Local Food Economy
By Mélanie Stevenson
Claire Ladkin, founder of All About The Cooks – a Bristol-born online marketplace for home-cooks to sell their food – has been nominated as a “Community Food Champion” finalist at the BBC Food & Farming Awards.
The category, sponsored by BBC Morning Live, celebrates those working in food who are making a difference to their community. All About The Cook’s Mélanie Stevenson tells us more about the platform.
Driven by the belief that food acts as a catalyst to bring people together, Claire wanted to create a platform where talented home-cooks could make money selling their food to local people. And so, late in 2021, All About The Cooks was born.
Food is usually ordered through the platform about 24 hours in advance and cooks and buyers arrange collection or delivery between them. This ‘doorstep interaction’ is a place where food, cultures and stories are shared, and enriches the whole experience. Through All About The Cooks, buyers can discover home-cooks living near them who they would never have known about.
Following the nomination for the award, Claire said: “I’m over the moon to have been shortlisted. I have a vision of a future where the sharing of home-cooked food within and between communities is commonplace. Where it is perfectly normal to order from a neighbour, pop around to collect your food and stop for a chat on the doorstep. I think that would be a nice world to live in. It’s great to see that others seem to agree too!”
We at All About The Cooks are proud that diversity and inclusion is at the heart of what we do, with 75% of home-cooks being women and 80% from ethnically diverse backgrounds. As of August 2023, operating in Bristol and Bath with over 70 cooks, we have supported local home-cooks by putting £80k into their pockets.
Only three finalists have been shortlisted as “Community Food Champions” for the BBC Food & Farming Awards and the winner will be announced on 25 October, in a ceremony broadcast on TV and radio. Keep your fingers crossed that Claire Ladkin brings the trophy home and makes Bristol proud! In the meantime, you can find out who cooks near you or apply to sell your home-cooked food at allaboutthecooks.co.uk.
For a very limited time only, All About The Cooks is going offline and offering an IRL (in real life…) series of pop-up supper clubs at Clifton-based café, Starlings, at the start of November.
The supper clubs run from Thursday 2 November and run until Saturday 4 November at the Bristol Life Award 2023 nominated venue. Home-cooks from the city will bring family-taught dishes and home-perfected flavours to the venue, for an unmissable extended weekend of mouth-watering moments. Find out more:
Thursday 2 November: Starlings Supper Club x All About the Cooks: Zainab’s Pakistani Night
Friday 3 November: Starlings Supper Club x All About The Cooks: Tomer’s Middle-Eastern Feast
Saturday 4 November: Starlings Supper Club x All About The Cooks: Mireya, Indira & Ximena’s Flavours of Latin America
Each evening will kick off at 7.00pm, showcasing the best of Bristol’s home-cooked food scene at the venue that consistently hosts sold out supper clubs.
So, what change do you want to see happen that will transform food in Bristol by 2030? Do you already have an idea for how Bristol can make this happen? Join the conversation now.
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