By Zarina Ahmad, Co-Director, Wen – March 2026
Zarina shares her thoughts on why food justice feels especially urgent right now, and how global instability, climate breakdown and local food systems are deeply connected.
For many in our communities, this is a sacred time. Ramadhan and Lent sit side by side this month, both rooted in fasting, contemplation, generosity and care. Across traditions, food takes on deeper meaning. It is restraint and gratitude. It is gathering and celebration. It is sustenance not just of the body, but of community. Food is a blessing.
Yet at the same time, we are witnessing food being weaponised in places of conflict.
In Gaza, restrictions on aid have driven catastrophic hunger. In Sudan, war has pushed millions into acute food insecurity. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, displacement continues to disrupt farming and access to nourishment. Across the world, from Yemen to Syria, food is too often used as a tool of control.
The contrast is stark. In one context, food is sacred. In another, it is withheld.
This is why food justice is central to climate justice.
Food is never just about calories. It is about land, labour, culture, migration, gender, power and peace. It connects the global to the local, from conflict zones to our own neighbourhood food banks and community kitchens.
Recent polling shared by The Food Foundation shows that more than half of people believe the current state of international affairs has made protecting the UK food supply more important. People understand that food security is fragile. That it is shaped by geopolitics, climate shocks, inequality and policy decisions.
In Tower Hamlets, we see those connections every day. Rising food prices, pressure on community organisations, and the strain on families navigating cost of living pressures are not separate from global instability or climate breakdown. They are part of the same system.
Over the past five years, through the Just FACT programme, we have worked alongside local partners to imagine and build food systems rooted in justice, care and lived experience. We have learned that food systems can be reshaped when communities are trusted as leaders, when climate action is grounded in everyday realities, and when dignity is placed at the centre.
As we close this chapter of Just FACT, we are holding both pride and reflection. The work does not end here. If anything, this moment reinforces why it matters.
In a world where food is too often commodified or controlled, we remain committed to food systems rooted in justice, dignity and community power.
Because food is never just food.
What can you do?
Stay connected to local food initiatives in your area. Support community food projects with your time, skills or resources. Talk about food justice in your networks, linking climate, inequality and global conflict to what is happening on our own streets.
Read and share the Just FACT report and Power of Food film. And if you are a policymaker, funder or practitioner, ask how your decisions are strengthening, or weakening, community power in the food system.
Zarina Ahmad, Co-director, Wen
Zarina is an expert in equalities and climate change, increasing participation of under-represented groups in environmentalism. She was named as one of the top 30 influential women contributing to the environment and sustainability by BBC Woman’s Hour.
