In Mandala we’re conducting a range of research projects across Birmingham to investigate how the food system is changing right now, and how it could change in the future. We’re checking in on these projects through a series of short films – Stories from a Changing Food System – produced by Good Stories in Food.

Our latest film focuses on our research that finds that expanding free school meals to all children would bring significant economic and social benefits, as well as tackling food insecurity.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have been modelling how such a policy could work, using a cost–benefit analysis to assess the return on investment under different funding scenarios. This work builds on a method developed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, now included as supplementary guidance in HM Treasury’s Green Book.

Continue reading “Making the case for expanding free school meals” →

A study led by members of the Mandala Consortium at the University of Cambridge, has revealed that the impact of food production on species extinction risk can differ by up to a thousand times depending on the type of food and where it is produced. These findings, published in Nature Food in September 2025, provide fresh insights into how changing food policies could help reduce biodiversity loss.

Continue reading “New study quantifies how food production drives species extinction risk – with enormous variation across foods and regions” →

Can recipe boxes give families with school-aged children the opportunity to access more affordable healthy food?

In this episode of The Food Foundation’s podcast – Pod Bites – the MRC Epidemiology Unit’s Noah Cooke discusses how families in Birmingham are involved in the Recipe Box research and randomised control trial, which is believed to be the first of its kind.

Continue reading “Can Recipe Boxes improve our diets?” →

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At Mandala we’re conducting a range of research projects across Birmingham to investigate how the food system is changing right now, and how it could change in the future. We’re checking in on these projects through a series of short films – Stories from a Changing Food System – produced by Good Stories in Food.

Our new film profiles our research with Birmingham Children’s Hospital, who are taking a new approach to hospital catering that’s good for the planet as well as patients. The hospital’s catering and dietitians have been redesigning menus to cut their environmental impact while maintaining, even improving, nutritional quality and appeal to young patients.

Continue reading “Greener plates at Birmingham Children’s Hospital” →

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At Mandala we’re conducting a range of research projects across Birmingham to investigate how the food system is changing right now, and how it could change in the future.

We’ll be checking in on these projects through a series of short films – Stories from a Changing Food System – produced by Good Stories in Food.

The first of these films profiles our research with Change Kitchen, a social enterprise in Balsall Health, Birmingham which is aiming to provide healthy, sustainable and affordable vegetarian food.

Continue reading “Stories from a Changing Food System: Change Kitchen” →

In early December, members of the Mandala Consortium visited Birmingham to explore different aspects of the city’s food environment, systems and culture. In a packed 24 hours, researchers from the team visited a primary school, a hospital, the city markets, shops and restaurants, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler and a community growing site. We heard about how food is produced, processed, moved and consumed in the city. It’s not possible in this short space to cover everything we learned, but we wanted to share a few highlights.

Continue reading “The City of a Thousand Flavours – Reflections on a Birmingham visit” →