In my family, we’ve always enjoyed our food, and the chance to sit down and break bread together — probably one of the oldest pleasures known to humankind.

EMOTIONS and social pressures around food, coupled with limited budgets are causing food poverty, which now affects just under one in six (15%) of the population.

Eating healthy food should not be the preserve of the well-off, according to a new guide aimed at promoting healthier eating in disadvantaged communities.

SOCIAL welfare and child benefit cuts in the budget will see poorer people buying cheap, unhealthy food and developing long-term health problems, a group campaigning for healthy eating for low-income groups has claimed.

THE Government has been urged to introduce special supports to allow poorer families access to good-quality, affordable food.

Convenience store owners are being criticised for failing to stock their shelves with healthy foods.

POOR families should get extra welfare benefits, free school meals and discount supermarkets on their doorsteps so they can eat more healthily, campaigners demanded last night.

It should be safe to assume that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, there would be no need to appeal to the Government to take steps to address a food problem confronted by almost 20% of the population.