Oxford surplus food project to ‘sneak’ kidney beans into diets

A community organisation has started a food initiative aimed at improving nutrition, reducing meat intake and supporting families facing food insecurity.

Hearty Earth ambassador Saman Jamshidifard said his volunteers have started serving portions of kidney and baked beans on surplus sourdough bread at St Frideswide’s Church in Oxford.

He said that was an addition to his surplus curry offer, which his team currently cooks and serves in five locations across the city, including Jericho Community Centre and Seacourt Hall.

Jamshidifard said the goal was to “sneak kidney beans into everyone’s diets” because of their nutritional value.

Hearty Earth welcomes people of all backgrounds and incomes to try the food it offers.

“The surplus curry has always been focused on saving the surplus from the landfill, and therefore we encourage everyone, from any walk of life, to walk in and enjoy it,” Jamshidifard said.

“The more people from different backgrounds come into the spaces and eat these foods, the more everyone feels like it’s the community space I want to be in.”

Jamshidifard who teaches at Oxford Brookes University said he had worked alongside colleagues that research nutrition.

“My interest in beans and how much beans people are eating has grown.”

He said the initiative is being developed thanks to Oxford City Council funding which he had received earlier in the month.

In 2025 the council’s locality manager Delena Gabbidon helped him “with some small pockets of funding to increase how much baked beans I was moving around for families with the surplus EV (electric vehicle)”.

“Across the initiatives, we come across about a thousand people per week, so we wanted to capitalise on that and see if we can positively impact their diet.

“Baked bean was a good start, but moving into 2026, we’re adding kidney beans.”

Jamshidifard called kidney beans “amazing for the planet and as a meat replacement”.

The BBC has highlighted budget prices as another benefit of eating more pulses.

He added that on the first day of the initiative, chef James Hart told him 50 portions “flew up, as well as the curry”.

“We realised that not everyone likes the curry because not everyone wants spicy food and if that’s the case, it’s just another thing to offer.”

Jamshidifard said he had always used food to bring the community together.

“We all have good memories of grandparents and getting together in this country for a Sunday roast, in my culture, the Middle East, it was always a Friday,” he said.

“I try and constantly replicate that across the initiatives because if it brings me back those good vibes, I’m sure it resonates with a lot in my communities around me as well.”