Bwyd Abertawe: Building a Good Food Movement
Building a Good Food Movement in Swansea: expanding public awareness of food, empowering local food citizenship and building the momentum of local good food movements.
Creating a shift towards healthier and more sustainable food requires increased public awareness and active participation from individuals and institutions. It involves developing a movement of food citizens through inspiring communications; events that highlight the importance and joy of good food; opportunities for hands-on activities like growing, cooking, and sharing food; and building a strong network that connects food-related groups.
Bwyd Abertawe serves as a prime example of how a strong food movement can empower individuals and communities to drive meaningful change within the food system.
The partnership spans a diverse region, from the bustling city of Swansea to the rugged coastline of the Gower Peninsula and as a member of the Sustainable Food Places network, it was awarded a bronze award in 2024 for its work across the region. To date, Bwyd Abertawe has over 600 members, including individuals, organizations, and community groups, all collaborating to promote sustainable food systems in Swansea.
Good Food Movement
“Our good food movement is raising awareness within the population of the benefits of sustainable food – to them, the local economy, the environment – and also understanding how they can connect with the sustainable food system as agents of change,” says Mary Duckett, co-ordinator of Bwyd Abertawe. “That is what I would say makes a good food movement – it’s that we all get involved and really, really enjoy the deliciousness of a sustainable food system.”
“For Swansea, it’s really important to get the citizens and organisations involved….understanding the benefits of sustainable food – and when we’re talking about sustainable food, we’re talking about moving away from a food crisis system to one that is actually more seasonally aligned, has better nutritional value, so therefore is better for our own well being, the local economy and the environment.”
Health and Wellbeing
One of the ways that Bwyd Abertawe has been building this momentum is by working with the Swansea Council for Voluntary Services (SCVS) to offer courses within the community.
“It’s really fundamental to a good food movement to have that connection with community groups and organisations, and the voluntary Council is an excellent conduit for that, so that we can help raise awareness of the sustainable food movement at a community level, engaging all different people from different backgrounds and parts of Swansea,” adds Mary.
Arron Ring from SCVS delivers health and wellbeing programmes in Swansea and also represents the third sector on the Bwyd Abertawe steering group.
“I run a six week programme based on cooking and nutrition, developing cooking skills at the same time, promoting good nutrition in line with government guidelines,” says Arron. “It’s with people from the local community in Gorseinon and North West Swansea who have either referred themselves to the project or have been referred through their local GP, and just want a bit of support to improve nutrition and improve healthy lifestyles in general, develop cooking skills and make sustainable changes.
“We try to tailor our programs as much as possible to suit people’s needs,” continues Arron. “We tend to start quite basic, find out what people want and then, it’s quick, easy, simple meals that people can adapt, use different varieties of ingredients, and use what they’ve got….it’s basically just trying small changes that can have a long lasting impact on their health and well-being.”
Volunteering opportunities
Bwyd Abertawe has been working with the team at Cae Tân to provide opportunities volunteering opportunities for citizens across Swansea.
“Cae Tan is a real leader when it comes to the example of Community Supported Agriculture in Wales and indeed in the UK and they’ve really been wonderful in creating engagement with their own customers. We’ve linked with them by bringing urban Swansea citizens, particularly those impacted by low income, for example, to have food growing experiences in these rural settings,” explains Mary Duckett.
Eva Walter Jones, Head Grower at Cae Tân has relished the opportunity to work with Mary and the team.
“Bwyd Abertawe has allowed us to engage more people with the food that we grow and the food system – and what that looks like for us is a lot of people coming from inner city, Swansea; some of whom have hardly ever really left the city, and who know nothing about growing food so it can, it can be quite a shock!”
Eva continues by explaining some of the activities that they’ve offered through its collaboration with the food partnership.
“Volunteers will get involved with all sorts of tasks, from sowing seeds, planting, harvesting. It really depends on the volunteers and what their level of skills are, and what jobs we have on the day – but a big job for us is definitely harvest. We try and get our volunteers involved with harvest, because I think that’s a really enjoyable thing for people to do – to be able to actually see like the fruits of their labour, and harvest beautiful veg, and maybe even take some home at the end of the day.”
Building meaningful relationships in green spaces
EYST Wales provides ethnic minority people with the opportunity to reach their fullest potential through holistic, targeted, and culturally sensitive programmes covering education, employment, health, community safety and cohesion.
In Swansea, the EYST team has worked with the food partnership to offer food-related activities and opportunities to communities across the city, including volunteering at Cae Tan.
“Our volunteers in EYST mentioned that they needed that connection to the rural environment,” says Najma Ali, volunteer co-ordinator at EYST. “I started looking for other avenues to provide that connection and that’s where Bwyd Abertawe came in. We started connecting and one of the projects was growing vegetables in Gower. It gave our volunteers a chance to explore other volunteering opportunities, but at the same time feel connected to the environment.”
As well as craving green space, many of those who volunteered at Cae Tan through EYST were looking for a deeper connection with food.
“A lot of our volunteers were looking for that kind of outlet, to be able to relax and have that kind of peace within their daily lives….most of them mentioned how it enhanced their well-being and how they were looking for something more. So I had to then look at other projects and how to connect with them,” continues Najma. “They reconnected to fresh produce, and got them into growing their own food. In itself, it’s a testament to the positive work that the project started – especially if you look at the volunteers that we work in EYST – they’re looking for that connection. They’ve come to an area where they haven’t got family, they haven’t got extended family. They’re looking for that vital human to human connection.”
Local businesses as part of the Good Food Movement
Bwyd Abertawe is also working closely with farmers, encouraging short supply chains and championing local produce.
“I always say that next to the soil, farmers are the cornerstone of our food system, so clearly, farmers need to be involved in a sustainable food network,” adds Mary. “And a really good example is Alison at Gower Coast meats.”
Alison Groves, owner of Gower Coast Meat, raises her cattle at Fairwood Common on the Gower and sells her sustainable meat across the region.
“We graze the cattle out here, and then we produce beef and sell locally,” says Alison. “I think it’s really important that we try to get the support of local people, to support local businesses. If I’m looking for anything, I try to find it locally and source locally. I think it’s just better; sustainable, less food miles.”
Alison is excited about working with Bwyd Abertawe on raising the awareness of sustainable food businesses operating across the region.
“Working with Bwyd Abertawe, we get our name out there so we can offer our product locally to anyone who wants to try it,” adds Alison. “If you can buy and support local businesses; support families, you’re helping us make our living. We’re also giving you a good product, rather than it travelling from another country across the world.”
Shift in awareness
Arron Ring concludes by crystallizing what a good food movement is all about: “It’s from the ground up…..it’s the whole movement understanding and learning more about food and how we can just eat in a more sustainable and healthier way. I think the most beneficial thing to Swansea as a whole is connecting organizations and people…..it enables us to get to know organisations better and be able to better service them, because we get a better understanding of what’s going on.”
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