Produced by Claudia Nye and Sean Spencer of CAN Films, a film about the work of Plant Food in York, a ‘Pay-as-you-Feel’ community café and food store based at the Southlands Methodist Centre in the city. Featuring the project’s co-curator Rosie Baker, the film follows her and her volunteers as they collect donated food from local supermarkets, transporting it back to the centre where it is transformed into delicious meals by the café’s chef. The film speaks with several individuals who either...

Produced by Claudia Nye and Sean Spencer of CAN Films, a film about the work of Plant Food in York, a ‘Pay-as-you-Feel’ community café and food store based at the Southlands Methodist Centre in the city. Featuring the project’s co-curator Rosie Baker, the film follows her and her volunteers as they collect donated food from local supermarkets, transporting it back to the centre where it is transformed into delicious meals by the café’s chef. The film speaks with several individuals who either work or use the centre about why they come and what they gain from the experience. Title: From the makers of Covid, Tango and The Lagom Way Plant Food. A Doughnut Economy Project The portrait of Adam Smith from 1776, the father of capitalism. A montage featuring and a series of capitalist economic terms speeding past beside archival photographs of poverty ending on a modern photograph of a high-rise office at Canary Wharf in London, the home of modern capitalist. Title: Adam Smith 2014. Father of The Real Junk Food Project Over a montage of related images, Adam Smith from The Real Junk Food Project giving a speech about food waste and the opening of Britain’s first ‘Pay-as-you-Feel’ Café on Chapel Road in Leeds in 2014. He concludes by talking about how he has spread the word. Title: York 2018 Planet Food Two women sit outside Revolution café chatting. One of them is the co-creator of the Planet Food Rosie Baker who explains the Doughnut Economy project. As she speaks a City Cruises York vessel travelling along the nearby river Ouse and a series of economic terms mentioned by Rosie explaining the ethos of Planet Food. Title: Food Waste A clip from a BBC London news report on food waste intercut the chef from Planet Food looking over a Waitrose beef rib which is out-of-date. It’ll be good for soup he explains. Over a montage of him and Rosie Baker loading Waitrose food into a car, a woman who works for supermarket explains how she and the company became involved in this food project. Rosie looks at the ‘Neighbourly’ app on her phone and explains that there is more food available for collection. As she continues to look at the app the other two sorts through what they have, the woman from Waitrose explains why company can’t sell these items. Title: Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell, Edward Abbey No Waste Another montage featuring some of the collected food being unloaded and unpacked by Rosie Baker at the Southlands Methodist Centre in York, other images featured show two large rubbish dumps, one in the ocean. Rosie looks at some of the items she explains that not all of the food offered is necessarily out-of-date, rather it’s been offered because the packaging label isn’t clear. Title: No Waste The exterior of the Southlands Methodist Centre and a Planet Food sandwich board set up outside. Inside men and women work together to set up café tables and chairs laying out some of the food they have onto other tables. In the kitchen the cook works to sort some of the food they have ready for cooking, he explains what he’s going to do. A split-screen with the chef sorting through some vegetables while in the other image a mother-and-baby exercise class also taking place at the centre. In the main hall a montage of voices from three women who are volunteering. They explain why they help, the types of people who use the centre and what they get out of the experience. The chief seen previously also features explaining the importance of the work of centres such as this one in helping the local community. Title: Meet Up! A montage of still images featuring older people sitting around the hall chatting over a meal change to a speeded-up sequence showing people arriving and being served food. A Plant Food banner hangs down the balcony overlooking the hall and a young woman explains why she likes the organisation and the social aspect of coming to the centre. As she speaks women working in the kitchen preparing food to be served. Title: Eat Up! A woman hands over plates of food to a table of women, she explains it is all freshly made. A young mother sitting at table surrounded by other young parents and their babies believes Planet Food is an integral part of York. As she talks about her experiences of using the centre and the friends she has made, around her people helping themselves to food laid out on a table with some paying what they can afford into donation tins. The young woman explains that she has started her own mother-and-baby class at the centre, as she speaks one of her classes taking place in another room. A young father sitting at the table talks about the positive atmosphere at the centre, another mother talks about meeting up with her friends in person following lock-down. A long line of local residents coming into the centre with each of them making selections from the variety of food items laid out on tables around the hall. As the volunteers continue to work in the kitchen several people who use the café talk about why they do so with many saying how healthy, well-prepared and tasty the food is. One older woman says that no-one knows what will be cooked each day until they can see what has been donated. Another volunteer explains why he come and what he gains from helping other people while a female volunteers talk about the centre being a social hub where she has made many friends. A man makes an announcement to the hall about an upcoming fundraising event entitled ‘Poetry and Jam’. A poster for the event and a woman who is involved talking about making jams and chutneys, examples of which sit on the table beside her. Sitting at table she explains her involvement and what she gets from helping changes to the man seen previously making the announcement now reading out a poem to those sitting around him. Title: Make Friends! Another montage of still images featuring users at the centre chatting and ending on eight volunteers at the centre standing around a large Planet Food poster. In the kitchen the ‘principal dishwasher’ stands at the sink explaining that she is volunteering, she wanted something that would root her back in the local community and also to meet new people. At a table in the hall a man talks about the pollution caused by the disposal of food waste and sees the work of Planet Food as being of environmental benefit. Another woman explains that it isn’t a foodbank, but something different that is both progressive and as well as an independent initiative. Rosie Baker talks about a social impact survey they have recently completed that showed 62% of those people who use the shop or café do so because of food insecurity. She continues by talking positively about the remaining third who come to support the centre for social, community and environmental reasons. Over a small boy eating a desert, Rosie explains why food waste in a major passion for her. Standing beside a Food Planet poster Rosie describes how Doughnut Economics works by using an actual donut. She concludes by saying that it work for everyone by balancing both social and environmental justice. In the kitchen a man called John arrives to collect the days food waste for composting. After a look at what has been produced that day he takes it away while explaining why he does it and the environmental benefit it brings. In his garden he opens the lid on his hotbin composter releasing the steam inside. He begins to fill the composter with more food waste prodding it with a knife. He picks up one of the worms living inside the compost and explains what they are doing. In another part of the garden he sieves a shovel a load of finished compost and explains how good it is. Back outside the Southlands Methodist Centre a woman speaks with a group about the herbs growing in planters nearby, she explains that it has all been made using the compost produced by John. Inside John is pleased about completing the circle of life. Title: No Waste! Speeded up footage of the hall being tided up and table and chairs being put away at the end of the day. Standing near the hall doorway is Carl from GoodGym York who states it was him and his colleagues who have helped clear up today. As he provided details about his group, a man on a bicycle pulling a small wagon leaves the centre. In the kitchen the chef and one of the volunteers clean up the kitchen. In another room Rosie opening the pay-what-you-can donations tin explaining its important to the organisations to cover costs, she pours the money out onto a counter. She provides details of the kinds of costs Food Plant have and is thankful to those who are able to pay when they visit, she sees it helping breakdown social barriers and prejudices. A final montage of still images featuring the diverse clientele who use and volunteer for Planet Food. Title: No Waste! Credit: Music by Akimbo A Claudia Nye and Sean Spencer Film Title: With thanks to all those who participated to make this 0 budget film possible Title: CAN Film. Planet Food End title: Plant Food. A Doughnut Economy Project – for more information please visit FB@planetfooduk