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- The Raised Carrot #005
The Raised Carrot #005
The Food Not Bombs Boston Newsletter
Food Not Bombs Boston
September 25, 2025
The Raised Carrot #005
The Food Not Bombs Boston Newsletter
Welcome back to the Raised Carrot! As always we’re working on strengthening our communities, out sharing food every week. Make sure to check out our events section for information about some really cool things coming up, and a major announcement about Somerville Food Not Bombs! This month we have an article about food insecurity, and the resources available in Boston to fight it. You can also read our article about community fridges from last month for more community food resources!
Table of Contents
Join Us For Our Free Meals All Around Boston
There are a few Food Not Bombs chapters in the Boston area, come join us at one of them for a free meal! The best way to get involved with us is by coming to one of our serves. You can help us distribute food and goods or just enjoy a good meal and get to know us. There is no need to sign up in advance, and everyone is welcome! If you aren’t able to attend our serves then you can also send an email to your local chapter and ask what you can do to help out.
Boston Food Not Bombs serves a meal in Cambridge every Saturday 1-3 PM at James Cronin Park.
Email: [email protected] Instagram: @bostonfoodnotbombs Donate: ko-fi.com/food-not-bombs-boston
Roxbury Food Not Bombs - Roxbury Food Not Bombs serves a meal at Dudley Town Common on Blue Hill Avenue, every Sunday 1-3PM. We’re in the park at 2 Blue Hill Ave.
Email: [email protected] Instagram: @roxburyfoodnotbombs Donate: ko-fi.com/roxburyfnb
Waltham Food Not Bombs serves a meal in Waltham every Sunday 2-4 PM at Waltham Common, and also distributes free groceries every Wednesday 6 PM in a lot by 240 Moody Street.
Email: [email protected] Instagram: @foodnotbombswaltham Donate: Paypal [email protected]
Malden Food Not Bombs serves a meal every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month at 1:30 PM right outside of Malden Center Station.
Email: [email protected] Instagram: @malden_fnb
Donate: ko-fi.com/fnbmalden
Somerville Food Not Bombs is serving its first meal on Friday October 3rd in Davis Square at 6pm! Somerville Food Not Bombs will continue to serve meals every 1st and 3rd Friday.
Email: [email protected]
Quincy and Braintree Food Not Bombs is coming soon! If you want to get involved with the monthly planning meetings send an email or follow the Instagram for upcoming details.
Email: [email protected] Instagram: @foodnotbombs_quincybraintree
Events
Recently Attended
Fermentation Festival - September 7th
On Sunday Sept 7 we tabled at the first annual (fingers crossed) Somerville Fermentation Festival. It was a jam-packed day of literature, sticker, and patch distribution. One of our members wrote and published a zine, “Fermentation For All” that provides a descriptive overview of what fermentation is, highlights the wide accessibility of fermentation, and how fermentation brought him to Food Not Bombs (reach out for a copy—they’re free!). We had a lot of exciting conversations with community members who were eager for opportunities to work with us. We discussed food waste redirection, how to fight fascism, how to create flavor through fermentation, how to organize cooking large meals, and more. Can’t wait to do it again next year!
Upcoming Events
ANNOUNCING! Somerville Food Not Bombs!!!! - Oct 3rd
First meal share! Join your neighbors at a potluck style meal in Davis Square Friday October the 3rd at 6 PM. The Somerville FNB chapter will have meals in Davis on the first and third Friday of the month. To get in touch or join please email [email protected]MAMAS Free Store Costume Swap - Oct 5th
Come exchange children and teen costumes for free 1pm to 4pm at the library auditorium Oct 5th at 79 Highland Ave. We will be providing some snacks and drinks! MAMAS will release more info on their social media soon.HONK! - Oct 11-12th
We will be returning to the local favorite HONK! Honk is an activist brass band festival and general celebration of weird art and community. Catch some tunes around Davis on Saturday with some of our local favs like Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band and School of HONK! We will be in the parade on Sunday the 12th and set up to share free food and propaganda to the musical masses at the end in Harvard Square.
Find out more at https://honkfest.org/Anarchist Bookfair - November 1-2nd
Our favorite weekend of the year! This time around located at the Lucy Parsons Center. Come see us tabling together with other Massachusetts Food Not Bombs chapters. We will be helping provide food and chaos with friends from the Waltham, Malden, Roxbury, Worchester, and Cape Cod chapters.
Get more info at https://bostonanarchistbookfair.org/
Food Insecurity in Boston
At Food Not Bombs we believe that food is a right, not a privilege. We think that food should be free for everyone, and that it is a failing of our society and our government that people experience food insecurity. The Trump administration of course disagrees; the “big beautiful” bill pushed through by the administration cuts funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Act Program (SNAP, also sometimes known as food stamps) by $186 billion over the next ten years. Meanwhile 13.5% of Americans faced food insecurity in 2023, a statistically significant increase from the 12.8% in 2022.
Food security is a measure of someone’s social and economic access to good and healthy food. The classification is split into two parts: people living with “low food security” are unable to regularly access healthy food or make food decisions, but they are able to eat; people living with “very low food security” are not able to access sufficient food for them and their families. A full 5.1% of Americans, 6.8 million households, experienced very low food security in 2023.
It is totally unacceptable that so many Americans go hungry, and it is not an unsolvable problem. According to a food waste report by ReFED, a non-profit organization that researches food waste for policy recommendations, 73.9 million tons of surplus food was generated in 2023. That surplus food is food that would have been totally useable, but goes unsold or unused by restaurants or homes. Feeding America, another non-profit dedicated to food rescue, finds similarly that a full 38% of the food generated in America goes to waste. That is 145 billion meals worth of food that goes to landfills every single year, just in America. There is no shortage of food in our country. There is enough for everyone to eat healthy and satisfying food. Solving food security is just a matter of logistics - getting the food that already exists to the people who need it, regardless of their ability to pay. This is the mission of Food Not Bombs. It is evident that our government will not do this necessary work for us, so we organize ourselves.
Food insecurity hits hard in Massachusetts where, according to the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), 37% of residents experience low or very low food security. 24% of Massachusetts residents, nearly 1 in every 4, face very low food security. Our state is in crisis: almost a quarter of our neighbors can’t afford to regularly eat. Problems of food insecurity are most likely to affect the already disadvantaged. The GBFB reports that Black households, Hispanic households, and LGBTQ+ households experience significantly higher rates of food insecurity. Along with the long term health detriments of insufficient nutrition, our commnity members experiencing food insecurity face issues of medical and social justice as well. 40% of food insecure households in Massachusetts skipped necessary healthcare treatment because of healthcare costs, and only 58% of food insecure households reported voting compared to 82% of food secure households.
Massachusetts’ problems with food security are only getting worse, too. In 2019 the GBFB found that only 6% of residents were experiencing very low food security. In the last six years the rate has quadrupled to the 24% they found today. The Trump administration’s SNAP cuts are likely to result in loss of SNAP coverage for upwards of 40,000 Bostonians, according to Boston Indicator.
The work that Food Not Bombs does is more important than ever as the need for food accessibility grows, but luckily we are not the only organization in Boston working for food security. Organizations like Fair Foods and Fresh Truck sell produce at low prices in places around the Greater Boston area. They both have schedules on their website to let you know when and where you can find them. The YMCA Mobile Market also travels to different locations around the city and gives out free groceries. SNAP beneficiaries can get 50% off of fresh produce at select locations in Roxbury, Dorchester, and East Boston. The Centre Food Hub in Jamaica Plain sells discounted groceries and produce, and also hosts a food pantry. These are only a selection of the resources in Boston; an organization called Vital Connections maintains a list of even more food resources by neighborhood in Boston, available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, and Cape Verdean Creole. And of course you can always find us, hot or cold, rain or shine, at our weekly and biweekly serves for a hot meal, groceries, and other necessary supplies.
Sources and Further Reading
Support Food Not Bombs Boston
All of the food, clothes, and supplies that we are able to share with our neighbors come from donations. If you have anything you can donate to help us out you can send us an email or DM our Instagram! We also use financial donations to fund purchasing high demand items like underwear, socks and soap. If you are able to give, we would greatly appreciate a monthly or one-time donation.
Check out Malden Food Not Bombs!
Hello! We are Food Not Bombs Malden, a new chapter in the area! Many of our current members are branching out from chapters in the Boston area. We realized we were all riding the orange line across town when we could be doing some mutual aid goodness closer to home.
We serve fresh food on the first and third Saturdays of every month. You can find us near the circle of benches at the corner of Commercial and Pleasant streets, right outside of Malden Center Station. If you are interested in joining us for a free meal, we hope to see you there. If you have resources to share or want to help out, email us at [email protected].
Our organizing objectives are similar to other chapters: build community through food so we have the strength to resist another day. We’re especially excited to invite people to shape what good food for the community means and support other groups doing cool, bottom-up work in Malden. If you have ideas, come and find us at Malden Center!
Also check out Roxbury Food Not Bombs
We are out every week, rain or shine!
Roxbury Food Not Bombs is a younger sister organization of Boston Food Not Bombs, for folks south of the Charles River. Since October 2024, we’ve served vegan food for our neighbors, as well as distributing clothes, harm reduction materials, and literature. Like Boston FNB, we are not a charity where the rich give to the poor, we are a mutual aid organization standing in solidarity with, and providing for, all who have been harmed by capitalism and our government.
If you want to get involved, coming to our serve is the best way to get started – there is no need to sign up, you are welcome to just show up! Roxbury Food Not Bombs serves Sunday 1-3 PM in Dudley Town Common, at 2 Blue Hill Avenue.
Follow what we’re doing on Instagram at @roxburyfoodnotbombs or email us at [email protected]. You can make a one-time or recurring donation on ko-fi. We also appreciate donations of vegan food, clothing, and hygiene supplies.
Links
