diners: the idea whose time has come​, by food policy NGO Nourish Scotland will mark the beginning of a campaign to introduce restaurants as a new piece of national infrastructure in the UK.

The report defines public diners as ‘state-subsidised eateries serving quality and ethically produced food at affordable prices that can be accessed by whole communities’.

It suggests that a new ‘national restaurant service’ could be a way to tackle contemporary issues such as health inequality, food insecurity and climate change in the UK, with ingredients sourced from organic farms, reducing unsustainable food production practices and food waste, and stimulating local economies.

Abigail McCall, project officer at Nourish Scotland, told The Observer​: “For other aspects of our wellbeing – water, transport, healthcare, even wi-fi – we have built the public infrastructure to ensure that everyone has quality, universal access. We are missing that in relation to food.

“Poor diets have overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable ill health for some time now. We need the government to make a bold intervention in our food environment and invest in delivering what the market doesn’t: healthy, climate-friendly food in a convenient way and at an affordable price.”

Nourish Scotland has taken inspiration for its public diners initiative from British Restaurants, the communal kitchens set up by Winston Churchill in 1940 to support households during wartime.

Churchill’s British Restaurants offered nutritious price-capped meals and were set up by the Ministry of Food and run by local government or voluntary agencies on a non-profit basis.

At its peak there were more than 2,000 British Restaurants across the country.

Dr Christian Reynolds, researcher at the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London, is backing Nourish Scotland’s proposal.

“British Restaurants were an effective solution to provide access to good food during the second world war,” he told The Observer​.

“Nourish Scotland’s proposed public diners – state subsidised, affordable restaurants – make sense in 2024. The model [this report] suggests provides positive benefits in terms of health, local economic support and sustainability outcomes.”