Real Stories: The UK Public’s interests, needs and concerns around food

The fully accessible version of this booklet for people with visual impairments is available here.

Real Stories drawn from deep research on UK public experiences around food

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) commissioned the Bright Harbour Collective — in partnership with AndGood and Esposito Research and Strategy — to explore the public’s experiences, views, needs and priorities around food.

UK-wide research explored the views of both the ‘general public’ as well as groups that are traditionally less heard by policy-makers — drawing on qualitative research with 95 participants and a nationally representative quantitative survey of 6175 respondents.

The stories below represent the views and experiences of real UK people who took part in this research. They are not ‘personas’ — but rather a selection of quotes and other materials from real individuals.

They offer a chance for decision-makers to hear from the UK public directly, and to see how some of the issues explored in the main reporting are felt and experienced by everyday people.

How to read these stories

The stories included were selected to provide a cross-section of attitudes and priorities around food, and are broadly representative of the needs and interests reported in the research. However, the voices of people who are often less heard by policymakers have been boosted.

Note: All names have been changed. People’s choice of favourite food has been used as their last name.

These stories should not be used to assess scale of interest around a given interest/concern — overall public priorities — or be viewed as the ‘only’ public interests emerging from research.

Want to read more?

The 15-minute summary of the full research findings is available here.
The full project outputs (findings and technical report, data tables and more) can be viewed here.