Rabbi Anna Gerrard is sick and tired of spaghetti and baked beans.

The minister of the Gloucestershire Liberal Jewish community is part of a Liberal Judaism Centre team who are taking part in this year’s Live Below the Poverty Line — the campaign which asks volunteers to spend only a pound a day on food for five days in order to raise awareness about extreme poverty.

The rabbi, who has been able to afford only starchy foods such as pasta, said the diet had left her deflated. “Even though I was feeling hungry most of the time, when I sat down to eat these anaemic dishes, I had no appetite for them.” She longed for fresh produce, she added.

The experience made her realise how “children who live below the poverty line may eat on a daily basis but aren’t getting a good education because their concentration is affected” by a poor diet.