Local Food Economy
By Jaque Taylor
Jaque Taylor (pictured left) sat down with Chef Wizzy from Sky Kong Kong to write the latest Bristol Good Food story about how she plans to spearhead three community food projects in Bristol.
Chef Wizzy, the creative force behind Sky Kong Kong, is redirecting her talents next year to fully focus on community food projects. She’s less interested in opening yet another high-end restaurant in Bristol and instead strives to provide value to the community through offering nutritious, sustainably sourced food that’s affordable for everyone.
Chef Wizzy will be hosting her ongoing Barimigol Korean Street Food Festival at Bridge Farm, a new food festival she started running in an effort to raise money to open another project, a non-profit community supermarket in Bristol.
At the festival, you can expect a vibrant atmosphere of live music and dancing, lots of community spirit, and — of course — delicious, affordable food. Watch this space for more details.
After she raises enough funds from her street food festivals, Wizzy plans to open a community supermarket that will include a butchershop, fishmonger, greengrocery and bakery all in one convenient location near the city centre. It will offer inexpensive but very high-quality locally-sourced meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, baked goods and more, all from small, local businesses that play an important part of Bristol’s rich food heritage.
She wants people to know that shopping locally can in fact be cheaper than the supermarket, and the reason people don’t shop that way is due to the culture of one-stop shopping and a lack of awareness. “If we’re not telling people, people don’t know,” says Wizzy. She recognises that it would require a lifestyle change, but she says that if we don’t change our habits now, the local heritage of these small food businesses won’t be around for future generations.
The idea behind the 24-hour restaurant is to provide the younger generations with alternatives to heavy drinking nights out and instead offer them a safe space to sit down with friends for a nourishing meal in the early morning hours. She hopes to create a culture of change where the young people of Bristol feel a real sense of community support and have somewhere to turn to if they’re feeling lonely.
“[They] need to know that people are taking care of [them],” says Chef Wizzy.
The three-item menu will be simple and feature self-service elements, with the ultimate focus being on affordability and nourishment. There will be hangover soup, which comes with rice and kimchi; instant lamen, with a choice of fresh vegetables, sausages and eggs; and bibimbap, featuring fresh meat, fish or vegetables, and sauce.
She is currently negotiating with a landlord who is concerned about attracting the wrong crowd, but Wizzy is undeterred by the obstacles and is determined to make the project a reality. She stresses the importance of collaborating with local businesses and chefs to create the change we want to see in our city, shifting the culture of food to be more community-based, sustainable, and affordable for all.
“We can make the city really beautiful if we work together,” says Chef Wizzy.
If you happen to be a local chef or local small food business and would like to collaborate on any of these projects with Wizzy, please get in touch.
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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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