Sustainability stories - Reading LM

Richard Thompson, Reading LM

True Food Co-operative in Reading is a community owned business. There are two levels of membership, Basic (which all members subscribe to) and Active, which fosters the active participation of members in their co-operative.

True Food offers a huge range of organic whole foods, local fresh fruit and vegetables and eco-friendly household products at its (or rather our) shop, and weekly markets held in three neighbourhood community centres.

Sylvette and I give one Wednesday afternoon every other week. It’s not a lot of time. We bus down to the Methodist Church Hall in town, see the True Foods van in the yard and work for about 90 minutes unloading the van and setting up the food on tables. To cut down on packaging, about 90 products are sold loose, with the use of a scoop. The food, e.g. pasta, cereals, dried fruit, grains, (even chocolates!) is in plastic bins. The bread we sell is made, using organic flour, by traditional slow methods, without the use of artificial additives or preservatives.

Customers arrive from 4.30 till eight, weigh what they buy, put in the price per kilo on electric weighing scales, and then write up their own bills which they pay at the cash desk. There is a pleasant atmosphere with chance to make yourself a cup of tea/coffee and chat with others.

We run workshops. E.g. on food waste, learn recipes from “the porridge lady” and meet occasionally to discuss new schemes. We fit in well with the Transition Town initiative, just taking off in Reading.
Our future is certainly not guaranteed; dependence on supermarkets is very deep. But we feel we are going in the direction which we all have to take, towards more rather than less resilience. It is good to see Reading Meeting Friends well represented in the volunteers and customers.

Website : http://www.truefood.coop

We’d love to hear the story of you or your meeting too. Just email sunnivat@quaker.org.uk and tell us about it.