How to try and sum up 14 pretty incredible days in a single blog post...
I've met over 50 rather special individuals who have benefited directly from our innocent Foundation
Drunk about 20 cups of hot milk, straight from the yard
Been given one jack fruit
Had 2 delicious coconuts from the tree
Been lucky enough to sit in on 3 of the monthly meetings run at local village level by disabled people for disabled people, where the big decisions get made.
And almost been launched through the roof of 1 Indian bus (note to self: never, ever sit on the back row).
Trying to give a picture of all the people that I've met is a lot more difficult. I've been totally blown away by the sheer determination to drive change that I have witnessed this past fortnight- but one of the most striking examples I've seen is a man I met called Poundurai.
ADD met Poundurai at a Federation meeting for disabled people that they attended about 5 years ago. He wasn't in a leadership role at the time, but they noticed his potential and began working with him more closely over the years to support the work that he was doing.
5 years on, and he now represents over 2300 disabled people in a block of over 40 villages in his area. He's the elected President of the Disability Development Trust, a co-ordinator of the governement disability programme, and Leader of the National Federation for the Blind, fighting tirelessly to make sure that disabled people get a fair deal. He and his team have helped more disabled people get bank loans than any other group in the area, they've taught parents of severely disabled children how to teach their children to wash and dress, and they've ensured that when things aren't right, they're addressed.
When I was there, we spoke to a lady whose postman had been skimming 500 rupees for himself off the government benefits that he was supposed to be delivering her in full each month. Apparently this is rather common.
From the look on Poundurai's face, I suspect the postman might think twice about it next time.
As some of you will know, I'm currently in India working with one our innocent foundation partners, disability charity ADD. I've been here for 10 days now, and it's been quite the adventure.
We had our innocent foundation day yesterday so I sent across a little video across of some of the things I've seen and learnt this week, which we thought we'd share.
Pop the kettle on, stick the headphones in, and learn about some amazing people. What they are doing is truely remarkable.
Every year, innocent gives one or two lucky employees the opportunity to go and work with one of the charities we support through our foundation, using some of our work skills. Those of you who've been reading this blog for a while may remember tales from Andrew in Malawi, JT in Kenya, or our Emilie in Ethopia.
Emilie in Ethiopia showing the bees who was boss
On Friday, I'll be following in their illustrious footsteps, lugging my camera and a notebook with me, as I head to India to work with disability charity ADD gathering materials for their fundraising and training needs. I'll be penning a few posts while I'm away but it sees only right that I do some introductions first...
ADD supports disabled people in 11 different countries across Africa and Asia to challenge disability discrimination. Their vision is to create a world where disabled people can enjoy their rights and participate in society as fully as they choose to, and we've been supporting the work that they do in India since April 2009.
Three quarters of the disabled population in India live in rural communities, and less than 2% receive any form of vocational training. ADD India works to educate people in the skills they need to earn a livelihood, and offers financial support through microloans- these are frequently used to boost incomes in India, but disabled people are generally excluded from these schemes.
The project that we're funding has so far delivered loans to over 200 people, enabling them to gain independence through their livelihood, and to participate more fully in the communities in which they live. Over the next few weeks, I'll be meeting a few of the people who have benefited from these loans, and be able to see first hand the impact that it has had not only on their lives, but on the lives of their families, who are often marginalised as well.
So there you are. Introductions done. I'd definitely recommend that you get to know them a bit better here, but if not, I'll be in touch shortly with some more info from the other side of the world.
Katie and Atha both took on the challenge of creating some Livewell recipes for the rest of us - we think they might have Masterchef aspirations.
Katie gives us spiced rice salad and prawn fajitas.
Spiced Rice Salad - serves 1
Ingredients: 75g brown rice, 1 x apple (ideally nice and crunchy), 1 x pepper (your choice of colour) and some peas.
Dressing: Tablespoon natural yoghurt, teaspoon garam masala
cook rice and allow to cool
chop up apple and pepper, cook peas and allow them to cool
mix apple, pepper and peas into cooked rice
mix yoghurt and garam masala and taste - change quantities to taste preference
stir in dressing to rice mix
Can be made ahead for a lunchbox - but make sure you only cut up the apple just before eating to stop it from going brown. Optional extras to add would be steamed chicken or salad.
Prawn Fajitas - use the per person quantities from the Livewell menu
fry onion
add prawns and some yummy fajita spice mix
add pepper
serve with some lettuce and fajita wraps
Optional extras - kidney beans or use chicken instead of prawns.
Atha shows us his prowess in the vegetarian kitchen with Spinach and Chickpeas.
Ingredients: a tin of chickpeas, 200g spinach, 3 tomatoes (depulped and sliced), 3-4 cloves of garlic, 1 red chilli (remove seeds and slice), 1/2 teaspoon cumin, seasoning (salt, pepper and oregano), olive oil.
sautee garlic and chilli in oil
once oil is hot and garlic has just softened, add cumin (for 10 seconds)
add the tin of drained chickpeas, stir to ensure that they are coated with the flavoured oil
after a couple of minutes add the tomatoes and stir, cook for a couple of minutes
add the spinach, once it is all wilted add some of the juice from the tinned chickpeas
Simon works in our finance team and for 4 years was responsible for buying all the fruit that goes in our smoothies – he knows some stuff about buying food (albeit that on his buying trips he sported some questionable headwear – he’s on the left).
Growing your own fruit & vegetables
You don’t need lots of space to grow your own food. It’s amazing what you can get out of a plant pot and things seem to grow even in fairly poor soil. We only have a small yard. At the end of April we planted: 10 tomato plants, 2 courgette plants and half a dozen different herbs. Next year we aim to increase the range once I’ve put in a new vegetable bed.
The courgettes have been phenomenal – between the 2 plants for the last eight weeks we have had a good sized courgette every other day. We had our first tomato last week. The plants are dripping in fruit. We staggered when we planted so I think we will get 8-10 weeks without having to buy a single tomato from the shops. We use fresh herbs daily and they really lift dishes.
The total plant cost was around ~£25. I predict if I bought this fruit, it might cost upwards of £50.
Pick your own fruit & veg
Living in London with such easy access to food, we have lost sight of picking our own produce – it seems to be a hazy memory of our childhood. We took our 16 month old daughter to a PYO Farm. We bought: raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, strawberries, beetroot, carrots, parsley, courgettes, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, broad beans.
We ate the vegetables and strawberries fresh (NB broad beans once blanched freeze well). Raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries freeze really well. (NB Best thing is to freeze them on metal trays first and then transfer them to bags so they hold their shape). Everything was amazingly fresh. We picked 4 BIG supermarket recycle bags full of produce. Total cost was £62. I estimate that from the supermarket this would have been £200+
Using class 2 fruit
As consumers we have all come to expect total uniformity in the produce we buy. This drive for perfectionism means there is often unnecessary waste at the farm level. Almost all ‘second grade’ fruit or veg is fresh - it’s just a bit misshapen – does this matter? When you get your fruit and veg at the market you will need to check the quality a little more carefully than the supermarket but typically >80% of it is great.
There are big big savings here. I predict market fruit and veg is possible 50% cheaper than the supermarket. It’s also great having an interaction with other shoppers and stall holders. There are some amazing characters at markets and you can pick up some good recipe ideas from them
Cooking from scratch
We’re all busy and there could be a view that cooking from scratch is too time consuming. But in line with Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute cooking, it needn’t be. For example making fresh bread – once you’ve made your own bread it will be hard for you to ever go back to ready-made. And it’s a myth that you need lots of equipment, a bread maker or a special oven. My recommendation is to get into sourdough bread for the fantastic depth of flavour, brilliant rising capabilities and amazing texture. Use any excess starter/dough to make pizza. It makes such good pizza that your guests will think you have trained in Naples.
You also know you are not eating any nasties because you are controlling what goes in and it’s definitely cheaper. I reckon a batch of 6 loaves costs me £2. The equivalent quality pre-made would be £9. NB spare loaves freeze well.
“I usually add enough salt to grit a road in 2 ft of snow. I have cut it altogether and don't miss that either”
Put all these thoughts together and cooking/eating becomes much more interesting, more sustainable and definitely cheaper. Brekkie is usually home baked bread, lunch is a Tupperware salad box and supper some sort of carbohydrate/vegetable base with a little meat a few days a week. Maybe we have a proper piece of meat once every few weeks.
Jojo is one our people’s champions – the really nice people who answer the banana phone and have a chat with you. Jojo did the diet with her boyfriend Chris.
Here’s Jojo looking fabulous as usual.
“the diet was fine with me but much trickier for Chris as he just didn't understand not putting as much meat in things as he's used to. I tend to be a bit stingier with these things which comes from my mam who went very easy on meat when I was growing up to save money”
“I did struggle a bit with the oil rationing as I cook with lots of olive oil but we used a spray for the week. Think I'll still have gone over my quota though. I also found it a bit tricky to turn down burger lunches at the Regent but my waistline was very grateful. To be honest I quite liked being able to say that I was following the diet as I saved a bit of money and had a really healthy week.”
“Even though I exercise a lot I thought the amount of food was very generous and didn't really eat any of the snacks. Think Chris might have eaten my share though...”
This is Caroline (aka as Caz). She works in our People Team and was our first guinea pig for the WWF's Livewell diet.
Caz keep a food diary for her week on the Livewell diet.
Her overall thoughts for the week were
"I found that having controlled portions of each specific food can make you obsessed with it and ultimately I ended up eating more or really craving stuff I wasn't allowed"
"I also found that planning your meals is cheaper than randomly buying stuff - I spent way less than I normally would and I also ate more healthily as I added less oil and sauces to stuff, less crisps/chocolate etc".
And here's her weekly record.
Monday
breakfast: granary toast with butter and marmite
lunch: burger with wholemeal bread roll, bbq sauce, lettuce and tomatoes
dinner: pasta with 1/4 red pepper, 3 mushrooms, tomato & basil sauce, chilli, 50g cheese
snacks: 1 banana, 1 bottle of OJ, 2 chocolate fingers, strawberries with 0% fat greek yoghurt
"Already eaten beef quota within first half day of diet... struggling to not think about food, what I can/can't eat. Sauces are difficult to work out as load of extras added to them - ended up using a Lloyd sauce I've had for a while as needed using. Mayo, butter, honey - trying to reduce, but tough..."
Tuesday
breakfast: granary toast with butter and marmite
lunch: 1/2 bag of rocket salad with 1 avocado, 1 tomato, half a carrot, 170g spicy chicken, tiny bit of oil
dinner: pasta with 1/4 red pepper, 3 mushrooms, tomato & basil sauce, chilli, 50g cheese
snacks: 4 chocolate fingers, 1 bottle of OJ, box of raspberries
"Can I have avocado? Feel like this is a low-fat diet currently... good to fill up on whole foods though. Managed to turn down cake & crisps so far which is unheard of. Already feel like I've shifted my mind set though, buying only in quantities I need, checking where food is from, and eating leftovers."
Wednesday
breakfast: granary toast with peanut butter
lunch: 1/4 bag rocket salad with 1 tomato, 170g spicy chicken, tiny bit of oil
dinner: chips, mayo, olives, tiny piece of scampi & whitebait
snacks: a cereal bar, half a chocolate bar
"not sure if I am allowed peanut butter but had it this morning in a rush as there was no butter... i think I have gone over my oil quota"
Thursday
breakfast: granary toast with butter and marmite
lunch: sandwich on white bread (1/2 egg, a little pork, avocado, lettuce, aubergine, goats cheese & pesto)
dinner: innocent Mexican veg pot
late night eating (oh dear...) double cheese burger and chips
snacks: 1 banana, slice of granary bread with butter
"got offered delicious free sandwiches and salad today for lunch and couldn't refuse an offer like that.. even though loaded with oils and cheeses. I did avoid the meat based ones though. The McDonald's on the way home was an act of rebellion..."
Friday (had dinner with best friend after work)
breakfast: 2 slices granary toast with butter and marmite
lunch: salad, tomato, avocado & cream cheese on toast, little bit of oil
dinner: noodle soup with tofu, mushroom and chilli chicken broth, summer rolls with prawns and fish crackers
snacks: 1 packet crisps, 1/2 big cookie
Saturday (big BBQ at our house then friend's birthday)
brunch: bagel with cream cheese
dinner: sausage in a roll with chilli mayo, pasta salad with cheese and normal salad
snacks: 5 malted milk biscuits, small bit of chocolate cake
Sunday (chilling at my house)
breakfast: sleeping still
lunch: leftover pasta salad and normal salad
dinner: jacket potato leftover from bbq heated up with tuna mayo and sweetcorn
We like healthy food (pretty handy when the products you make are all about fruit and veg). We also like sustainable food (so we make sure that the way we make our products has the least possible impact on people and the planet). So when the WWF came up with their Livewell 2020 diet, we thought it was a fab idea.
The idea behind Livewell is to develop a way of eating that would not only be healthy and nutritious but that would also reduce the environmental impacts associated with producing food. The 5 Livewell principles are:
eat more plants
waste less food
eat less meat
eat less processed food
where available, buy food that meets a credible certified standard
As part of the Livewell work the WWF teamed up with nutrition experts from Aberdeen University to design a diet that would be great for the body and the planet. You can download a weekly shopping list and a 7 day menu to try it out - and following the diet means that not only do you get your recommended nutritional intact for the week, but that you also reduce the carbon footprint associated with what you eat by 25%.
This we had to try. Roll up 7 innocent employee Livewell guinea pigs (just a phrase, we do not support animal testing in any way).
Our guinea pigs agreed to try out the Livewell Diet for 7 days and share their experiences of eating a sustainable diet. Some of them thought they were pretty healthy sustainable eaters already, some thought it could be a challenge.
...that's how some of our indian mangoes have been feeling of late. When it comes to climate change, the majority of conversations still use words like 'when' - when it happens, when the temperature rises, when the seas rise etc. Of course the reality is that our climate is already changing, and more so in some regions than others at this point in time. The Western Gatts of India is one of those regions, and that is where some of our delicious alphonso mangoes come from.
When our indian farmers started talking to us about the problems, we decided it was important to make sure we did our bit to help cool the mangoes down, and keep the farmers in the mango business. Fast forward through many many conversations, and we had a set of recommendations from a local agricultural institute, a consultant and 18 farmers working with our supplier, ready to trial some new techniques in the world of mango growing.
We have just received the first report from the project, and despite only being able to implement 2 of the 5 techniques this season we have seen some great results. Farmers participating in the trial were able to use less agrochemicals on the trees and still managed to have a lower incidence of pest and disease attack than a standard farm (saving them lots of money as well as protecting the environment). Plus, the trial farms also found that they had a higher yield of mangoes per tree.
Next season we will be implementing all 5 of the recommendations, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we get even better results. Needless to say the farmers participating in the project are pretty happy that they can still produce great mango in a changing climate (and save some cash at the same time), and we are thrilled that we still get great tasting mango and have managed to help out in tackling this challenge.
A big thanks to our suppliers, and everyone involved in the project so far. I'm off to grab a mango passionfruit smoothie to celebrate.
A couple of weeks ago Rozanne and I were in India for work, and we took the opportunity to visit one of the innocent foundation projects with our partner ADD. ADD supports organisations of disabled people to improve their livelihoods. In India, they are working primarily on improving agricultural skills and incomes.
The money provided from the innocent foundation is used to provide loans to disabled people and their families. The local Disabled People Organisation (DPO) consisting of members of the community determines who would benefit most from the loans, and supports the beneficiaries in their endeavours. The money is used for a wide variety of uses, such as buying animals, seeds or farming equipment.
We visited a number of DPO groups and beneficiaries of the loans during our visit.
Please allow us to introduce one of the beneficiaries, Mr Siddagangaiah (on the left).
He suffers from cerebral palsy and as such cannot do manual work. He used his loan to buy this rather fetching looking goat (on the left of Mr Siddagangaiah).
The idea is that the goat will have kids (that's what you call a baby goat) which can be sold for meat if they are boys.. (sorry guys) or for breeding if they are lucky enough to be a girl.
Mr Siddagangaiah already has 2 kids, and he hopes to slowly build a small herd. The money raised from the goats contributes to his family income, and importantly provides him with increased social standing in his community.
Other beneficiaries are using their loans to buy silk worms, grow flowers, and grow vegetables such as potatoes and beans.
Mr Ranganatha from ADD India was lucky enough to be given some fresh beans to take home for dinner.
It was fantastic to meet some of the people who are benefitting from these small loans, and to hear about the difference it makes in their lives. We thank them and ADD for making us so welcome and sharing their time with us.
We wish them well for lots of goat babies, and a bumper bean crop.
