FEASTS OF HOPE

We were warmly welcomed by the the Taphouse’s Kickstarter team who shared their journey from arrival a few weeks ago to now playing a leading role In organising the Taphouse’s Feast of Hope which takes place on 12 September. Sitting on benches they had put together from scratch, we heard about their experiences and learnings working with the Taphouse Team, from cooking to event management, before being treated to some great poetry from Tina Cribbins. Rachele and Ella from the Ripples of Hope Team hosted the gathering and we had an introduction to Festival from Jude Kelly. Thanks to some tasty cheffing, we all enjoyed delicious pizza and the afternoon was completed by a fantastic workshop with poet Keisha Thompson who has written to Article 25, our right to food and shelter, and encouraged us all to take trips down memory lane with the moments in our lives, connected with good, that feel special, and to share.

Ideas for organising your feast with Artist Lucy Orta, Campaigner Tristram Stuart and Faith Leader Nadim Ahmad. LUCY ORTA Lucy Orta explores the connection between body, architecture and performance with themes of community, identity and societal issues. Some of her most notable work includes Refugee Wear and Body Architecture (1992-1998) and Nexus Architecture (2004-ongoing). Orta has been exploring the notion of community feasting throughout her work, having held feasts in London, Singapore, Milan, Leiden, Peterborough and Utrecht. Her feasts bring together community leaders, artists, activists, farmers, chefs and policy makers to engage in meaningful dialogue, break down cultural barriers and stimulate conversations. Lucy co-founded Studio Orta with her partner and Argentinian Artist, Jorge Orta. She has been the major focus of a number of international art exhibitions, and continues a number of long-term collaborative projects including the ‘70 X 7 Meals’ project. https://www.studio-orta.com/en TRISTRAM STUART Ever wondered what happens to the crusts of your bread? Internationally renowned author, campaigner and expert on the environmental and social impacts of food, Tristram Stuart joins us to discuss his work. As founder of Toast Ale, Stuart has found innovative ways to make beer from surplus bread. Tristram is one of the organisers behind the ‘Feeding the 5000’ project, that serves up a community feast to 5000 people using food which otherwise would have gone to waste. They have partnered with over 50 feasters around the world and created toolkits to support other feasters. With a TED talk that has been watched over 1million times - we know you won’t want to miss this! https://www.tristramstuart.co.uk/ NADIM AHMED Nadim Ahmad is the President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in South Manchester. The faith based organisation in Hulme is part of a worldwide community of Ahmadiyya Muslims. At the centre of his community is the love, respect and understanding of how food is not only a substance for the body but a gateway to building relationships, practising faith and nurturing the soul. Whether it’s 50 or 450 feasters, Nadim and his community know what it takes to hold a big community feast and make everyone feel involved. Members of the community start to take an active role in feasting from a young age, developing their skills in providing food and service by learning from their peers. Autonomy within the different auxiliary groups at the mosque are important, where the children, youth, women and elders all organise their own independent activities that benefit the overall community as one.

The Old Abbey Taphouse team meet other local social enterprise, Sow The City to learn how to build picnic benches for the community from scratch. The benches will be used as part of their Feast of Hope, which invites members of the community to break bread together and discuss why human rights is important to them. Each bench will feature a Poem of Hope written in collaboration with The Old Abbey kickstarter team and the Hulme Writers Group. After the feast, the benches will be placed into the community for the local residents in Hulme to use freely.

Meet Laura, Recipe Curator for MetMunch's Feast of Hope. Students from Manchester Metropolitan University have been investigating medieval pies, flours and bread. The team of students have been looking at how they can modernise and bring them back into the 21st century . Over 16 community-led feasts will break bread together across Greater Manchester to discuss the importance of our everyday human rights in our communities.

The Old Abbey Taphouse is delivering a series of workshops for the community in the run up to their Feast of Hope. This week they visited the Kindling Trust to learn how to grow one tree from another, as they discussed sustainability and bringing nature back into the city.

Our workshop, hosted by Festival Director Jude Kelly, will introduce you to three groups working around 'Alternative Food Networks'. These are ways that communities can access good quality food in their area. There is a huge effort across Manchester to build a local sustainable food network - this includes grassroots groups working around self-growing to large charities working on reducing waste. The Feast is a great opportunity for Feasters to access the Alternative Food Network to source food for the Festival. We're going to hear from Mary-Ellen McTague @ Eat Well MCR Eat Well MCR are a collective of top-end chefs, which has provided more than 24,000 chef made meals for people facing challenging circumstances since April 2020. Jon @ Sow the City Jon works on a range of projects from the Men’s Shed to Sow the City - all about hands on engagement with food and skills. Jon is going to give an overview of the work he does with urban growers across Greater Manchesater and ways you can access it. Dan @ Gaskell Garden Project Gaskell Garden Project is a grassroots group that works around surplus food and growing. They run the allotment in Platt Fields Garden as well as regular pay as you feel meals at The Old Abbey Taphouse. Over COVID they have come into their own, delivering tons of surplus food (perfectly good food destined for landfill) they have rescued through activities such as pick up and gleaning.

Our feasters joined us online to discuss their feasting plans. We shared some useful resources and questions, which are now available on our July toolkit. We were joined by the Manchester City Council, Bolton & Stockport Libraries team, Amnesty International, Manchester Metropolitan University/Met Munch, Hulme Community Forum & For The Love Of Food. Our Feasters will be hosting community feasts throughout the summer to highlight the importance of our human rights in our daily lives. To find out more about our Feasts of Hope head to https://www.ripplesofhopefestival.org/feastsofhope