Cardiff is only the fourth place in the UK to achieve gold status, following Brighton & Hove, Bristol and Cambridge. The Welsh capital gained the silver award in 2021 and since then has been working towards achieving the gold accolade.
The Cardiff Good Food Strategy set out five goals – a healthy Cardiff; an environmentally sustainable city; a thriving local economy; a fair and connected food system; and an empowering food movement.
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 coordinator, 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.”
Examples of the Good Food movement in Cardiff, include:
- The Good Food Cardiff Autumn Festival: Every year since 2021, Cardiff celebrates the joy of growing, cooking and sharing good food.
- The Planet Card: The card, which has value of up to £11 per week, enables holders to switch their normal weekly shop for fruit and vegetables to organically produced versions.
- Courgette Pilot and Welsh Veg in Schools: nearly one tonne of courgettes went through the supply chain and were used in lunches and activities for 1,500 children across 29 Cardiff primary schools.
- Cardiff Council Food Strategy: focused on ensuring that everyone has access to decent, healthy, sustainably produced food.
- Move More, Eat Well – Cardiff & Vale public sector and wider partnership: to encourage, support and enable people to eat healthily and increase physical activity.