Stroud-based Food Influencer on Hunger Strike for Palestine
Writer: Alex Parnham-Cope | Amplify Stroud
May 2025
A famous food influencer and TikTok chef is going hungry to draw attention to the starvation of the people of Gaza, who've been facing a complete food, aid and water blockade by Israel since mid-March.
Max La Manna is an award-winning vegan chef. He has written extensively on plant-based and zero-waste cooking. He has a large public profile and has had recipes and advice featured in The Guardian, Vogue and The Big Issue as well as on the BBC.
Jack Rear
Based in Stroud, Max is making this drastic move out of solidarity with the people of Gaza, and calling on his million-strong Instagram following to boycott Israeli goods. He has previously used his platform to draw attention to violence against civilians in Palestine and also to celebrate Palestinian cooking and restaurants in the UK.
Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023 and Israel's overwhelming military response to it, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed, and huge urban areas of the densely populated territory have been reduced to rubble.
The Lancet estimates that the death toll may be far higher, up to around 186,000 people.
The vast majority of the Palestinians killed are innocent civilians, including women and children.
Accusations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide have been levelled at the Israeli government, who are now accused of intentionally starving the Gaza civilian population by denying any food, medicine and aid from entering the territory for over 10 weeks. Gaza is now at "critical risk of famine", according to food scarcity experts.
Jason Burke
The UN say their supply warehouses are empty and Gaza's agriculture has been destroyed by the war.
Max is calling on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to take action to force Israel to lift the blockade, and has asked his supporters to contact their MPs to ensure the government defend Palestinian lives.
Mahmoud Issa
The interview
Amplify Stroud spoke to Max to find out why he's chosen to take this action in support of the people of Gaza.
“As a human, but also as a chef, seeing food being used as a weapon is inhumane.
“No food or aid has entered Gaza in over 70 days.
“I have decided to stop eating to raise awareness about the forced famine happening in Palestine.”
“Today [Friday 16th May] is Day 5 of my hunger strike.”
“It's difficult, and it's a constant reminder of the families and children starving in Gaza for whom going without food is not a choice.”
“First and foremost - end the blockade and allow food, water and medical supplies into Gaza - let's start here!”
“I’m targeting all supermarkets that sell Israeli goods and products, including Sabra hummus and Israeli dates and avocados.
This is in support of calls from the Palestinian led BDS campaign.
“My hope is that citizens will use their consumer power to boycott these items and demand supermarkets remove them from shelves. I'm also hoping that there are people working on the inside at these businesses to support these efforts.”
'Boycat' - the official "supermarket helper" app of the BDS movement
“Online, it's been overwhelmingly positive, but I have received some death threats. I have appreciated seeing support from some prominent chefs and food creators and hope this continues. I think more and more people are feeling empowered to speak up and take action.
“Offline, I am having some fruitful conversations with people in my community, some of whom are elderly so have only seen the Western narrative of the genocide.
I had an interaction with a man in his 80s yesterday which was challenging, but I managed to have a breakthrough when we talked about the Nakba in 1948.”
MEE staff
You can join over a million people following Max on Instagram (@maxlamanna) to stay up to date with his hunger strike campaign.
You can use this template by the Humanti Project to write to your elected official and the Foreign Secretary to oppose the aid blockage on civilians in Gaza.
Humanti Project
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