Food Not Bombs (FNB) is an international mutual aid project entirely run by volunteers that provides free food as a protest against inequality, war, and injustice. We’re so glad you’re here. What’s Food Not Bombs? Food Not Bombs (FNB) is an international mutual aid (“the radical act of caring for each other while working to change the world”) project, entirely run by volunteers, which provides fre
e food as a protest against inequality, war, and injustice. Food Not Bombs chapters (local groups) reclaim food that would otherwise go to waste and use it to prepare nourishing meals which we share in visible public locations with anyone who wants to eat. Why’s it called Food Not Bombs? You can read more here, but in short, we believe in meeting (and prioritising!) the basic needs of our community, and opposing the proliferation of war and weapons. What does Leith Food Not Bombs (LFNB) do? We’re a chapter of Food Not Bombs, based in Leith, Edinburgh (although we have members from across Edinburgh, and Fife). We hold regular community meal share street stalls (roughly once a fortnight, and usually on the corner of Iona Street and Leith Walk; check out our Instagram for details of upcoming stalls). Sometimes we also cater local events as a way to feed our community, raise our profile and funds to cover our expenses. On stalls or at events we serve food that is vegan and halal, and made by our members, incorporating donated food, which may have otherwise gone to waste. We also often have hot and cold drinks available. How can I get involved?
“Getting involved” can look lots of different ways, from regularly attending our organising meetings and being on stalls, to dropping off something you’ve cooked on a stall, or giving us a lift every so often. There’s no such thing as too little, or too late; every person who helps out with Leith Food Not Bombs is a member! If you’d like get involved, we usually suggest coming along to an organising meeting (message us on Instagram, or drop us an email at [email protected] to find out when our next meeting is) or dropping by a street stall (keep an eye on our Instagram for details of upcoming stalls) to see us in action. We also have a Signal group chat you can join; just drop us a message with your number and we can add you. Who started it? The first Food Not Bombs group was started by people in Massachusetts, USA, in 1981. The Leith chapter was started by people in Leith in Summer 2023. Who’s in charge? Every chapter is independent and autonomous, and everyone involved is freely volunteering their time. We make decisions collectively, nobody gets paid, and nobody is going to tell you what to do. Who funds it? Everybody and nobody! As it’s an anti-capitalist project, we try to buy as little as possible; we accept donations of food and packaging, and we borrow equipment. Sometimes people donate small change to us at our meal shares, but this isn’t solicited. We use the cash to buy ingredients or items we need that are hard to get for free (like plant milks), and to reimburse volunteers for expenses like travelling to the stall. Our food will always be free to anyone. It will never be for sale. We are not a charity, and we don’t have big corporate funders because we don’t want to be beholden to capitalists. Where can I find out more about the movement? foodnotbombs.net is the place for you! There’s an entire book, which you can buy or download for free, here. Loads of FNB chapters regularly post on Instagram as well. Where do you get free food from? Local businesses (grocery shops, greengrocers, zero waste shops, and cafes) who have surplus items that they don’t need, won’t or can’t sell. Sometimes individuals too. We just contact shops and cafes and ask, explaining that we’re going to use the food for a free community meal share. It’s surprisingly easy to find places who are happy to hand over their unwanted ingredients and food for this obviously good purpose (particularly if you can pop in during the last hour before a shop closes for the day)! Smaller independent businesses tend to be more helpful than big chains, because the person working behind the counter usually has the authority to donate things. Cooking in large batches is more efficient, too, so it’s not that hard to get enough together for a hearty vegan dish! How does it work? Before a stall, members visit local suppliers to collect produce, and then we cook - either the night before or in the morning - dishes that we bring to the stall. Currently, we tend to cook individually, or in small groups, in members’ homes, but in the long-run we’d love to get access to a kitchen where we could cook communally (if you know of one, please let us know!). Who is the food for? Is it just for people in need? Everyone needs to eat, so our food is for everyone. We run community meal shares, where we eat, alongside anyone who wants to join us, and we’re not interested in whether those people need our food, in that moment. We’ll never gatekeep the food we have on offer, and people can take as much or as little as they would like. So it’s like a charity or a food bank? Food Not Bombs is a mutual aid project, not a charity, and there are some important differences in the way we do things compared to food banks, church groups and other organisations. We know that volunteers in those organisations do good work, and we respect anyone who makes sure that food goes to hungry people. However, Food banks usually have eligibility criteria and require users to provide lots of information about themselves before they can access food (‘means testing’). We always give our food to anyone who wants it, no questions asked. Food banks, and charities in general, tend to be answerable to the priorities of their funders (companies and rich people), and are run in such a way that some people benefit financially from their work, i.e., get paid a salary and/or advance their careers by being involved. Nobody, anywhere in the world, gets paid for taking part in FNB - we’re all volunteers who are here because we want to be. We think the entire capitalist system puts profit before people and is broken, so we want to challenge these bigger systemic failings and provide an alternative. We give out anti-capitalist literature at our stalls and highlight these issues with people who stop by. Finally, food banks are not generally concerned with visibility. They operate with the supposition that capitalism is working okay for the most part and only a small minority of people ‘need help’, and there can be a lot of shame and stigma around getting that help. We deliberately place our Food Not Bombs stalls in busy public places to draw attention to our project and to provide dignity and community when people come to share a meal with us. We reject any notion of dividing our community into ‘us and them’: the people serving the food don’t have a higher status or more power than the people eating it. (And we eat it too!)
Why is the food free? Do you accept donations? What are donations spent on? Everyone should have access to the food they need and want, without any barriers; that’s why our food is free. It also doesn’t cost us much to produce, as most of the ingredients are donated by suppliers. There’s no expectation that you give us anything in return for the food, but if you are in a position to give us a donation, then we’ll happily accept it. All donations are spent on delivering our activity: buying supplies like packaging, ingredients which are harder to source for free, and larger items that enable us to feed more people, more easily. If we reach a point where, as a group, we have an excess of donated funds, we’ll give some away to other mutual aid projects doing similar work. Why is the food vegan? Making all our food suitable for a vegan diet means that the widest possible cross-section of people can enjoy it without having to worry about lots of different dietary restrictions. Almost all vegan food is, in general, suitable for many people who follow restrictions for religious or health reasons, e.g., halal, kosher, vegetarian, and lactose-free diets. The production of plant-based foods is typically less environmentally destructive than animal farming, and avoiding animal products means that we avoid unnecessary cruelty to animals, in keeping with non-violence, a principle that lots of FNB-ers value. It’s also safer: we often deal with food that’s approaching the end of its shelf life, and don’t always have the equipment to keep food piping hot (or cold) when we’re on the street. This would be very risky if we used animal products. Plant-based foods are far less likely to make anyone sick, and sticking to them avoids the risk of cross-contamination in the kitchen. What do you do if someone donates food that isn’t vegan? We share pre-made items which are vegetarian but not vegan (e.g. cake made with dairy), clearly labelled and kept separate from the other food at our stall. We do this so that it doesn’t go to waste. We do not give out food that contains meat/fish - if anyone wants to donate non-vegetarian food to us, we either suggest an alternative place they can donate it to, or take it and re-donate it ourselves outwith the stall. The same process would also apply for haram (non-halal) items. However, the majority of the food we share is the food we prepare ourselves, which will always be vegan. Why is the food halal? Islamophobia is a massive problem in British society. Negative stereotypes about Islam are widespread, and Muslims can often feel marginalised or excluded from ‘community’ activities. We collectively decided to make sure that our food was halal, and visibly announced as such, as a clear statement of inclusion and solidarity with Muslims. Also, it requires very little extra work - most of the restrictions around a halal diet relate to animal products, so once we’d decided to make our food vegan, it’s very easy to ensure it’s halal too. The main additional thing we need to do is avoid alcohol. This also happens to be helpful for anyone cooking, serving, or eating with us who doesn’t want to be around alcohol because of their age, health, pregnancy/maternity, or trauma. How do you know the food is safe to eat? Is it safe to eat food that was going to be thrown away? Many places throw away food which is perfectly fine to eat, but which they are unable to sell, perhaps because it is past its sell-by date, or past its best. If we wouldn’t feel comfortable eating something, we don’t use it. We practice basic food hygiene when we cook, and one of the reasons all the food we prepare is vegan is that it’s much safer than dealing with meat or dairy products, but if you’re concerned - perhaps because you have food allergies, or are immunocompromised - then we won’t take it personally if you don’t share food with us today. Is it legal to give away food for free on the street? Don’t you need a license? Although many Food Not Bombs branches are targeted by the Police, and many cities (particularly in the US) are criminalising the act of giving away food for free on the street, what we are doing is completely legal, and as we are not selling the food we do not need to register with anyone, or have any certification.
