ProVeg UK

Welcome ProVeg’s new Youth Board! 🥳 We are excited to announce our new Youth Board for 2025! These passionate young activists will help our UN team to advocate for more sustainable, plant-rich food systems at international events and around the world, both in their own advocacy and through their work with ProVeg. The 20 members of the board will engage with ProVeg’s UN team, helping out with projects and supporting with the preparation of relevant events, such as the Bonn Climate Conference in June, the World Food Forum in October, and the COP30 UN climate conference in November. 🌏 We are thrilled to be working with these engaged young activists throughout 2025! And an extra warm welcome to UK-based Vivek Venkatram. ✨ Learn more about our wonderful new Youth Board: https://lnkd.in/eS67EAnn

“The Japanese food experience was absolutely breathtaking. All I can say is wow.” 🌍✨ This International School Meals Day, we share our Public Health Lead’s experience of visiting the Global Child Nutrition Forum in Japan. “At the conference there was an excellent exchange of so many people passionate about school food, working towards more sustainable healthy food for children, and making sure they understand where food comes from. We can learn so much from each other.“ Colette Fox, Public Health Lead at ProVeg International, shares what inspired her on her trip to a Japanese school as part of the forum: Children take the lead at lunchtime and are fully involved. There’s a rota where children take turns to be responsible for serving lunch to their classmates, and for cleaning up afterwards. Lunch isn’t something they simply attend, they are part of the process. Education and food go hand in hand, and lunch is a lesson in itself. Children are taught every day about the food they are eating, supporting their awareness of health and nutrition. This is part of a Japanese principle called Shokuiku that integrates nutrition education into the curriculum. We don’t yet have this level of nutrition education in UK schools, but our essential Canteen to Classroom and School Plates programmes are bridging the gap. 🍙Japanese school food is cooked fresh, processed foods are prohibited, and there is an expectation that the food, where possible, is locally sourced. It’s also predominantly plant-based so is packed with vital nutrients. Colette’s key takeaway from the trip, however, was how collaborative and organised lunchtime is. “While the children are taking responsibility for serving the lunch and clearing away, they’re learning to appreciate and respect the food, and to respect one another. Serving and providing for others instills a strong sense of community and connection over food.” Had you heard of Shokuiku before? What do you think of these school lunchtime practices? Read more about Colette’s insights on our blog: https://hubs.ly/Q03bGD1S0 #InternationalSchoolMealsDay #InternationalSchoolMealsDay2025 #SchoolMeals #SchoolFood #UKSchoolFood

Really looking forward to sharing more about ProVeg UK and the School Plates programme THIS Thursday on #InternationalSchoolMealsDay - tune in and join the discussion 🤩 🌱 🌍

📢 Calling all school catering teams! Take 2 minutes to share your upcoming menu with us and you could gain a School Plates Award. 🏆 There's a reason our free awards programme is so popular. As soon as you begin your awards journey you have instant access to: 🌿 our expert advice 🌿 peer to peer support 🌿 education programme 🌿 chef training ...and all of our free resources towards a more sustainable and healthy menu. Not only does it help you to reach your school's sustainability goals, it's helping you to boost plant-power on your menu. So share your menu, and we'll work with you at your own pace. Email us at: schoolplatesawards@proveg.org #schoolcatering #schoolplates #schoolmeals

This International Women’s Day, our Global CEO, Jasmijn De Boo, is celebrating 20 incredible women who are transforming our food system! From policymakers to entrepreneurs, activists to athletes, these trailblazers are shaping a more sustainable, ethical, and plant-forward future. 🌱✨ Swipe through to meet the changemakers who are making a real impact! 📖 Want to see the full list? Check it out on our website: https://lnkd.in/ejiqfQgg #ProVeg #IWD2025 #WomenInFood

📚 IT'S WORLD BOOK DAY! Today is World Book Day and of course, the more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go! Here are some book recommendations for children (and adults) that can help us to grow our brains from our Education Manager, Martin: For our youngest readers, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle. It’s a classic and for good reason. And what does the caterpillar need to eat to feel better? A plant! Young readers will enjoy finding out about the little helpers living inside our body, whose job is to keep us healthy and happy in ‘Your Belly Bugs Guide to Happy Eating’ by David Bell and Martin Smith. ‘The Last Wild’ by Piers Torday is a book that takes older readers on an adventure to save the last of the animals and recognises the complex issue of humanity’s involvement in climate change. For all - ‘How Bad are Bananas?’. Mike Berners-Lee’s brilliant book explores the carbon footprint of growing bananas, sending an email, and just about everything else in an informative and always entertaining way. Of course, there are so many more wonderful books that we could share. We hope you enjoy these ones. Let us know some of your must reads! Martin runs our Canteen to Classroom programme which provides free lesson plans for teachers on a range of topics related to healthy and sustainable food. Find our more: https://hubs.ly/Q039FkSD0 #worldbookday #worldbookday2025

Our Education Manager, Martin Skingley, has travelled to Sheffield Hallam University today for their Climate Leaders' Conference! 🌍 "Amazing turnout and excited to see and hear about all of the brilliant things schools and organisations are doing across South Yorkshire, and the rest of the UK regarding sustainability and helping our children become great human beings." ProVeg UK are there to explain how we can help make school meals more healthy, tasty, and planet-friendly! 🌿 We also help schools to educate children around these changes and the impact our food choices have on humans, nature, and our planet, through our Canteen to Classroom programme. Martin has delicious chocolate brownies made with some interesting ingredients, go and say hello and give them a try! ✨ I repeat - homemade brownies are available! ✨ #ClimateLeadersSHU

🌍The wonderful Let's Go Zero are looking for a Project Manager for their Climate Action Advisor programme. Please share! 👇

📢 New report steers right direction for future of UK food 🌍The Climate Change Committee report, the Seventh Carbon Budget, calls for meat consumption (particularly red meat) to fall by 25% to 30%, and dairy by 20% by 2040, to be replaced with plant-based foods and alternative proteins. Sophia Millar, Head of Programmes at ProVeg UK, says, “It’s fantastic to see the Climate Change Committee’s call for a shift in food systems transformation, and one that we hope the Government accedes to.” “We’re already making meat and dairy reduction simple with our School Plates programme that’s seen over 90 catering partners increase the quantity and quality of plant-based school food offerings at more than 8,000 schools.” “This report provides a great opportunity to platform the incredible benefits of plant-based foods, and all the good this essential dietary change will bring not only for the planet, but for our health. We’re excited for the power of plants to take centre stage and will continue to champion plant-based as the default across public sector catering,” Millar added. 🗞️Read more: https://lnkd.in/gNHzBFKn

World Wildlife Day is on Monday 3rd March, next week! It's a time to recognise and celebrate wildlife’s incredible contribution to people and the planet. 🌍 Our School Plates programme already helps schools and caterers protect the planet through more sustainable menus, but we saw a huge opportunity to better inspire and educate the change-makers of the future - children. Schools can now use our free teaching materials to engage students in meaningful conversations about planet-friendly food with our Canteen to Classroom educational resources. We want to encourage teachers to download our Pro Animals and Pro Environment lesson plans to educate children about where our food comes from and its impact on the world and biodiversity. Find our Canteen to Classroom resources here: https://hubs.ly/Q038L1-f0 While this year's theme is Wildlife Conservation Finance, our educational resources are completely free. Please share with teachers and schools so more can access our wonderful programme! 🌿