Results - Let's Talk Food

Let's Talk Food results

What we did and why

In Spring 2024 we asked you to tell us your experiences of accessing healthy food and what food you waste. These topics were chosen as part of wider work that we are doing with partners to look at the whole food system in North Yorkshire - from how we grow food, what we grow, to what we buy and eat and how much we throw away.

Here is a brief summary of what you told us, and you can read the full report on North Yorkshire Council's website.

What the results say

2053 people filled in our survey.

You told us the following:

• While most people in the survey (86%) say they have a healthy and balanced diet, most people (81%) also say they want to eat healthier food.

• While many people (81%) say they find it easy to access healthy food, people say that lowering the cost of healthy food, reducing unhealthy food advertising and supporting local gardens or food projects are most likely to make it easier to get healthy food.

• Around half the people in the survey say they never or hardly ever throw away unused food, while around a quarter of people throw away unused food once a week or more. Other data suggests this is likely to underestimate the amount of food wasted in North Yorkshire. For example, analysis of the kerbside waste collected suggests that kitchen food waste makes up more than 15% of the contents of bins (see page 28 of the main report). 

• The most common things making it difficult to reduce food waste are food going off and food being sold in larger amounts than needed. Having the skills and expertise to repurpose food and use leftovers is also key to reducing food waste.

  
  

What happens next

The Let’s Talk Food survey was a part of an ongoing series of conversations with people from across the food system and will help North Yorkshire Council and a range of partner organisations and community groups to develop a food action plan supporting accessible, sustainable and nutritious food across the county.

The results of the survey are being shared widely with partners and the public.

Next steps include:
 • Working with partners from all parts of the food system to develop aims, objectives and actions for ‘Food for the Future’ – this will be our action plan for food in North Yorkshire.
 • Continuing local conversations with (but not exclusive to) our farming community, our younger people (the next generation), local food partnerships, people who have experience of food insecurity, and small to medium sized enterprises. This will help us make sure the actions we take forward are the right ones across the food system. 
• Working with the ‘Fix Our Food’ programme to strengthen North Yorkshire’s voice in improving the food system. This is a multi-disciplinary research programme, anchored at the University of York, which aims to transform the Yorkshire food system to one that is regenerative – benefitting both human and planetary health. You can find out more about this on the Fix Our Food Commission's website.