“Where’s the straight Pride? Why do the gays get a special day to themselves? It’s not fair.” If I had a pound for every time I was asked that question, well, I’d have quite a few pounds. Straight Pride is being able to walk down the street holding hands with your other half without being catcalled by groups of teenage […]
As Live Below The Line comes to a close, I just had a quick glance at my fundraising page and am staggered to be able to report that – thanks to the incredible generosity of my friends, family and readers through both of my LBL challenges this year – I’ve raised£3,496 for Oxfam to help tackle poverty in the UK, […]
Being invited to the G8 summit was a surreal point in the career of a single mum turned breadline blogger turned accidental activist. I started writing a blog in response to a local councillor claiming that “druggies, drunks and single mums are ruining the town”, to foster a culture of transparency not afforded by the sparse minutes of local council […]
From “The Next Course” in Financial Times Weekend magazine, summer food special. 22nd June 2013. Photography by Rick Pushinsky To read the full article by Isabel Berwick, click here Follow me on Twitter @MsJackMonroe
This is one of my go-to recipes, a whatever-happens-to-be-in-the-cupboard special. I sometimes add a chopped chilli to the onion, and some coriander from my window ledge herb box, but I have given the basic recipe below – feel free to customize it as you wish. when it comes to my lunch, I can be an impatient oik so I tend […]
The Independent, 21 June. Follow me on Twitter @MsJackMonroe
On Monday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting Tanzanian activists Mwajuma and Frank, who both suffered from hunger and malnutrition as children. In Frank’s own words: “in my household, there was food, but there was not always enough.” At 16 years old, he now campaigns for Save The Children. Video interviews and an article to follow. Frank and Mwajuma […]
Ironically, just after I posted the photo of the END HUNGER sign on the bank of Lough Erne to greet the G8 leaders as they arrived for the summit today, one of those leaders tweeted a photo of what he would be having for dinner this evening… Ironic, and sadly out of touch. There’s no money in the budget for […]
The IF campaign send a clear message to the eight world leaders at the G8 summit with their END HUNGER sign on the bank of Lough Erne… Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe
On Monday morning, Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, addressed a group of almost 2,000 young people at Waterfront Hall in Belfast ahead of the G8 Summit. Speaking before her husband, Michelle said: “When we reach out and listen from someone else’s perspective, we find that they listen to us. “We need to rise above all divisions, and treat people […]
It’s 0929 in the morning, and we’ve secured some hotdesks at the Killyhevlin Media Centre in Enniskillen. ‘We’ are the IF@G8 Bloggers: Jack Monroe – @MsJackMonroe – Hunger and Nutrition Richard Murphy – @RichardJMurphy – Tax and Tax Havens Rosebell Kagumire – @RosebellK – Uganda and Transparency Sarah Robinson – @SarahRobinson78 – Chosen by Mumsnet Shane McCracken – @ShaneMcC – […]
Touching down at Belfast International airport on Sunday night, and very happy to find this sign as I stepped off the plane! Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe
From top to bottom: 1. Soho Food Feast Flyer. 2. Nice man from Brindisa chopping up a bone for Xanthe Clay. 3. Best panzanella I’ve ever, ever tasted – need to go through my business cards and find out who made it! 4. That nice man from Brindisa again… 5. One of the vegetable sculpture competition entries! 6. Spanish rice […]
Society, The Guardian, Thursday 6 June 2013. Food poverty: ‘You think it doesn’t happen to normal people’ Jack Monroe’s A Girl Called Jack blog vividly charts her life on the breadline, from visits to the pawn shop to living on a £10 a week food budget. Policy makers should take note. By Patrick Butler. The undoubted star turn at the […]
By Ros Wynne-Jones, @realbritainros with Jack Monroe @MsJackMonroe
The full text from my speech in the Houses of Parliament, June 3rd 2013. This morning, small Boy had one of the last weetabix, mashed with a little water, and a glass of tap water to wash it down with. Where’s Mummy’s breakfast? He asks, all blue eyes and two year old concern. I tell him I’m not hungry, but the gnawing pains in my stomach call me a liar. But what else can you do? What else can you do – when you’ve turned off your heating? That was in November 2011, it went off at the mains and I parked furniture in front of it to forget that it was ever there, to alleviate the temptation to turn it on. What else can you do, when you’ve turned everything off at the wall sockets, when you become obsessive about unplugging things, down to the green LCD display on the oven, mockingly flashing away. You learn to go without things, you unscrew the light bulbs. You turn the hot water off and pretend the freezing cold shower is ‘invigorating’, but it shocks you every time. You sell the meagre DVD collection for an even more meagre sum, your sons toys, everything you own. But poverty isn’t just having no heating, or not quite enough food, unplugging your fridge and turning your hot water off. Poverty is the choking, sinking feeling when your small boy finishes his one weetabix, and […]
Joy’s Banana and bacon pancakes with maple syrup. Ingredients to serve 1: 1 rasher of Sainsbury’s basic bacon 30g self raising flour 1 small very ripe banana 60mls milk – or 30ml milk and 30ml water very small pinch salt Small knob of butter, if needed 1 tsp maple syrup to drizzle over. Method: Fry the bacon in its own fat until cooked and as you like it. Set aside in a warm oven. Keep the fat. Wipe around the pan if there are any over browned bits left and you don’t like them. Make the batter. Place the flour and the pinch of salt in a bowl and add 1/3 of the banana, mushed up (I used my hands). Add the milk and whisk into a batter. It won’t be totally smooth because of the banana, unless you zizz it. Make sure the bacon pan is hot (add a little butter if needed) and pour in half the batter. Fry on one side, then turn and fry the other side, then tip onto a warmed plate and keep warm. Do the same with the other half of the batter – you’ll maybe need a little butter in the pan first. Thinly slice the rest of the banana. Serve by arranging the two pancakes on the warm plate, scatter over the sliced banana, top with the bacon and then drizzle the 1tsp of maple syrup over the top. Eat straight […]
COOKING ON A BOOTSTRAP 