The Freedom Kids Podcast: Raising the voices of young people

In our latest blog, Sarah Rowlands (photographed left) highlights The Freedom Kids Podcast as a joyful and unfiltered platform where children explore food, culture, and fairness in their own words. Rooted in Easton’s Felix Road Adventure Playground, the show champions young voices, showcasing their curiosity, cultural pride, and vision for a more equitable food future. 

What can young people teach us about food, culture, and fairness – if we just let them talk? 

Supported by Eastside Community Trust, The Freedom Kids podcast is an open, non-judgemental space for young people’s ideas to be truly heard. 

The show is hosted by young people aged 5-13 who play at Felix Road Adventure Playground in Easton and is produced by Araceli Cabrera Cáceres, who says:

‘Our show is all about questions that matter to us. How we see, feel, think and dream of our world.’ 

The podcast broadcasts exclusively kids’ voices – there are no adults intervening or guiding the kids. No adult voice corrects their misunderstandings and the kids themselves are asking the questions and introducing the topics. The show is a wonderful kaleidoscope of ages, genders, backgrounds and champions their developing opinions! 

Food, diversity and taking care of each other 

The latest episodes of the Freedom Kids Podcast are supported by The Quartet Foundation as part of ongoing work focusing on children and young people as part of the One City Food Equality Strategy and Action Plan. The children of Felix Road Adventure Playground are knowledgeable, empathetic and hilarious in their discussion of food, nutrition and sustainability. The excited and confident little voices talk about their favourite foods, cooking, eating healthily and of course, the age-old question: ‘Why does onion make your eyes water?’ 

Describing their favourite dish one child expresses, ‘It comes from Somalia, my Home country.’ Throughout the latest episodes many of the children are excited to describe their favorite dishes and are proud of their food heritage. 

In one episode, the children discuss what they eat after school. Having been a teacher for the past five years myself, it’s a question I will often ask my students. As a teacher you hope each child in your care is heading home for a nourishing meal after a long day at school. Food at Felix (the food offering at the adventure playground) aims to provide affordable, healthy and delicious meals and snacks for the children and their families who come to play there. One young person explained that ‘When I eat at the playground it’s a good thing. The playground puts on different food day by day. They always have a different food from a different culture. That is something I really like about here.’  

The young people showed a clear understanding of what ultra-processed foods were and were concerned about the negative impact junk food has on their health. They discuss eating a balanced diet and having their five a day! Lots of the young people were wary of how sugary, unhealthy food can affect them, with one voice urging, ‘You could get diabetes, nobody wants diabetes or diarrhea…’ 

Voices of a bright food future 

When asked ‘What would you like to see change?’ one child answered, ‘I think there should be more places where they should provide more hot meals for kids and people in need.’  

The childrens’ curiosity about how to choose, eat, grow and share food sustainably was clear throughout these episodes, restoring my faith in the future generation of earth-conscious, empathetic young people. The Freedom Kids Podcast is joyous, free and full of heart. The project is raising the voices of young people who clearly care about their community. Tune in, be inspired, and hear the future in their words. 

You can check out the latest episodes of Freedom Kids Podcast here: buzzsprout.com/1731332/episodes  

Find out more about Food at Felix on the Eastside Community Trust website.

Bristol Food Network Volunteer Sarah Rowlands has also written for this blog about How The MAZI Project is tackling food disparity and providing a lifeline for Bristol’s vulnerable youth and How Universal Basic Income for Farmers aims to provide a future of food security for us all. 

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