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HARINGEY COMMUNITY
FOOD NETWORK
"We are here to change the world, or our part of it"
Cath O’Brien - Haringey Community Food Network Committee Member
WHO ARE THE HARINGEY COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK?
“No one should be struggling to feed themselves and their families.”
Haringey Community Food Network (HCFN) is a borough-wide collaboration of 53 organisations – food growers, suppliers, emergency food providers, food banks, community kitchens, food delivery services, homeless outreach projects and food support organisations – working together to tackle food insecurity across Haringey.They take a collaborative approach to fighting food injustice within the community.
WHY HCFN AND HUMANITY PROJECT
We believe food is political. That the act of eating together — and deciding together — can shift power.
Our partnership with HCFN is rooted in shared values of mutual aid, self-organisation, and community care. Through food, we’re creating space to gather, listen, imagine, and act — together.
Find out about the incredible work HCFN is doing
MAKING IT HAPPEN
Assemblies and workshops with HCFN have emerged in kitchens, gardens, and community halls. One highlight: the 'Recipes of Love' workshop series, where people cook, share stories, and co-create the beginnings of a community vision.
“It wasn’t just a workshop. It was a space where people met as equals — through song, recipes, and questions about what kind of borough we want to live in.”
Explore 'Recipes of Love' →
WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?
People sometimes arrive curious, tired, even skeptical. They leave energised, seen, and connected.
“People who’d never met before suddenly planning a community kitchen together. There was joy, warmth — and something more: people remembered their own power.”
Workshops and assemblies aren’t just meetings — they’re moments of recognition and renewal.
"Together we are forming tremendous impacts and are absolutely indispensable to our most vulnerable. We need to work together for the betterment of our society."
Sally Sturgeon, HCFN Chair
WHAT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN HARINGEY?
In April 2025, over 40 members of the Haringey Community Food Network came together to reflect, plan and reaffirm their collective power. With 53 organisations now part of the network, HCFN has become indispensable to thousands across the borough — not just feeding people, but shifting power and building solidarity.
Recent milestones include:
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A renewed shared vision to make the network more inclusive and responsive
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Commitment to proactive outreach to underrepresented communities
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Stronger internal structures, volunteer support and feedback systems
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Closer alignment between grassroots action and policy influence
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A new partnership with Humanity Project to amplify community voice and accountability
“You’re already doing it here in Haringey — coming together, discussing, and uniting in facing adversity. That is real democracy.”
— Clare Farrell, Humanity Project
This isn’t just a food network. It’s a people-powered engine for change — rooted in care, led by those most affected, and growing stronger every day.
WHAT'S NEXT?
More workshops, more assemblies. Deeper community planning. Bigger questions: What does a just food system look like in Haringey? Who decides? Who’s heard?
We’re working with HCFN and local organisers to make those conversations visible, local, and real.
“The real experts are the people with lived experience — not those designing policy from behind closed doors.”
— Moussa Amine Sylla, Haringey Community Food Network
Haringey Community Food Netowrk NEWS
Read more here on the actions and progress being made in Haringey:
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Addressing the needs of the Haringey community - Haringey Community Press, June 2025
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Haringey Food Summit' aims to help boost borough's food security - Haringey Community Press, November 2024
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Haringey Community Food Network: Addressing Food Insecurity and Promoting Sustainable Food Systems - Community Organisers
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Community food network launched to help those in need - Haringey Community Press, April 2022
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Tackling food insecurity - Haringey Community Press, November 2020
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“We were the people who started talking to each other”: unexpected solidarities under forced devolution | openDemocracy, July 2020
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'It's heartbreaking explaining to my son, 6, that people are still going hungry in 2020' - The Mirror, November 2020
Want to help? Bring your skills, energy, ideas, or time.
Join a local HCFN project: Find out how →
Attend a Humanity Project event: Sign up for news on upcoming assemblies →
Curious about starting something where you are? Get in touch →