B Corp Month: Food tastes better when it’s served with a conscience

Imagine a feast of food and drinks that’s been entirely responsibly and sustainably sourced. It does exist. These B Corp-certified companies produce goods that balance purpose and profit, taking into consideration how their products impacts workers, communities and customers alike. So you can eat and drink to your stomach’s capacity (almost) guilt-free.

Here’s just a few of the most palatable offerings created by B Corps around the country. Dig in! 

Starters

Hobbs House Bakery  (main image, above)

What could be better than a crusty, ripped-off-the-loaf piece of freshly baked bread. To start our feast,
Hobbs House Bakery’s bread proudly sits at the centre of the table, ready to be shared. It might be torn and dipped in olive oil, spread simply with butter or served with soup, pâté or cheese. 

The Olive Oil Guy

With every piece of bread, have a dip of olive oil from The Olive Oil Guy. When the oil is exceptional, it can transform even the simplest dish. A truly fresh, high-polyphenol extra-virgin olive oil transforms warm sourdough, tomatoes or burrata and sets the tone of the table. The Greek single-origin oil is cold-pressed from the Koroneiki variety — often referred to as the crown olive of Greece. It’s vibrant, structured and fresh, with a peppery finish that wakes up the palate. 

EMILY Snacks

For pre-dinner nibbles, EMILY Snacks will tide you over with a variety of sophisticated crisps. There are five flavours of seaweed crisps – sriracha, salt and vinegar, sea salt, cheese and sweet chilli – or there’s the colourful sweet potato, beetroot and carrot. Enough to take the edge off, but leaving room for more.   

Mains

Pow Food Catering and NUUDA 

NUUDA believes that the main dish should do more than fill you up – it should fuel you too. Every ready-meal is nutritionist-designed and chef-made, and built around balanced macronutrients to support health. It also offers targeted meal plans for gut support, menopause and more.

Hello Fresh

With Hello Fresh, you can choose from over 80 recipes to cook from ingredients delivered to your door. Each recipe is designed to be hearty and full of flavour, using exotic ingredients or spice blends while still being accessible for home cooks. The result is a main that’s convenient, consistently delicious – and even better, you made it all yourself. 

Read more:

• Jamie Oliver champions low-cost recipes with the launch of The Big Issue Recipe Collection
• Coronation Food Project: How King Charles plans to ‘tackle food waste and food need’
• How to align your finances with your values: Tips for sustainable spending

COOK

All of COOK’s food is made by hand in small batches – just like you’d do at home – then frozen to lock in the goodness for a depth of flavour, generous portions and that comfort-food feel. The chefs focus on making classic dishes exceptionally well, using high-quality ingredients and no unnecessary additives. Top favourites include Green Thai Chicken Curry, Roasted Vegetable Lasagna, and Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie.  

Desserts

Market Harborough Honey Co Ltd

On the dessert table, here’s a simple but tasty option – honey to drizzle over a plate of fruit or yogurt. Market Harborough Honey is a perfect pairing because it enhances rather than overpowers flavours with its naturally floral, aromatic profile, and it’s minimally processed to retain its complexity. Pollinators are vital to the ecosystem, so sustainability isn’t just a message here. It’s everything. 

Meg Rivers Artisan Bakery

For something a bit richer, Meg Rivers Artisan Bakery has got you covered with a waistband-challenging array of puddings, biscuits, traybakes, hampers and bespoke occasional cakes. The chocolate brownie pudding is filled with Belgian chocolate and massive chunks of walnut, and goes perfectly with ice cream. In need of a regular cake fix? A subscription to the cake club will get you a baked creation delivered right to the door each month.

Drinks

Flawsome!

Sworn off booze? Flawsome! has a wide array of juices to quench you. It rescues surplus and wonky fruit and cold-presses it into drinks with no added sugar, no sweeteners, and nothing artificial. Just fruit. The company is proud that it doesn’t exist to be best in the world, but best for the world.  

UnCommon

The English winemaker is renowned for its award-winning still and sparkling wines, growing the finest grapes with the lowest impact in a Kent vineyard and bringing them to you in cans so beautiful they belong in a gallery. All of the wines are proudly local, delicious and perfectly packaged in single-serve cans. 

Kickstart Coffee

Coffee is the final course; the moment that stretches out conversation and gently rounds off the evening. Sourced from smallholder farmers in Uganda, Kickstart delivers a smooth depth to savour slowly. Yet what sets it apart is beyond the cup: Kickstart exists to fund to education for children in Uganda. More than 750 kids are currently in school just because of coffee sales.  

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and move forward.

You can also support online:
Subscribe to the magazine or support our work with a monthly gift. Your support helps vendors earn, learn and thrive while strengthening our frontline services.

Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.