‘It doesn’t feel like charity; it feels like a privilege’: Exploring recipient experiences of social enterprise-based food support projects in deprived urban regions of the UK

Food insecurity is a growing issue in the UK, with increasing numbers of households relying on food support, predominantly food banks. However, food banks often fail to meet people’s nutritional demands in a socially acceptable, dignified way. Social enterprises may represent alternative forms of food provision that address these limitations. A UK-based social enterprise, Can Cook, provide social food projects at the household or community level within underserved communities, aiming to increase access to fresh, healthy and unprocessed food and improve food skills. The current research qualitatively explored recipients’ experiences of two types of food support provided by Can Cook (provision of Slow Cooker and Meal Box projects) within deprived urban regions of the UK. Telephone interviews were conducted to explore recipients pre-project access to food and their experiences of taking part (n=25; 96% women, 4% men; 92% in food insecurity, 8% food secure; 72% living with dependent children, 16% living alone, 12% living with others (including non-dependent children)). Thematic analysis revealed four overarching themes: (1) Pre-existing context; (2) Experiences of the food project(s); (3) Benefits of participation; and (4) Barriers to engagement. Participants’ food insecurity was a major contributor to their mental and physical ill-health, yet while participating in the Can Cook project(s), they were able to access an affordable and stable supply of nutritious food, alongside improving their food skills, confidence, perceived health and importantly, their psychological wellbeing. However, once the project was over, and this stable and affordable access disappeared, participants defaulted back into food insecurity. These findings highlight the need for longer-term support and upstream changes to allow sustained improvements to food insecurity to be seen. Overall, this study provides preliminary, case-specific evidence of the potential of social enterprise models as an innovation solution to addressing the seemingly intractable issue of food insecurity in the UK.