To conquer the issues facing the contemporary Welsh food industry, and to challenge growing levels of food poverty, two homegrown initiatives are kickstarting a food revolution of education. Billy Edwards reports on Carmarthen’s Cegin Y Bobl and Swansea’s Shared Plate.
In 2022, the Trussell Trust found one in five adults in Wales had experienced food insecurity that year – meaning they were unable to afford more food after running out, or they ate less and went hungry. This remains prevalent across the UK: procuring good quality food has become a source of serious hardship and stress for many families.
Two Welsh initiatives have set out to demonstrate how we can make the most out of renewable production methods through foundational cookery classes and supporting the national hospitality network. One, Cegin Y Bobl, is an extension on a previous Carmarthenshire-based mentorship initiative, named Cook24. After three years, its organisers now plan to expand their efforts across Wales, having realised that cooking standards are declining across the nation.
Cegin Y Bobl’s aims may be many, from tackling diet-related illnesses to supporting the hospitality sector and reasserting interest in farming among the public, but their method is intriguingly simple. They plan to remind the people of Wales of a traditional grounding in cooking from scratch with locally sourced ingredients and take heed of the benefits available for not only one’s own health but also for the environment.
To achieve this, the charity wishes to recruit Welsh chefs of all experience and descriptions and grant them the time, skills, and opportunity to teach cooking to their local communities. In turn, they are currently planning to develop a model farm as a sustainable base for teaching operations. What is immediately apparent is their determination to make a difference in all corners of the country for “anyone and everyone”, with a total lack of discrimination in who’s taught; their chefs have provided workshops with groups as varied as city-dwelling primary school pupils to rural older women’s clubs, all in order to enact a cultural shift in the relationship of the Welsh to their food produce.
In Swansea, a community interest company called The Shared Plate has been busy redefining catering for an eco-conscious century since 2018, with all its profits directed to giving back to its community and the wider natural environment. It provides catering for weddings, businesses, and more, again with foodstuffs produced from scratch. Additionally, a series of programs bring the often-surprising personal development attainable through cooking to local young people, refugees, and asylum seekers – anyone who may struggle to find the opportunity to be a chef.
Youth Cooks boasts workshops of pasta, bread, and curry production, all with the aim of building confidence and resilience. Once volunteers have developed a taste for cooking, The Shared Plate organises weekend restaurant events for volunteers to cut their teeth on real hospitality experience. Their flagship Mumbles community program is Chop ‘n’ Chat, where all are made welcome at their community space to cook a sizable meal together and make new friends.
It’s a direct combatant to one of the most painful aspects of financial hardship – 26% of people referred to Trussell Trust foodbanks report severe social isolation – and has proved such a popular event that there’s stiff competition in booking a slot to attend. Additionally, there’s even a training course in store later in the year for other communities wishing to run their own Chop ‘n’ Chat events. Why not get in touch and start your own? In their education of cookery and the personal good it can do, both Cegin Y Bobl and Shared Plate are a testament to the social power of food it would be remiss not to share.
Info: ceginybobl.co.uk / thesharedplate.co.uk
words BILLY EDWARDS
