Cardiff has been granted a Gold Sustainable Food Places Award, recognising the success of its joined-up approach to building a sustainable and healthy food system.
It becomes only the fourth place in the UK to achieve Gold status, following Brighton & Hove, Bristol and Cambridge.
The award submission has been led by Food Cardiff, a city-wide ‘food partnership’ of individuals and organisations which connects the people and projects working to promote healthy, environmentally sustainable and ethical food across the city.
Cardiff gained the Silver Sustainable Food Places Award in 2021 and Food Cardiff initiated a city-wide engagement and consultation programme to create the Cardiff Good Food Strategy, with the goal of earning the Gold Award this year. The strategy set out five food goals – a healthy Cardiff; an environmentally sustainable Cardiff; a thriving local economy; a fair and connected food system; and an empowering food movement.
Now in its 10th year, Cardiff’s growing food partnership has evolved into a dynamic, strong and inclusive network of good food activists. Food Cardiff was co-founded by Cardiff & Vale Public Health Team and Cardiff Council in 2014. It is part of Food Sense Wales, which aims to influence how food is produced and consumed in Wales, ensuring that sustainable food, farming and fisheries are at the heart of a just, connected and prosperous food system.
Food Cardiff also has a strategy board that includes a range of members, including Cardiff Council, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, Cardiff University, Cardiff Farmers Markets, WWF Cymru, Action in Caerau and Ely as well as many others.
Pearl Costello, Food Cardiff co-ordinator, said:
“This is a huge achievement for all of the many individuals, community groups, organisations and businesses who are part of the Food Cardiff network, and everyone in the city who has contributed to our Good Food movement.
“As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of Food Cardiff, it’s great to have this external recognition of our success at a UK level. And to show the power of bringing together all of the people within the food system to collaborate for change – to increase access to healthy, affordable food, to bring communities together and tackle isolation, to support a more sustainable food system and ensure our local food economy can thrive.
“We are excited now to start the process of working with all of those partners on our plans to build on this Gold achievement and develop our next Good Food Cardiff strategy.”
Cllr Julie Sangani said:
“As the Cabinet Member entrusted with the Food Strategy in my portfolio and in my capacity as Chair of the Council’s Food Steering Group, I am immensely proud of Cardiff achieving the Gold Sustainable Food Places Award. We are Wales’ first Sustainable Food Place to have achieved Gold, Bronze and Silver awards – a title earned through the collective efforts of our collaborative partners, engaged community, and dedicated colleagues.
“Cardiff Council has been a pioneering force in the city’s Good Food Movement since Food Cardiff’s inception in 2013. Our solid commitment to building a sustainable food system has been a key aspect of our work, and we are delighted to have established a robust foundation upon which to grow, and create a food system that not only nourishes our community but also protects our environment and fosters a healthier future for generations to come.”
The Sustainable Food Places Award Scheme is based on the recognition that creating a more sustainable, healthy food system requires a connected approach, bringing together people working in public and private sector organisations throughout the system. It identifies six key areas of action to achieve fundamental food system change:
- Food Governance and Strategy: Taking a strategic and collaborative approach to good food governance and action
- Good Food Movement: Building public awareness, active food citizenship and a local good food movement
- Healthy Food for All: Tackling food poverty, diet related ill-health and access to affordable healthy food
- Sustainable Food Economy: Creating a vibrant, prosperous, and diverse sustainable food economy
- Catering and Procurement: Transforming catering and procurement and revitalising local supply chains
- Food for the Planet: Tackling the climate and nature emergency through sustainable food and farming and an end to food waste.
Leon Ballin, Sustainable Food Places Programme Manager and one of the judges for the Gold award said:
“It’s only places that have been doing the sort of work that Food Cardiff has been doing for at least a decade that are able to achieve a gold award, and what particularly stands out in Cardiff is that there is a really strong, grassroots, good food movement here, where people are getting involved and the communities are really well represented. What’s more, there is also superb buy-in from the local authority and health board. To see the ways that they are coming together and working together in the Welsh capital, is pretty remarkable.”
Claire Beynon, Executive Director for Public Health for Cardiff & Vale University Health Board added:
“I am delighted that our team and organisation have played a key part in Cardiff’s Gold Sustainable Food Places Award. The Cardiff & Vale Public Health Team was a co-founder of Food Cardiff in 2014 and we’re delighted to see how much has been achieved over the last ten years, and we remain firmly committed to ensuring that everybody in Cardiff has access to good food.”
Derek Walker, The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales said:
“Food is a focus of my seven-year strategy, Cymru Can, because access to an affordable, healthy and sustainable diet is critical to the well-being of the people of Wales now and in the future.
“The achievement by Food Cardiff in growing a sustainable food movement, which brings together government, public health bodies, partner organisations, businesses and citizens, is a fantastic example of the action we need to see replicated across Wales.
“Congratulations to Cardiff on leading the way in growing its position as one of the UK’s most sustainable food cities. I’m calling on Welsh Government and the wider public sector to follow Cardiff and to develop long term strategies on food in order to achieve our long-term ambitions for the country as set out in the Well-being of Future Generations Act.”
Sustainable Food Places is a partnership programme led by the Soil Association, Food Matters and Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. It is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund.
