Game meat sent to those in need

Thousands of people struggling with food poverty have had a hot meal of pheasant or partridge to eat over the past two years thanks to the charitable work of the Country Food Trust.

The initiative, set up by its chief executive Tim Woodward in 2016, produced more than 20,000 ready-to-eat game meals in its first year and set itself the goal of 100,000 meals by the end of 2017.

Charity target broken

The charity announced last month that it had beaten its own target, with the current number standing at 101,876 meals produced. They have been distributed across the country through FareShare, the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger and waste, along with the help of several other charities, including the Salvation Army, Winter Comfort for the Homeless and Veterans Aid, which will help to feed those in need of a meal.

The two dishes being produced by the Country Food Trust are a pheasant casserole and a mild partridge curry, which are manufactured in
a retortable pouch so that they can be stored for up to a year without needing to be chilled.

They are made from recipes developed by the charity’s chef Tim Maddams, a Shooting Times contributor and author of the River Cottage Game Handbook.

Getting the food to where it’s needed

Mr Woodward expressed his thanks to all those who had supported the initiative and said he would now be looking at where to take the charity next: “We are delighted that we’ve managed to produce so many meals this year, and are now pausing production to ensure that we can distribute the food to where it is most needed.

“I cannot thank our supporters enough — without them, we would not have the steady stream of game coming in to be able to produce the meals. We’ve also had incredible support from the game shooting community at large, as well as a host of famous chefs who recognise the importance of what we are doing.”