Key Points
- The Community Cook Up operated as a food bank and community meeting point from 2017 to 2023 on Northumberland Park Estate in Tottenham, North London, providing weekly warm meals.
- Documentary photographer Hannah Norton volunteered for four years before founder Alison Davy proposed a community photo project in 2021.
- Norton created a year-long black-and-white film portrait series capturing community members’ resilience, solidarity, and kindness, starting with a white fabric backdrop in the community centre.
- Portraits focused on individuals’ humanity and spirit, avoiding food bank context to prevent tying images to painful times.
- Later environmental portraits were taken in homes or parks, where subjects discussed the Cook Up’s meaning.
- Standout portrait: Stella, a woman in her late seventies, homeless for over a decade, photographed a week after securing her own flat.
- Exhibition held at Coal Drops Yard in London late last year; printed publication by Then There Was Us and Panopus Printing Studio sold out, with profits partly returned to the community; second edition planned.
- Norton’s approach built trust, printed photos weekly for community viewing, fostering connections.
- Broader context: UK food banks distributed 3.1 million parcels (April 2023-March 2024), up 94% in five years; challenges include council eviction, voucher systems, and funding shortages.
- Norton continues photographing the community, inspired by friendships; work displayed at Photo London.
North London’s Community Cook Up project, documented through Hannah Norton’s poignant portraits from 2021, highlights the enduring humanity of Tottenham residents amid hardship, as the food bank initiative concluded in 2023 after six years of weekly gatherings. The series, proposed by founder Alison Davy, transformed Norton’s volunteering into a celebration of resilience, with black-and-white images exhibited at Coal Drops Yard and compiled into a sold-out book. This initiative underscores community solidarity in the face of rising UK poverty, where food banks issued over 3.1 million parcels last year.
What is The Community Cook Up?
The Community Cook Up served as a vital food bank and social hub on Northumberland Park Estate in Tottenham, North London, running weekly from 2017 to 2023. As reported by Ellis Tree of It’s Nice That, it functioned as a meeting point for residents to share warm meals, fostering solidarity rather than charity. Alison Davy founded the project, emphasising community gathering across backgrounds, as noted in a JustGiving campaign description
Who is Hannah Norton and how did she get involved?
Documentary photographer Hannah Norton joined as a volunteer, marking her fourth year in 2021 when Alison Davy suggested a photo project. As shared by Hannah Norton in It’s Nice That, via Ellis Tree,
“Our community was made up of wonderful people, and she knew the value and impact a portrait could have on someone’s feelings of pride and belonging.”
Norton recalls in The Fourth Floor, written by Jai Toor,
“My documentary practice and community work were totally separate entities before the Community Cook Up project,”
highlighting her slow, relationship-building approach.
She began by taping white fabric to a community centre wall, shooting stripped-back black-and-white film portraits.
“I had no idea of the shape the project would take or the impact it would have,”
Norton told Ellis Tree of It’s Nice That. Her first visit evoked a special energy:
“I so clearly remember walking through the door for the first time, the energy was really special,”
filled with cooking, music, and conversation, per Jai Toor in The Fourth Floor.
Why did Hannah Norton choose black-and-white portraits with a white backdrop?
Norton excluded food bank context to focus on individuals, using the backdrop as “a kind of projection,” she explained to Ellis Tree of It’s Nice That.
“I knew these people, knew what they were going through, and often people were there because they were going through a tough time. I didn’t want their portrait to be tied to a period of time in their lives that was painful. I wanted the series to be a celebration of their humanity and spirit, so they can look at these images forever and feel really proud of who they are.”
This dignified approach countered stigma, as Norton told Jai Toor of The Fourth Floor:
“A portrait can offer people the opportunity to see themselves in a way they haven’t been able to themselves—whether that is with kindness, love, beauty. It can offer people dignity and pride.”
Studio sessions provided fun escapes:
“The portraits that happened there were fun and an escape for a few minutes,”
per her comments in It’s Nice That.
How did the project evolve into environmental portraits?
Growing connections prompted Norton to shift outdoors in the project’s final months. Images captured in homes or local parks allowed deeper talks on the Cook Up’s significance. As Hannah Norton shared with Ellis Tree of It’s Nice That,
“It was important these conversations happened outside of The Cook Up… I felt it was important to have the voices of members of the community.”
Trust enabled home access:
“Every time someone says yes to having their photo taken it touches me, especially those I’ve photographed multiple times and been in their homes,”
Norton reflected in The Fourth Floor by Jai Toor. The process taught her observation:
“Positioning myself as the quiet observer… to watch someone go from nervous and withdrawn to confident and expressive in the space of 10 minutes, and that brought me so much Joy,”
she told It’s Nice That.
Who is Stella and why does her portrait stand out?
Stella, a late-seventies community member seen weekly and previously homeless in a local hostel for over a decade, features prominently. As reported by Ellis Tree of It’s Nice That, quoting Hannah Norton,
“For years Stella relentlessly advocated for herself in the hope that she would be moved. I found out that the week before she asked me to have her picture taken she had been moved into her own flat. You can see how wonderful she looked that day, she was so proud and happy and wanted to remember this moment.”
This image encapsulates triumph amid adversity, aligning with Norton’s goal of pride and belonging.
What challenges did the Community Cook Up face?
The initiative grappled with systemic issues, including council eviction from premises, forcing outdoor operations in harsh weather. Jai Toor of The Fourth Floor quotes Norton:
“That room sits empty whilst the cook-up community is forced to be outside—I think that tells you everything you need to know.”
Food banks nationwide face shortages, inconsistent donations, and funding struggles.
Voucher requirements from referees like Citizens Advice add bureaucracy, worsened by the Department for Work and Pensions barring job centres from issuing them. UK-wide, Trussell Trust networks distributed 3.1 million parcels from April 2023 to March 2024, with 1.1 million for children—a 94% rise over five years—amid poverty surges, inflation, and austerity, per The Fourth Floor.
How did Hannah Norton engage the community during the project?
Weekly, Norton printed portraits for display at the food bank, involving everyone.
“The community being able to see everyone’s photo allowed them to be a part of the process; it gave people something to talk about and brought shyer members of the community out of their shell,”
she told Jai Toor of The Fourth Floor. This built connections:
“To be able to change someone’s relationship with what having their photo taken means to them is special. It really made me believe in the power of a portrait,”
per It’s Nice That.
What exhibitions and publications followed the portraits?
The series debuted at a streetside exhibition at Coal Drops Yard in Kings Cross, London, late last year, also running through summer. As Ellis Tree reported in It’s Nice That,
“The opening night of the show was beautiful, so many people from the cook up came down to see the work and they were getting recognised and treated like celebrities.”
A publication, produced with Then There Was Us and Panopus Printing Studio, sold out; profits partly funded the community, with a second edition planned.
Norton emphasised accessibility:
“It’s so the public can take the project home with them and get to meet the community and read their stories—that’s always been very important to me,”
per Jai Toor. Work appeared at Photo London.
What is the broader impact and future of the project?
Norton’s work humanises overlooked lives, promoting shared humanity:
“I hope the message the images hold is that we all have a shared humanity and it is how we treat one another that counts for something, not the circumstances in which we find ourselves,”
she told Ellis Tree of It’s Nice That. It solidified her social change commitment.
She continues photographing, driven by inspiration:
“They continue to inspire me, so I will continue to photograph them,”
Norton said in The Fourth Floor, planning new Tottenham and Midlands projects. The ethos aligns with Alison Davy’s solidarity focus, as in the No Small Victories podcast.
