That's certainly how I've been feeling over the past few weeks and with the Public Sector Catering Awards being held last week (as I write this), I was frantically trying to find time to get all of my outstanding actions progressed before I met the Catering Organisation Chairs before the Awards last Thursday (April 24).
We had a very productive meeting, and I can really see our work plan moving forwards, despite what feels like inaction at times. We have agreed to an updated version of the Public Sector Catering Alliance Terms of Reference for the next two years, which you can find on the Public Sector Catering website if you are interested.
We also agreed to finalise and send a letter to the UK Government's Food and Drink Sector Council, requesting that public sector caterers be represented – an ask that you might recall has in the past been rejected.
It seems like this is an opportune time to ask for this again: there's a groundswell of recognition that many sectors are under-represented in the Government's food strategy work, and as Professor Kevin Morgan said in his recent blog on the Food and Farming Countryside Commission's website, public sector simply has to have a voice at the table.
BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme also recently highlighted the importance of including the public sector in food systems thinking and decision making – so if not now, then when will we gain that representation?
Collectively, with the Public Sector Catering Organisation's Chairs and our partner organisations, we are also making good progress with early ground work on our proposal to have an APPG for Public Food: as soon as we have any news to share on that, we will highlight it here.
We have also made good progress on changing some of our narratives around sustainable diets, and on changing our language away from the more negative connotation of ‘less meat’ to focus on more: more sustainable protein sources, more local food, more British produce on public plates. It's only by making a concerted and unified effort on this that we'll be able to change the narrative around how the public thinks about and perceives public food, and the language we use for that must come from us.
I want to close by congratulating all of the winners at the Public Sector Catering Awards: as I had anticipated, this celebration was such a wonderful evening, highlighting the very best in our industry and showcasing the skills, innovation and commitment within our teams, , and highlighting that our partnership working really is second to none.
Thank you for continuing to support this prestigious event, and for making it the special evening it deserves to be.
Awards season is just beginning and I look forward to sharing the continuing success of our colleagues with you at conferences hosted by ASSIST FM in mid-May and CEDA in early June.
