Today, food sustainability is a global concern and the media has a key role to play in it by informing people about what is going on, in order to create a more sustainable future.
— The Food Foundation (@Food_Foundation) May 9, 2017
Entries for the award are open to journalists and emerging writers from all over the world. Its aim is to raise awareness of the issue of sustainability through all kinds of media, from written articles, to videos, to photography.
Food Sustainability Media Award was launched on 9 May 2017 at Francesco Mazzei’s recently-opened restaurant Radici in Islington, London.
Antonio Zappulla, Chief Operating Officer at Thomson Reuters Foundation, opened the event, by explaining what the award is about. Then, Luca Di Leo, Head of Media Relations at Barilla and BCFN Foundation, talked about the importance of food sustainability: “When you throw away an apple, you are throwing away 70l of water. Think about that.”
Credits: SpiceDeli/Twitter
This means that a huge quantity of food is wasted while people in other parts of the world die because of hunger.
Then, Francesco Mazzei talked about what food sustainability means to him. The famous Italian chef, indeed, tries to avoid food waste not only when he is at work, but also in his private life. At the opening of the event, he told the guests how he usually turns the meat he cooks for lunch on Sunday into kebabs for his daughter and son to eat in front of the TV in the afternoon. By doing so, he makes sure that nothing goes into the bin.
About 1.3 billion tons of edible food is wasted every day, that is four times the amount needed to feed the 795 million undernourished peole around the world.
During the night, Francesco Mazzei prepared a surprise four-course meal: from pasta, to fish, to meat, to meringue, he showed how chefs can create “beautiful food without waste”. And for this reason, he said: “The risotto I served last night is your arancini starter today. Cooking with leftovers has been a great exercise.”
The power of the media to increase food sustainability is huge. And this is what the award is about. Anyone can take part in it. Both published and unpublished work can be submitted. Information can be found on the website of the Award.
Timothy[1] and Grace are sitting face to face. “Tap.. tap.. tap.. t-tap.. tap..” A five year-old, Timothy keeps is eyes down on his coffee cup, his small fingers tapping on it. And so Grace goes: “Tap.. t-tap.. tap.. tap..” Just then Timothy’s eyes slowly rise to meet Grace’s.
Timothy is an autistic child, while Grace Watts is an NHS music therapist and the Development Director for the British Association for Music Therapy.
“An established psychological clinical intervention, which is delivered by Health and Care Professions Council registered music therapists, to help people of all ages, whose lives have been affected by injury, illness or disability through supporting their psychological, emotional, cognitive, physical, communicative and social needs.”
Ms Watts explains that music therapy in the UK is based on a musical improvisation that takes place between the client and the therapist. But people like Timothy are not the only ones who benefit from this kind of treatment because “music therapy is an intervention for all, from mums to be and their babies to people at the end of their lives”. People usually access it via social care and charitable donations, others are able to pay for it privately.
Being widely accessible and 100% natural, music therapy is becoming more and more popular in Islington, Hackney and Shoreditch.
Located in the heart of Islington, the now BAMT was founded in 1958 by French cellist and music therapy-pioneer Juliette Alvin as the “British Society for Music Therapy”. The charity doesn’t deliver music therapy, but is the biggest point of reference in the field, supporting education, research, therapists and patients.
Schools, in particular, benefit from music therapy services offered by the NHS and the Nordoff Robbins centre. The Richard Cloudesley School, for example, has proved to be one of the most active schools in the area by offering their primary and secondary children a weekly music therapy session with personnel from the Nordoff Robbins centre.
“Music is intrinsic to being human, it doesn’t depend on one’s own education or cultural background,” argues Peter Morrell, singer and Music student at City, University of London.
“What we do as therapists is exploiting the innate musical qualities of people to tap into the problems they have,” says Ms Watts. Music, in fact, is an innate non-verbal language and it’s especially useful to people who struggle to communicate with words. “In this case it benefits both the patients and the people around them,” she concludes.
Donald Wetherick, Clinical Tutor in Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, says that the treatment is so effective that the number of Music Therapists in the UK has almost doubled in size over the last decade, going from just over 500 in 2006 to 951 in 2016. The data is surprising if we consider that Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Speech and Language Therapists are facing a decrease in the number of registrants per year, despite having access to Government funding for their training that music therapists don’t have.[2]
Credit: British Journal of Music Therapy
The treatment is usually run alongside other conventional therapies. “It’s not a cure, but it can help the healing process,” says Mr Wetherick.
Journey into the room of a music therapist…
“We invite the patient, or patients, into a room with accessible instruments,” starts Luke Annesley, music therapist and former lecturer in Music Therapy at City, University of London. The therapist then tries to make the patient comfortable and waits for his response to the instruments. Once the patient starts making some sounds, the therapist would respond and try to create a musical dialogue with the person. “I would always tell people that they are in a therapy session,” he explains, “it’s better to be sincere rather than forcing them to do something they aren’t willing to do.
“Music therapy, however, is a nebulous term,” argues Evan Dawson, Live Music Now Executive Director.
Today “music therapy” is also a synonym of “music as beneficial”. This is the reason why people in Islington, Hackney and Shoreditch perceive listening to and practicing music as something that will “heal mental and physical pain”, “reduce stress and anxiety levels”, “make you feel happier and stronger”, “help you to cope with sadness and loneliness”.
This is exactly what Live Music Now does. The organisation has its main branch in Kings Place and trains professional musicians to play music for children with particular educational needs and older people living with dementia or experiencing loneliness. “We believe that live music can provide significant social and clinical benefits,” argues Mr Dawson. The charity, which runs around 3000 live music sessions a year, has recently launched a new strategy called “Bringing music to life (2017-2022)” in order to gather the community and ensure music plays “a greater role in our society”.
“Playing together also improves social skills, such as communication and respect for the other,” states Chas Mollet, volunteer at Wac Arts. The Hampstead-based charity supports inclusivity in the arts and media training, and works in co-operation with schools and charities in Islington to run state-funded music therapy workshops. Mr Mollet works with avant-garde technologies that enable people with disabilities to play music: “We try to remove all the barriers they might face.”
Whether it’s used as clinical intervention or a beneficial activity, music therapy has had a positive impact within the communities of Islington, Hackney and Shoreditch. “It may not be a cure, but you enable people to have fun, and all the positive effects will come along,” concludes Mr Mollet.
[1] Name has been changed for legal reasons.
[2] British Journal of Music Therapy, Stephen Sandford
The space is particularly attractive for professionals looking for a prestigious address or for those looking to establish their presence in London.
Credits: Airbnb
On top of the traditional co-working space services, The Family Officer Group provides, if requested, a full professional support and a great number of networking opportunities.
The space is already hosting several professionals as well as start ups in the finance and legal sectors. Contracts and conditions are flexible as in most competitive co-working spaces.
Massimo Bottura, top Italian chef and founder of three-Michielin-star restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, will cook in London for the first time during London Food Month.
In June, “the poet chef” will launch his third Refettorio, run by his non-profit organisation Food for Soul. The project follows the success of similar initiatives during Expo 2015 in Milan and during last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The location of the Refettorio has not been revealed yet, but its name has: it will be called the Refettorio Felix after Felix Byam Shaw, who inspired a campaign, run by the Evening Standard, to tackle food waste and hunger. The Felix Project will supply ingredients which otherwise would have been thrown away.
The Refettorio Felix will be open for lunch from Monday to Friday, aiming to serve 2,000 meals during London Food Month. Bottura will team up with a different British chef every day to produce healthy food for vulnerable people.
The Italian chef will also teach new recipes and how to create healthy meals with surplus food. He said: “Chefs have risen to celebrity heights. I believe we can use these heights to illuminate the most pressing issues facing society today.”
Credits: Scatti di Gusto
His non-profit organisation, Food for Soul, promotes wellbeing for people who are marginalised or excluded from society. “Chefs are invited to cook nutritious and healthy meals and demonstrate how ingredients from food waste can be nourishing. Volunteers are invited to serve guests at their table; this helps to promote social inclusion through human contact,” Bottura said. “The gesture of sitting down to a meal and breaking bread together is the first step towards rebuilding dignity and creating a community. A warm, seasonal, and delicious meal shared at a table with others is much more than the sum of the ingredients. It is a gesture of love,” he added.
Air in London is so polluted that the mayor of the City, Sadiq Khan, has proposed an alternative solution to the problem: offering motorists £3500 to demolish their old cars and buy greener vehicles. If the plan is accepted, the government will give families with low income £2000 to scrap 130,000 cars and £1000 for older taxis.
According to Khan, this solution, which would cost about £500m, could reduce nitrogen monoxide emissions by 40%.
Pollution is so bad that Khan has asked Londoners not to go out if not necessary. He also said that this seems to be the only solution to tackle the problem.
According to the government estimates, about 50,000 people die every year because of pollution and £27.5bn are spent because of this issue.
Sadiq Khan has passed the proposal to ministers, such as the chancellor Philip Hammond. Westminster, however, has said that it would also be good to oppose other sources of pollution, such as wood stoves in UK homes.
Earlies this month, the prime minister Theresa May said that tackling pollution will be one of her government’s main policies. However, she said, more needs to be done in order to bring back the good quality air every person wants.
Combining sport and fun is possible: the first fitness night club has just opened in London. Through the combination of music and workout, The Arches seems to be a good alternative to every person’s sport routine. The new initiative, organised by Ministry of Sound, one of the most famous clubs in the City, is called Ministry Does Fitness.
The idea behind it is to create a parallel between sport activities and amusement: music is loud as it is normally in a club, but people wear comfortable clothes allowing them to work out easily. The union of music and sport, indeed, seems to foster people’s wellbeing and to create positive mood.
Every class has a well-organised playlist, aiming to make people work harder and get better results. Classes run from Monday to Sunday and there is everything from sculpting to strengthening, from lengthening to tum-toning, to fat burning. Classes can be booked online and a timetable is available on the website of the club. It is also possible to buy packages which offer weekly or monthly deals to save same extra money.
While doing sport, you can buy and enjoy a protein shake or a coffee from the club’s bar, to help you feel more motivated.
The Arches, whose address is Arches 80 and 81, Newington Court, London, SE1 6DD, seems to be already a successful business, which people who love music and sport in the same way really cannot miss.
New ideas and decisions are opening 2017 in London: the mayor Sadiq Khan has scrapped the purchase of the new ‘Routemasters buses’ introduced by Boris Johnson in 2012. These buses were designed by Heatherwick Studio with the aim of reducing pollution: they are hybrid diesel-electric double-deckers.
Now the current Mayor has stopped their usage around the city and he is already receiving the corroboration by TFL (Transport For London). The former bus driver’s son aims to cut London’s costs.
In fact, Boris Johnson’ s project was criticised by most of the diplomats because of the huge amount of money needed to buy the buses: indeed, they request £50.000 more than the others, reaching a total of £350.000 each. Similarly, other critiques and fears came from the solutions, such as implied redundancies of bus drivers to save £10m for those vehicles.
By contrast, Sadiq Khan’s initiative does not seem to bring hard consequences, as he is already planning to invest on 3000 new buses with Euro IV standard emission by 2020, without facing any hostility. Furthermore, this route propels to plan other low cost civil programs with low environmental risks, such as £770m to enforce cyclist infrastructure or £885m to fight pollution. At the moment, these figures seem to be uphold by the majority.
So, cropped costs and environmental commitments are the protagonists of this year. Sadiq Khan is trying to make London easier to live, facing the needs and problems of most of the citizens, represented by English people as well as by immigrants.
“The most dangerous band in the world” is coming back – Guns N’ Roses are going to play a gig at London Stadium on 16th and 17thJune.
After the breakage of the band, they have switched back recently: the guitarist Saul Hudson (Slash) and the bassist Michael Andrew McKagan, known as ‘Duff Mckagan’, decided to reappear in 2016 with their colleague Axl Rose. In fact, they are debuting with one of their first albums, ‘Appetite for destruction’, playing the most sung and known singles of rock music: ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Paradise City’, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’; among their covers there are ‘Knocking on Heavens’ Doors’ and ‘Let it die’.
‘Not in this Lifetime’ Tour has already started at the beginning of 2016, but the Guns N’ Roses have decided to extend the stages in North America, Europe, New Zeeland, Australia, and Asia for the new year. Among the European stages listed in their notebooks there are: Dublin, Imola, Stockholm, Prague, Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Zurich, Bilbao, Lisbon and many others. Videos of the latest concerts are on the web, showing Axl Rose like an old buccaneer: sitting on a great throne with a foot support.
He got an injury to the fifth metatarsal during a concert in Los Angeles. As Rose posted on Twitter: “This is what might happen when you do something that you did not use to do for nearly 23 years.” However, what is not broken is his voice: accompanied by the most famous solos of Slash, he excites the audience.
The adrenalin is also growing in the UK: London is running out of tickets and sales are going up. The countdown is almost over and the lovers of rock are ready to welcome the bad boys, who are as energetic and brilliant as in the past.
The boundary breaking composer and pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, willbring his unique musicianship to the most cinematic of settings, the grounds of London’s Royal Hospital Chelsea, as part of the Live At Chelsea Concert Series, on Sunday 18th June, 2017.
The Italian composer is one of the foremost classical musicians in the world, and has soundtracked everything from feature length films such as ‘This Is England’, to some of the most iconic TV adverts of the moment. His most recent album, ‘Elements’, reached No.12 in the UK Classic Album Charts – a feat no other composer has managed in two decades.Influnced by African, rock and electronic music as much as classical, Einaudi’s classical music employs electronic instruments, and gets remixed by DJs around the world.Einaudi’s music has been performed in the most diverse of venues – from the Royal Albert Hall to Fabric Nightclub. His broad appeal even saw him perform a Radio 1 Live Lounge Session, cementing his cult status with music aficionados.
Live At Chelsea
The Royal Hospital Chelsea was founded in 1682 by King Charles II, and is home to the Chelsea Pensioners – 300 retired soldiers who welcome 20,000 music fans into the beautiful grounds each year as part of the Live At Chelsea Concert Series. The venue is becoming one of the most idyllic and beautiful live music settings in London for fans of all ages, and has previously seen Alison Moyet, Damien Rice and Rufus Wainwright entertain audiences – as well as the Chelsea Pensioners themselves in it’s immersive surroundings.
Hospitality packages including dinner in the Royal Hospital State Apartments, champagne reception and Luxury BBQ are also available.A portion of the ticket sales from the Live At Chelsea Concert Series goes towards the care of the Chelsea Pensioners, as well as the upkeep of the Grade I listed site. To find out how you can help the Royal Hospital Chelsea offer a home, comradeship and the very best care to our Nation’s veterans see:
www.chelsea-pensioners.org.uk
Tickets on pre sale via Amazon Tickets: Tuesday 13th December
General Sale: Friday 16th December
Interview by Valentina Celi, Article by Ilaria Edja Gallo
Interview with Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health.
Last night, Wednesday 28th September, from 6pm to midnight at Le Meridien Piccadilly, we celebrated Italian food, drink and culture. The event has been organised by CLWCA conservative Italian Group 2016 in collaboration with APCI UK, the Association of Italian Professional Chefs in the UK.
Many prominent political guests, such as Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health, Mark Field MP, Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party, Alberto Costa MP, South Leicestershire, Zac Goldsmith MP for Richmond Park & North Kingston and Dr Tania Mathias MP for Twickenham attended this amazing and successful event together with 450 guests.
Zac Goldsmith, LondonONEradio Staff. Photo by Leslie Weir, LondonONERadio- BenTVJeremy Hunt, LondonONEradio Staff. Photo by Leslie Weir, LondonONERadio- BenTV
The celebration has been accompanied by the amazing entertainment given by the acclaimed Italian tenor Yuri Sabatini and Giuseppe Mauriello, Laura Araldo, the guitarist Domenico Ranieri and The Tony P Riccio Trio.
LondonONEradio managed to question Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health about the importance of the mediterranean diet:
Do you think it is important to support the mediterranean diet and to promote it in the UK?
Absolutely, because we now have a huge amount of evidence that mediterranean diet is less salt, less red meat, more fish, olive oil instead of butter and this reduces cholesterol and therefore it reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, even things like Alzheimer and dementia. So it’s the best way of eating healthily and it’s also delicious. So most of this diet you go on, you have to deny yourself the best things, but actually the mediterranean diet is healthy and delicious so we would love more people to be on the mediterranean diet.
What is your plan of action about obesity? We know that in the past few years Uk developed and faced severe problems linked to obesity.
Well, we have the second largest problem with obesity in the whole of Europe, and we are very worried particularly for children who spend a lot of time behind computers, not as much time as they used to out and about playing. So we have a big plan to change it: we want to get children more active, we want to encourage manufacturers to reduce the sugar content in their food as there’s a lot of sugar in things like frozen pizzas, and actually you can reduce the sugar and not affect the taste. So we want to encourage people, encourage the manufacturers to do that, but we also need to promote understanding among consumers about an healthy diet and certainly mediterranean diet is a big part of that.
So is it possible to say that embracing the mediterranean diet would be the “best thing” for the UK population?
I think that we have to be careful because in this country people don’t like politicians telling them what to eat, so probably if you want to promote a mediterranean diet it’s not helpful to have Jeremy Hunt telling everyone to eat it. But I think you do the best job marketing it yourself. I mean the quality of Italian food that you can get in the UK, now, is transformed compared to 20 or 30 years ago. But I think, what I can do is to encourage everyone to recognize that olive oil is more healthy than butter, that fish is more healthy than red meat, and Italian food is a great way to enjoy those things.
Jeremy Hunt, LondonONEradio Staff. Photo by Leslie Weir, LondonONERadio- BenTV
Last but not least: which is your favourite Italian dish?
My favourite Italian dish? I have absolutely no hesitation in telling you the answer to that. I have a small holiday house in Sicily and the “Antipasti” from Sicily, they are my favourite. I am sorry if you’re from the north of Italy, but they are much nicer than “antipasti” from the North. And my daughter favourite dish, without doubt, is Gelato, but for me it’s the “antipasti”.
The event had both an educational and charitable aim: in fact, the 20% of profits from the tickets sale will be used to help the people struck by the earthquake in Italy.
