Tackling food poverty with Tracey Torley

Meet the Mancunian -9.5 -Tracey-Torley -transcript

Intro

Hello, listeners, and welcome to Season 9 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I'm your host, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe, offering you a warm Mancunian welcome. This season is extra special as I'm collaborating with the Spirit of Manchester Awards, celebrating the city's voluntary and community sector. Throughout the season, I'll be featuring interviews with award winners and nominees, shining a light on the incredible work happening across our city.

Every Tuesday, I bring you the stories of Manchester's community champions, individuals working for a range of causes and making life possible. better for the people of Manchester.

My hope is to inspire you to discover your own purpose, whether through volunteering or getting involved in the social impact sector, while also celebrating good causes and spreading positivity.

You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on my website meetthemancunian.co.uk. Stay tuned for a season full of inspiring social impact stories.

Introduction to Tracy Torley and Cracking Good Food

Passionate about tackling food poverty in the community, we hear from Tracy Torley, Director of Cracking Good Food and Spirit of Manchester Award winner for Community and Business Collaboration.

[00:01:28] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks so much, Tracy, for taking the time.

[00:01:31] Tracey Torley: Oh, thank you very much, Deepa, for inviting me.

[00:01:34] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm really looking forward to hearing all about it, especially since I'm such a foodie myself.

Discovering a Passion for Food

[00:01:39] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us about how you found your passion for good food. Where did that come from?

[00:01:43] Tracey Torley: I think really it started when I was younger. Recognising and understanding that there was a difference in the food. That, as a family coming from a West Indian background. My parents introduced me to and wanted me to eat and then going to friends’ homes where they ate something quite different and understanding the preparation of the food and that sort of attitude towards food, the relationship with food was quite different.

And I think as a young person, not proudly wearing my cultural heritage of food, because I did just want those fish fingers. beans and chips, when my family were wanting me to have the rice and gungo peas and chicken and flavours in different ways, spices in different ways, the beautiful aromas that spices gave. And I think that was what sort of sparked an interest very early on in food.

Cultural Influences and Food Stories

[00:02:39] Tracey Torley: And then as I got older watching my grandmother, there are two grandmothers making food and the different ways that they brought the meals together and the stories that they would share about food.

But I think when I truly got older and was living independently, so I left home when I was 17 and having to fend for myself and also learn a bit more about my cultural background, learning the wonderful stories about food. And the sense of Jamaican food being journey food. And that was down to some of the limitations, in refrigeration that there was back home. Just getting into the intricacies of food stories was what sort of sparked an interest.

[00:03:19] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is so fascinating. And like you, I've grown up in many different cultures and lived in different parts of the world. And you're so right that food prepared with love and the stories that go with that food prepared with love, hearing about a cherished recipe being passed down, that is really interesting.

Did you say that Jamaican food is journey food?

[00:03:40] Tracey Torley: Dumplings. So it's simple ingredients of flour, water, a little bit of salt. Must admit, I do like my black pepper, so I'll add black pepper to them. But the story that my granddad told me was that when he was younger and, traveling across Jamaica that because they didn't have fridges for a lot of fresh food to be transported.

They would have food that really withheld its taste and flavour in the heat of the sun sort of thing. So, it would all be wrapped up in tea towels and, sometimes it would be wet tea towels or damp tea towels just to try and keep it a bit cool. But journey food was food that could easily be transported and still maintain its flavour. Don't know if that's if that's my family history, or if that is, culturally what happened, but that was what I was told.

[00:04:31] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's a new food anecdote I wasn't aware of. Very interesting.

Joining Cracking Good Food

[00:04:36] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us now about how you got involved with Cracking Good Food and what does it do?

[00:04:41] Tracey Torley: Oh, goodness. My journey with Cracking Good Food started a year into the organisation's inception, and I started as a volunteer. I was at that point in my life where I'd had my second child and just really wanted to focus on areas that I actually had a genuine passion for and wanted to make a difference.

So I had four different jobs at the time that included some voluntary work which was Cracking Good Food. And I was really fortunate to find out about Cracking Good Food through a friend who knew with my skills and background of project management that she was thinking that ultimately I could be a good fit for organisations. And she was right because very soon after volunteering, they did actually ask me to join the team as a paid member of the team.

Roles and Responsibilities at Cracking Good Food

[00:05:29] Tracey Torley: So I joined as a session coordinator and went out into the communities. Now, I remember my very first session because my background was very corporate. I used to work in banking. I went for this interview thinking... I was suited and booted to be honest. And then I get to this community church over in South Manchester. It was a group for older people to come together and socialise, but to also pick up some good cooking skills.

And it was made very clearly that I was to be getting involved in that cooking. And I don't know what it was. It was a gut feeling, a foresight that I did actually have my trainers in the car. So, I quickly scurried to the car, took my blazer off and, just undid one button to make me look a bit more casual and pop my trainers on and then, bolted back into the room and started cooking with the community.

And it was wonderful because it was just such a relaxed environment. Everybody was there to help each other and to learn something new even though, they were old, and they've got their life experience of cooking food and they were there to learn new techniques and incorporate new ingredients to their diet.

So that was how I initially got involved. And then as time went on, because I just grew in passion towards the cause that the founding director had started, which was to deliver or to make sure that everybody had access to good, healthy, nutritious food.

And that was when there was this realisation that actually I was quite fortunate in the skills that I had, that I was able to prepare food. I had the tools to be able to prepare food and I knew how to bring a meal together. Not to say that I was a confident cook at all, because I definitely, there were some recipes, some recipe books, actually, that I'd pick up and I would never, ever consider cooking. But I just, as time went on, I just became really impassioned and aligned with the mission to make sure that everybody had good food.

[00:07:31] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And that's so interesting that you started as a volunteer which is such a great journey to then working as a session coordinator and taking on more and more roles in organisations.

Community Impact and Services

[00:07:43] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us more about what organisations offers the community. What does it do?

[00:07:47] Tracey Torley: As a not-for-profit social enterprise, our mission is to alleviate food, fuel and kitchen kit poverty. And that sort of sees us working across different in different ways, like changing our shape and our form to respond to the needs of the communities. Because you could be in one area of Ashton but go to a different area of Ashton and the needs are quite differently. So, we have to be responsive to what's going on in the community.

But on a day-to-day basis we have our portable kitchen and we have a portable kitchen by design because we recognise that some people's experience in respect of education can sometimes not be as positive. So, we want to remove those barriers and we go into the communities with our portable kitchen and we teach people how to cook good, healthy, nutritious food from scratch.

We also are very determined and focused on informing people with knowledge around cooking sustainably, seasonally, and we want to, give people lots of tips and hacks how to minimise their food waste as well. So that's what we do on a day-to-day basis. day basis in our cooking workshops. We work with communities right across Greater Manchester and beyond.

So, we have been to Glasgow, Belfast, London, Plymouth, wherever the funding is really that will take us. But we work with all community groups. So regardless of background, in one day we could be working with care leavers in Stockport, with ex-offenders in Tameside, or going into a school, working with the children and the parents, or the cooks in Trafford. We work with all community groups across Greater Manchester.

But then what we also do, because we need to be greatly informed in respect of what's happening in the locations that we're working in. So, we sit on a number of food boards across Greater Manchester to get understanding on a grassroots level what's happening and that helps us shape our services as well.

But because we are a social enterprise and sadly you may be familiar yourself that the landscape for securing funding can just be so harsh so as a social enterprise we also have to try and be as self-sufficient as possible so generating our own income. And that's where I guess I'm really dedicated to because I want us to continue being a service to offer to people.

We have our catering service. which was born out of the pandemic because we were cooking at a homeless prevention hostel in Chorlton when the pandemic struck. We were working just with 14 residents but then when we went into lockdown the hostel asked us if we'd cook for their 40 residents. But then other organisations found out that organisations were in the area, and we were cooking meals.

So they started asking for food and very quickly it got up to 200 people that were supporting through a number of organisations. But then more people found out that we were cooking ‘cracking good food’, and they wanted it.

We were very fortunate that Adele had a contact within the University of Manchester. So they gave us their Student Union Kitchen. And we went from cooking 40 meals a week to 200 to 3, 000 meals a week. And we were very fortunate to have the volunteers, about 450 volunteers, I think it was, who in total dedicated just shy of 15, 000 hours to enable us to cook so source the food, prepare the food, cook the food, pack the food, and deliver it right across Greater Manchester.

By the end of the pandemic, we'd just delivered shy of 100,000 meals. And what happened, unconsciously really, was that the organisations that we'd connected with, they still wanted us to deliver some organisations. And it was for their personal events, so their private events. It was a christening, then it went to a wedding, then it went to a funeral and, but then it was fundraising events.

It's for organisations such as MAGIS, the Cancer Support Organisation. And, it's just continued to grow that people want us to deliver good food into them. So we have quite a thriving catering business.

We also run team building activities for companies. They want to invest in the health and wellbeing of their employees. And then we go in and we deliver our cook from scratch. The fun and engaging, informative, team building activities and that sort of provides an opportunity because you know at every opportunity, we want to be supporting communities in need. So you know the team building participants they'll cook food. They'll sit down and enjoy it themselves, but they will also make surplus food which we then parcel up and redistribute into communities. Such as Homeless Prevention Services or Homeless Support Services across Greater Manchester.

We have our Urban Forages which we commission the services of a nationwide foraging company. So we can deliver those, again, across Greater Manchester and beyond nationally. And what else?

Yes, we have our restaurant takeovers because we're very fortunate to have a team of international cooking leaders. So we go into restaurants and we literally take over and that's a really nice opportunity because that's us cooking for people who want to join us for an evening of fundraising. So the funds that are generated support our work but for every ticket that's sold we also again provide food into homeless communities as well. So we do quite a lot really.

[00:13:27] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I can see that. I love the range and I was pencilling in myself to come to one of your urban foraging.

[00:13:34] Tracey Torley: Oh, wonderful.

[00:13:35] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: because those look quite interesting. I'm not really foraged before, so I think a guided tour might be quite nice. And maybe I'll check out some of the food services at some point as well. I love that every time it's a paid forward with some funding or food going to a homelessness charity.

Challenges and Overcoming Them

[00:13:53] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Are there challenges that you've faced on this journey of bringing organisations to the people of Greater Manchester? How have you overcome them?

[00:14:03] Tracey Torley: I guess the greatest challenge is to, like I said about making sure that we're sustainable as an organisation. There's always that fear that, income won't be generated, keep us going and funding. Like I say, there's just so many amazing organisations that are supporting communities in many different ways.

And it always feels like we're pitted against each other to go for the same pot of money. It's just constantly looking for avenues to try and generate our own income. Aside from that, as a business, because ultimately that's who and what we are, it's really hard in respect of our infrastructure.

We've grown organically over the years. I think I was fortunate to have that corporate background. Did have some sort of business knowledge and very limited finances. But it's about trying to recruit the right team who not only have the skill set to be able to teach people how to cook, to take them on an authentic journey as well, but to also have the passion around sustainability and to be able to communicate in a way to keep people engaged.

There's always challenges in respect of recruiting the right team, and like I said, the infrastructure, capturing our data to put us in that stronger position to show evidence of need of who we are, what we do, what we're driven to do. That can be quite challenging to find the time to do things like that, we're incorporating that and making sure that it is a day-to-day feature just now.

[00:15:33] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks so much for sharing some of those challenges from sustainability to thinking about your infrastructure, recruiting the right team and many others that you're trying to overcome.

What would you say is the biggest impact you've made so far through the work that organisations is doing?

[00:15:49] Tracey Torley: Aside from the direct impact of supporting the communities, the feedback that we get from, participants can sometimes be so overwhelming and incredibly humbling. I always feel very honoured to be a part of somebody's learning experience. Going from somebody who really has very limited knowledge in respect of what fresh food looks like. Sometimes, they're used to how it's been processed in its final format, but to handle the food when it's fresh for maybe even with soil on it, that's quite a privilege to be a part of somebody's journey.

I think that one of my personal sense, retention of our team members. I'm really pleased that people who have even, because a lot of us are freelancers, so they've got other enterprises which they work on. But they're just so dedicated to organisations and even people who have taken a break from organisations, maybe to persevere and build their own business or they've had opportunities outside of Manchester, so they've had to move away. But they come back, and I feel really proud that they come back and, continue along the fight with us to bring good food to everybody. I'm really happy about that.

[00:17:12] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I think really interesting way to measure impact that concept that people come back, they've got a little break, a little detour, but they've come back. Because they have that strong purpose to like you said, serve the community with good food and maybe do a little bit to alleviate food poverty which exists unfortunately around us.

Spirit of Manchester Award Nomination

[00:17:32] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What does being nominated for Spirit of Manchester Awards mean for you?

[00:17:37] Tracey Torley: For me personally, honestly the smile when we got the call to say that we'd been shortlisted, I felt it was audible. I felt sorry for the person on the phone, actually, because I think I did squeal. So, I was just so delighted because this project has taken so much to put together.

The Kitchen Kit Redistribution campaign, it's only been running for the past two years in its entirety, and it started very small. And it's a very simple concept that people literally look in their cupboards at home and look for any cooking equipment that they no longer need, or they've got duplicates of, or they're planning on, buying a new dinner service or sets of pans or cutlery. And they just pop it into the orange bins which we deliver to them, and it's organisations across sector, but we do have the wonderful Microsoft who support the project, so they have their employees donate pre loved kitchen kit, we have the building facilitators, we've got solicitors, architects, hair salons, beauty parlours, libraries, schools that host these bins for a maximum period of three weeks.

And they pop all of their pre-loved kitchen kit into them and then we collect them, we wash them, quality check them, make sure they work and if they're electrical then we PAT test them. And then we host a big event for two people from community organisations right across Greater Manchester to come to the event and it is like a free car boot sale that they can literally take all of the equipment that they need to redistribute to their communities.

And its items such as your tea towels, rolling pins, cooking books, plates, right up to a toaster kettle and microwave and food processors as well. And they are so grateful for the donations because that means it's saving them applying for funding to get the equipment that they need to be able to deliver the community activities, whether that's cooking with young people, providing lunch and services for older people, helping somebody such as a veteran or an ex=offender who's going back into the community and giving them the tools to be able to cook and some food from scratch.

[00:20:00] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What a wonderful concept and I love the idea of taking preloved stuff from, like you said, every kitchen probably has some things that are not being used and then reaching it to people in need. So really great concept. Congratulations on the nomination.

Advice for Starting Similar Movements

[00:20:16] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What advice would you have for people looking to start a similar movement in another part of the world or maybe in the West Indies how do they get started? What should they do?

[00:20:25] Tracey Torley: With the Kitchen Kit, the key is, and the advice is very much around the planning because there's just so much detail, you've got so many stakeholders, you've got all of the organisations or the companies that are supporting you by donating the pre loved kit, but then you have all the organisations as well who are going to come and collect the kit, and you need a wealth of volunteers.

There is a lot of logistics that are involved and therein are a lot of challenges as well. I should explain that we only actually have 22 bins and these bins are not huge. They are for anybody who's of a certain age you'll know what the old-fashioned bins were like that aren't on wheels and they are quite small really.

We have to get those 22 bins out to 22 organisations. They host them for three weeks. Then we have to go back and get those bins back in again and get them back out to another 22 organisations. So it's amazing how much equipment we collect through 44 journeys, really. Obviously, they do get overfilled, but 44 journeys.

Typically it's around 1. 2 tons to 1. 5 tons of equipment that we collect through those 44 bins. That is a real challenge. And a piece of advice would be if you can get more bins, then do get more bins because that will save you a lot of the logistics.

[00:21:54] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's really good advice. And I like that about planning because often people launch into things and then they're like, oh, but now we have to figure out this bit. It's really good that you took the time to plan and to make those connections and, set up the infrastructure so you could do this effectively. It sounds like a really wonderful campaign.

Signature questions and life lessons

Now I move to signature questions that I ask all my guests. And the first one for you is if you could choose one landmark in Manchester to represent you, which one would it be and why?

[00:22:28] Tracey Torley: Oh, interesting. Oh the thing is, I guess the building isn't in Manchester, it's Salford, it's the Lowry Theatre. Does that count?

[00:22:39] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Greater Manchester counts.

[00:22:41] Tracey Torley: Difficult question there, Deepa. And, with a little bit of quick thought, I think it's a building that I was really fortunate to work in. And it's the Lowry Theatre, because I love the art. It came at a time in my life when I said earlier that I had four jobs. That was one of the jobs that I had. I was an event student manager, and I used to go and organise all the weddings and deliver the weddings as well.

But walking into work, I think that in itself, when you're going somewhere day in, day out, and if you're walking into a building that is just so inspirational, it's a really impactful landmark on the land, and the area that gone through many transformations, but for it to stand there really proud.

And I used to feel equally proud walking into that building and knowing that it just appealed to so many people as well. And so many different performances of all different, such a range of arts, including residential displays as well. And the team of volunteers that would, enable it to perform as such a wonderful space and, sort of reflection of Manchester and Greater Manchester communities.

It was just breathtaking, and I still get it now whenever I walk, whoever I'm walking with, I just always feel this sense of pride seeing it from a distance and then walking through those doors. I just absolutely love what it embodies.

[00:24:10] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: But I have passed around it. But I am going for a show next, not next week, in about two weeks. There's an Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express show at the Lowry. Booked for that.

[00:24:22] Tracey Torley: Enjoy. Enjoy.

[00:24:24] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'll definitely think of you because you said it's your favourite place there.

What's the most important life lesson you have learned so far?

[00:24:32] Tracey Torley: Important and it doesn't sound very positive, to be honest, but it was something that someone said to me when I was about 17 or 18, and it was that sometimes you do have to be a little bit selfish. And I think, especially when you work in the third and voluntary sector, you give so much of yourself to the organisation.

I often say, if you slice me in half, I'm sure I would be happy. Bleed orange and green, which are our corporate colours, because I do live, eat and breathe organisations and, it really impacts my family's life as well. It's very rare you can walk into our house and there isn't some equipment from organisations that's in the hallway.

I think that sometimes I do have to tune in to just investing in myself and taking some time out, whether that is actually going to get my nails done, catching up with a friend or sitting and reading. I love just sitting on a train, staring out the window. It doesn't happen that often. But I think that, making sure that you are always investing in yourself.

And I think the more favourable way of describing it nowadays, the term that people use is self-care. But back then, 30 odd years ago it was, be a little bit selfish and, either way it equates to the same thing to take care of number one.

[00:25:45] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I think that's so important. It's like this whole thing about, if you don't take care of yourself, you don't have the energy and the good mood and the resilience to help other people. So you do need to invest in yourself, whatever keeps you happy, whether it's you know, spending time with a friend, or reading a good book, or just sometimes chilling. Really important.

Final Thoughts and Contact Information

[00:26:06] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: How can people get in touch with you? Where can they find organisations? How can they support organisations?

[00:26:12] Tracey Torley: We do have a website and the address is www.crackinggoodfood.org. We're on all of the social platforms so people can look us up. They can contact me directly. My email address is Tracy with an EY at crackinggoodfood allone word lowercase dot org.

[00:26:32] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Maybe there's things you want. Do you want donations or volunteers?

[00:26:37] Tracey Torley: We are an organisation that heavily relies on donated support. So whether that's volunteering, we have a lot of individuals come and support us. We have corporates who wish to share their care days supporting us. Of course, there's opportunity to give financial donations as well. And that can be done via our website.

And obviously your kitchen kit we need the donations of that. And then at Christmas time, we are looking at doing a festive cook up where we will cook a lot of food which will be redistributed to communities in need. So we'll be putting another call out for a food drive to support us in that as well.

But I think one of the best ways to support us really is to also invest in your team. And that is, whether it's providing them or your clients with some great food through our catering service or if it's actually really investing in your team, which is through our cook share and care cooking classes. I think that's the best support. So, you're supporting the community, reaching your CSR and ESG goals, but you're also investing in the health and wellbeing of your team as well.

[00:27:45] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is a really great tip. I'll make sure all your contacts are in the show notes.

[00:27:50] Tracey Torley: Oh, thank you.

[00:27:52] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much, Tracy. It's been a lovely conversation. Thank you for sharing all the passion that you have for good food.

[00:27:58] Tracey Torley: My absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for inviting me to your show.

Outro

Thank you for listening to the Meet the Mancunian podcast social impact stories from Manchester. I hope today's episode has inspired you to reflect on your own purpose and how you can contribute to making positive change.

Next week on Tuesday, 26 November, we hear from Shelley Roberts talking about supporting parents in the community.

I'm truly grateful for this amazing community of listeners. Your stories inspire this podcast and I look forward to hearing more of them. If you'd like to share your story or connect, visit my website at meetthemancunian.co.uk or find me on social media @MeettheMancunian on Instagram and Facebook, @MancunianPod on Twitter, and @MeettheManncunianPodcast on YouTube.

Thank you again to my wonderful listeners. You inspire me. Together, we are a community dedicated to uplifting Manchester and supporting Mancunians. Remember, we can make an impact together.

Thank you for tuning in and being a part of this incredible community. Your involvement helps amplify the voices of those making a difference.

Together, we can impact even more positive change in Manchester and beyond.

Remember, no act of kindness is too small, and by working together we can truly make a meaningful impact. Thank you for listening.