That’s what we do, we feed you goodness, we feed you knowledge, give you power and help you look after your health.
I loved this podcast as with everything Nureen does, there is a great positive energy throughout this episode. Nureen talks about nutrition and tailoring it to the BAME community, empowering her community with nutrition knowledge to prevent and reduce the impact of common diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Public health and institution’s advice is not often tailored to different cultures, Feed me Good sees food as a key component of identity, so instead Nureen and her team work with a world of inspiration and ingredients to share culturally-appropriate recipes and tips so her community can be financially more independent, sustainable and empowered in their lives.
All those rubs, drinks that passed down through your family, the NHS doesn’t necessarily know. We share all that old and new knowledge to empower my community to look after their health.
I met Nureen about a year ago on our first day of the Trade up Program at the School of Social Entrepreneurs. We both founded and run a Community Interest Company (CIC) working on improving the outcome of long term health conditions. Nureen speaks so clearly and passionately, as in this podcast, about her community, the BAME community and the challenges they face. She thinks outside the box which she relates to all the labels she has lived with, partially blind, deaf, dyslexic, these are her super powers that means she can think outside the box when translating health information into bite-size (excuse the pun) chunks!
As an example she talks about confusing labeling on food, a lot of products shout about ‘vitamin C’ or ‘high fibre’ but you look on the back and sugar is in the top 5 ingredients. I only realised this a few years ago, and Nureen mentions it, did you know the first 5 ingredients in a list are in order, so if something has sugar as the second or third, or even fifth ingredient there is a lot in there!
Feed me Good student top tip: If you want to try a new recipe and explore make sure you have the right ingredients in so you can give it a proper go and be inspired to do more.
We then hear from Tarina, who talks about the ‘giggles, laughter and get together’ which describe the Feed Me Good cooking classes and courses. Tarina hasn’t missed a cooking class in 4 years!
The Feed Me Good class made me see that I could be making more of the meals I usually go to restaurants for, and that I can do it with less waste. Meaning I can save my money to do the things I really enjoy.
She talks about how she has changed her every day food shopping and cooking practices, for example now she goes to the fresh fruit and veg market, its cheaper and less packaging. I felt that this was because Feed me Good has given her the knowledge and power to understand ingredients and cooking or preserving options, allowing her to make a more sustainable choice, for her health and future health from reducing waste.
I can't wait to learn about the other organisations under the spotlight in the rest of this series - from daring your way to body confidence to community activism - we will be bringing you EVERYTHING you need to know about the South London Community <3.
Follow the Community Bridges Podcast on Spotify, Google or Apple music to hear from the rest of the community organisations under the spotlight!