The Soup'erheroes: Fostering Food Solidarity in Castlemilk
Published: 7 June 2024
Event recording
Les Back travels to Castlemilk in the south of Glasgow to meet a group of remarkable women working together to feed their community.
Episode Description
Is there a more powerful symbol of community than the soup pot? It is both a distinctive part of Scottish working-class experience and at the same time a universal ritual of solidarity in hard times. Eating a home cooked meal is a kind of communion with others. But what happens to a family, or even a whole society, when the basic necessity of food is out of reach?
The huge demand on food banks in recent years is a stark reminder of just how big of a problem food poverty is, and it’s a highly politicised problem that brings out the best - and worst - in us.
But what if we were to think about food solidarity instead of food poverty? If we think about sharing a meal with some sitting next to you at the table rather than crumbs of charity handed by the privileged to ease our conscience.
Les first met the women of Castlemilk’s Food Solidarity Soup'erheroes at the University of Glasgow through his colleague Kait Loughlin who is a Community Knowledge Exchange Lead. Kait runs a programme called ‘Community Matters’ that trains researchers how to work with communities, and the insights of the Soup'erheroes have been part of this process of educating researchers.
These heroes don’t wear capes, their ‘souper power’ comes in the form of fresh fruit and veg, bags of lentils, free music events and hope and solidarity by the pound delivered every week in Castlemilk.
Cathy Milligan is a long standing Castlemilk resident and activist, and she welcomed Les to her house along with fellow soup'erheroes; her niece Natali, and Bridget Crossan. We were also joined by Paddy McKenna who is the Community Development Manager for Cassiltoun Housing Association, and Kait Loughlin.
Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone involved in making this podcast possible
Learn more about the work of the Soup'erheroes
You can find the Castlemilk Cooks Up Memories cookbook here
Recovering Community is presented by Les Back and produced by Freya Hellier
More Information
First published: 7 June 2024