Public diners
Scotland has extensive social infrastructure to support our wellbeing. From public libraries, parks and leisure centres, to housing and the NHS, the state invests in and maintains institutions and systems for our collective benefit. Yet, very little is in place in relation to food.
We believe we need a new piece of social infrastructure - a public diner - to make it easier for all of us to eat well.
Public diners are state-supported restaurants which offer nutritious price-capped menus.
They operated in the UK between 1940-70s under the banner of ‘British restaurants’. At their peak there were over 2,000 of these operating throughout the UK (comparable to the number of Greggs today). Similar models can be found in other countries, for instance Mexican Wellbeing Public Diners or Polish milk bars.
How did the public diners operate in the UK?
Public diners were state-subsidised. The Treasury and the Ministry of Food ran a grant programme open to businesses and local authorities. A quarter of the capital grant could be used for start-up costs, such as equipment.
Public diners had a clear economic model. Although grants were awarded to get these enterprises off the ground, any future funding was conditional on the venues breaking even or tuning a profit. The diners also benefited from a central procurement of food, reducing the costs.
Public diners struck a balance between what people ‘should’ eat and what they would like to eat. The grants offered by the government were conditional on certain nutritional criteria, corresponding to the current Eatwell Guide. But, there was a tension between the government’s nutritionists, who were keen for people to eat more veg, and restaurateurs whose priority was to offer customers what they wanted to eat (meat and pudding!).
Public diners were desirable places to go to. They saved time and energy spent on cooking, making life easier particularly for women. The diners were designed as places where anyone – that is ‘you and I’ – might dine. They were well decorated, inviting, contemporary. Food historian Bryce Evans describes them as “centres of civilization where people looked forward to go and dine”.
What could public diners do for us today?
Public diners could provide a valuable avenue away from crisis response and charitable food aid and towards a universal approach. They could form an important part of our social infrastructure, alongside public libraries, leisure centres, and schools. They could become a valuable part of community life, enhancing social cohesion and building social capital. They have the potential to contribute to many of the Scottish Government’s policy objectives including 20-minute neighbourhoods, delivering the right to food, local food growing strategy, community empowerment, the Good Food Nation ambition, and healthy diets. They are firmly in line with the human rights centred approach which the Government wants to progress.
Read the report
