The Queen of Greens is a mobile greengrocers' which delivers fresh fruit and veg to communities hit by food insecurity right across Liverpool and Knowsley.
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00:00Queen of Greens is a bus which delivers fresh fruit and veg to help tackle food insecurity.
00:05The mobile Green Grocers visits the likes of health and community centres to provide people
00:10with better opportunities to shop for nutritious food closer to their home or workplace.
00:15I work for Feedback. We're a charity that is all about trying to make food more accessible
00:20for everybody but also to be good for people and planet. And our kind of ways of working
00:27are about an action, education and advocacy. So this is our action.
00:33The bus is operated day to day by Green Grocer Paul Flannery.
00:36I've been involved in the fruit and veg since 1979. I've done this particular job for
00:45the best part of 15 years and I'm pretty passionate about it because I like getting about
00:52meeting people, helping people and introducing different fruit and vegetables to them.
00:58The route takes in neighbourhoods classed as food deserts where residents have to travel
01:02more than a kilometre or walk 15 minutes to reach a supermarket selling green produce.
01:07When you see people who haven't got much and we provide this service through the voucher scheme
01:14and the health fee starts, it's just rewarding I think.
01:18The bus also carries recipe cards with ideas for healthy meals people can make on a budget.
01:22Sometimes you're not always familiar with what the vegetables or the fruits are because there's
01:28things there I've never tried. But if you have a word with our Paul, Paul will always tell you
01:32what to do with them, how to cook it etc. And the beauty about the Queen of Greens is also
01:38we sell everything loose so you don't need to buy like a big bag of something that you're like
01:43what am I going to do with this? Everyone is welcome to buy from the bus regardless of income.
01:48Customers can pay for their shopping with Alexander Rose vouchers and healthy start
01:51vouchers as well as cash or card. Only one in two adults in Liverpool eat their five recommended
01:56fruit and veg a day. Only 12% of children aged 11 to 18 eat their five a day and it's estimated
02:02a third of adults in Liverpool are food insecure where food is a source of worry, frustration and
02:07stress. In September we're going to be working with Sustain who are helping us to put organic
02:14food on the bus so we're going to have some organic veg but the prices will not change
02:18because we've got funding to cover what's called the gap. Their usual branded bus is currently out
02:23of action which they say has meant people aren't able to spot them as easily meaning parts of the
02:28community could be missing out. We run as a social enterprise so we don't have lots of money. All the
02:33money that we earn basically goes back into running the service and we have a lovely bus
02:39but unfortunately it's having to undergo some repairs at the moment and we don't have a spare
02:44bus so it's meant that we've had to hire one which of course is then eating even further
02:49into our expenditure. Like a traditional green grocers the Queen of Greens bus prioritises
02:53stocking local and seasonal produce where possible with a focus on quality and choice.