Every year Freedom from Torture (FfT), the campaign group in the forefront of supporting survivors of torture and asylum seekers, holds a major fund-raising event which focuses on the role of food in healing trauma and in bringing communities together.
This year FEAST, a world-class gourmet street-food event, is being held at BAFTA in London on 19 June and is supported by a number of celebrity chefs, some of whom are themselves survivors.
Sussex Bylines heard from two of the campaign group’s key supporters, the celebrity chef and TV star Paul Merrett and journalist John McCarthy, about their involvement with the organisation.
Paul Merrett
SB: How did you first become involved with Freedom from Torture?
PM: Well, it was a long time ago! Over 15 years. I had just completed a TV series and on the back of that I wrote a book about allotments and the challenge of growing food for a family. The charity Freedom from Torture picked up on this. They use gardening as well as cooking as a way of working with their clients. I was invited to see their allotment and was introduced to survivors from many different parts of the world who were working on the allotment.
In their garden shed they had a big clay oven in which they were baking bread. We all sat around chatting, eating, sharing stories. I knew I wanted any success I was enjoying to touch the lives of people who had experienced hardship way beyond what I could imagine. I was committed from day one and remain so all these years later.
SB: Food – and cooking – can be used as a way of healing trauma, bringing communities together and “nourishing the soul” – what are your most memorable experiences of this happening?
PM: I’ve spent several memorable days with the community at Freedom from Torture’s Centre. One of the best was leading a workshop with the bread group therapy session. I came up with a few simple recipe ideas and we spent the day cooking together.
There were people from Nigeria, Sri Lanka, so many amazing places – each with their own story. Food has this magical way of providing a deeply emotional link to a country far away. Much like music, I think. It’s evocative and powerful. We cooked, ate well, talked, listened, laughed. It was very uplifting.
SB: How do events like the FEAST at BAFTA help to publicise the work of Freedom from Torture in your view?
PM: The Feast event gives us a great opportunity to highlight the cause. A cause that sadly needs to go on relentlessly due to so many shocking world events.
The first event I held was relatively small and low key. Maybe 100 people, and raised a couple of thousand quid. Now we fill the huge event space at BAFTA and through tickets sales and the silent auction (Feast by Freedom from Torture 2025 – Silent auction items) we make proper money which keeps the charity moving forwards.
The events have been supported by so many of the UK’s leading chefs over the years. We are so grateful to them for giving up their time for what is always a fun evening.
SB: How can well-known media personalities like you help to combat the current right-wing narrative in the media about asylum seekers and immigrants?
PM: Sadly, the world is constantly held to ransom by populist, narcissistic, self-serving leaders and politicians. We need to be reminded sometimes that the majority of people in this world are actually decent, caring and politically liberal minded.
The trouble is that being decent, caring and liberal minded means you probably don’t lust for power and money on a level with the aforementioned bunch, so they end up in power and they create the narrative.
I personally felt, back when Starmer was elected, that we (the UK) might have the decent ‘adult in the room’ and our policies and drive could change opinions at home and in the world.
Not certain I’m quite so confident of this now, but it’s our job to keep highlighting the plight of those seeking asylum in our country and I for one am proud to be part of Freedom from Torture’s push for change.
John McCarthy
SB: How did you first become involved with Freedom from Torture?
JMc: I’ve been a patron of Freedom from Torture since 1993 – having been introduced to the charity by fellow hostage Brian Keenan, two years after being released from captivity in Lebanon.
Throughout my time working with and supporting Freedom from Torture, I’ve been particularly inspired by two aspects of our work. The first is the hands-on counselling, care and support for survivors of torture and the imaginative way they approach therapy. Survivors speak to their therapists one to one, but also can access group activities like music therapy, the gardening group or breadmaking.
This is an extraordinary way to get people to talk about their experiences and their feelings in a contained space, somewhere that gives them the opportunity to talk freely without their emotions being the sole focus.
The other aspect which remains crucial is our campaigning work, especially when the UK is still such a hostile place for survivors and refugees. We should all be deeply concerned that empathy or recognition is too rarely afforded to the suffering experienced by survivors and their families.
People face a huge risk of being re-traumatised or otherwise harmed by a cruel and uncaring system. In a time of increasing darkness, Freedom from Torture’s campaigning serves as a reminder to our leaders that you cannot abandon human rights for self-interest.
Details of how to obtain tickets for the FEAST event at BAFTA on Thursday June 19th, including details on how you can take part in the gastronome-inspired silent auction, are available from Freedom from Torture : https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/events/feast-by-freedom-from-torture
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