The Food Group takes action on a wide range of issues including the reduction of food waste, particularly through the Alton Community Cupboard – which redistributes surplus food from supermarkets and individuals to local people; and also understanding of ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ labels and teaching some basic cooking skills. The group has run a six-week course teaching people to cook from scratch, which was positively evaluated.

Reduction of food miles and use of seasonal and local produce are also important priorities, as are the reduction of single-use plastic and other packaging, and lobbying for kerbside collection of food waste. 

The group also promotes vegetarian food choices, because eating less meat, in particular red meat, is an easy way for everyone to reduce their carbon emissions quite substantially – and probably improve their health as well.