Christmas trail helps tackle food poverty

Actor Maisie Williams, who's an ambassador for the Mazi Project, helping pack veg boxes alongside Mazi's founder Melanie Vaxevanakis

A Christmas food and drink trail has been launched to raise money for a project which tackles food poverty in Bristol.

The Mazi Project provides veg boxes and recipe cards to vulnerable young people who may be care leavers, asylum seekers or at risk of homelessness.

The Mazi-mas trail is being supported by restaurants and other independent hospitality businesses across the city.

Some of the money spent by customers on the trail goes directly to the charity to support its work.

One of the restaurants, Sonny Stores in Southville, is asking customers to donate £1 on top of their bill during December.

Pegs Quinn, who owns Sonny Stores, is asking customers to add £1 to their bill

Leo Nakamura, 25, who received her first box from the Mazi Project two years ago, said: "When I first met Melanie from the Mazi Project, I didn't have enough money for food, which meant it was hard for me to get work.

"I really wanted to work with food, but I didn't have money to buy the ingredients I wanted."

She now runs pop-up events and sells her food online through All About the Cooks.

The Mazi Project helped Leo Nakamura start a career in the hospitality industry

Claire Ladkin, the founder of All About the Cooks, is donating half the commission she gets through December to the Mazi Project.

Her business gives opportunities for talented home chefs to cook and sell food to their neighbours.

After launching in 2020, it now has 70 cooks in Bristol and Bath.

"I'm a huge fan of what they're doing at the Mazi Project.

"I particularly like the way they are enabling people to learn how to cook, which makes them more self-sufficient in the future.

"There's a real community of people who are part of the food culture in Bristol to support each other, and the Mazi-mas trail is just one example of that. "

Claire Ladkin, founder of All About the Cooks, is supporting the Mazi-mas trail

The Mazi Project is currently supporting about 80 young people with food boxes every week, and is hoping to raise £5,000 through the Mazi-mas trail.

It has produced a map of the businesses taking part.

Businesses taking part are donating some of their profits in December to the charity

Melanie Vaxevanakis founded the Mazi Project in response to the pandemic.

"We want to continue our work empowering 16-25 year olds through food.

"Food is something we eat every day, and Bristol has a beautifully rich food scene, and making sure everyone gets to experience that is really important."

In 2022, the trail raised more than £3,000.