The Good Food Movement

Professor Kevin Morgan has spent over two decades studying international Good Food movements and previously chaired Bristol’s Food Policy Council, which paved the way for the city’s Good Food Partnership. He will return to Bristol on Tuesday 11 November to discuss creating a local Good Food Revolution. Find out how to get involved. 

Bristol has been one of the pioneers of the Good Food Movement thanks to organisations like the Bristol Food Network. The city has also been a big influence on my own good food journey. Back in 2011 the Leader of Bristol City Council, Barbara Janke, invited me to chair the Bristol Food Policy Council (FPC), the first of its kind in the UK, and that experience taught me a lot about the challenges of urban food planning.  

I’ve written about these challenges in Bristol – and other parts of the world – in my new book, Serving the Public, which also documents the rise of the Good Food Movement.   

Being a member of a start-up organisation like the FPC was a sobering experience. I’ll never forget our very first meeting. One of our members, a manager from Yeo Valley, wanted to know what kind of budget was at the FPC’s disposal and what powers it would have over the local food system.  

I looked nervously at Barbara Janke for guidance and she said “you’re the chair”. I took a deep breath and said: “We don’t have a budget and we have no formal powers, but we are not without influence”.  

It may have been a nerdy answer at the time, but it turned out to be true. The FPC did acquire some influence over local food policy and practice and one example stands out for me. 

One of the most memorable events the FPC organised was called The Big Conversation, where we invited organisations from across the food system to a day out at Yeo Valley’s farm to discuss food system issues, such as how to get more local food into schools and hospitals.  

This event proved to be a unique occasion because it was the first time that a senior procurement manager from North Bristol NHS Trust had ever met Roy Heath, a force of nature who was charged with promoting local food chains for the Cornwall Food Programme. They got on famously well and, over lunch, buyer and seller began to map out joint solutions to common problems.  

This simple exchange stuck in my mind because it underlines the importance of building relationships so that the food chain becomes less anonymous, less fragmented and less adversarial.     

But local action will never be enough to transform the food system into a fairer, healthier and more sustainable system. As I argue in my book, the Good Food Movement cannot rely on progressive localism because local action needs to be supported by a strong National food strategy that makes good food more accessible and more affordable.   

Scotland has led the way by passing its Good Food Nation Act, which requires national and local public bodies to develop their own good food plans. It’s high time that all nations, regions and cities in the UK followed suit. Then we stand a fighting chance of making good food the norm and not the exception.  

Kevin Morgan teaches at Cardiff University and his new book, Serving the Public: the good food revolution in schools, hospitals and prisons, is published by Manchester University Press. 

Kevin joins Ruth Galpine from Soil Association, Glynn Owen from Whitehall School and Amy Morgan from University of Bristol at the event How to create a Good Food revolution in Bristol on Tuesday 11 November, moderated by Heloise Balme from Bristol Food Network. Find out more and book tickets.

If you or your organisation is involved in making food better for communities, climate or nature, then you are Bristol’s good food movement. Being part of Bristol Good Food shows that you’re part of a united movement to make our city’s food system better, and helps people find out about the work you’re doing and how to support you. Get in touch to tell us what you are doing.

To stay updated on future events, job opportunities and news, don’t forget to sign up for the Bristol Good Food Update at bristolgoodfood.org/newsletter.