This year’s ‘Good Food Cardiff Autumn Festival’ is focused on championing sustainable, healthy food – and encouraging Cardiff’s communities to come together to shape their local food system.
Following the success of the 2020 Festival, Food Cardiff’s ‘Good Food Cardiff Autumn Festival’ has returned with a focus on building healthy communities. With both in-person and virtual events taking place during the week of 16th – 24th October, the festival will host a series of sessions centred on nutritious food, sustainability and connecting with likeminded individuals.
Sustainable food partnership, Food Cardiff understands that the food eaten has a big impact on daily life across Cardiff. Beyond health benefits, good food that is sustainably and locally sourced helps to build a thriving local food economy and tackle climate change. A member of the Sustainable Food Places network, Cardiff recently became the first place in Wales to be awarded Silver status, recognising the city’s pioneering work in promoting healthy and sustainable food (find out more here).
Last year’s Autumn Festival saw 45 events organised, attracting 4,000 attendees and over 5,000 vegetable plants distributed to local people. Continuing to build on the momentum generated last year, at this year’s event Food Cardiff aims to help communities to grow their own food, share produce and connect with neighbours during this year’s COVID-19 secure, city-wide programme of events.
Launching on World Food Day (16th October), local artist, Nathan Wyburn will be creating a giant artwork using locally grown fruit and veg sourced from within the local community – which will then be cooked up by groups throughout the festival. As well as this, the Festival will be welcoming good food content and activities from partners across the city, including food quizzes, a virtual grow along, pumpkin carving sessions and much more.
Local businesses including Bar 44, Dusty’s Pizza, Penylan Pantry and the Secret Garden Café will be offering “Good Food Cardiff menu specials” for the festival, to celebrate delicious, nutritious and planet-friendly food.
For instance, Bar 44 has created this super-seasonal spiced confit crown prince pumpkin, with mojo verde, and manchego sourdough crumble (£5.50). Using a hyper seasonal varietal of pumpkin, this is slow cooked in rama 44 olive oil and Andalucian spices, it is served with a a classic Canarian vibrant green sauce made with soft herbs from Penarth. Offcuts of local sourdough are then blitzed and roasted with garlic, Welsh sea salt, olive oil and 12-month cured manchego cheese.
Festival organiser and Sustainable Food Places Coordinator at Food Cardiff, Pearl Costello, explained:
“Our Good Food Autumn Festival will be an opportunity to celebrate all of the fantastic work that community groups and businesses have done to keep the city fed and to bring us together over the past year. By getting more people involved in the festival, Cardiff is creating a good food movement which will boost the amount of healthy, environmentally sustainable food on offer, which supports a thriving local food economy, empowers people and is fair and connected.”
To find out more about Food Cardiff’s Good Food Autumn Festival, the events taking place and how you can get involved, visit https://foodcardiff.com/blog/good-food-cardiff-autumn-festival-programme/.
