We are an active network of residents, groups, businesses and organisations (interested in food), working together to plan and make locally led change happen in Knowle West. Everyone is welcome.
Aims – what we want to achieve together:
This group aims for everyone in Knowle West to have access to good quality affordable food; for everyone to have the confidence, skills, knowledge and equipment they need to prepare a healthy diet of food that they enjoy.
Agreed values for the food group:
- Connection: We believe that food brings people together. We are building stronger links between residents, projects and businesses; collaborating, linking resources and assets
- Togetherness: We value fun, trust, listening, changing together, partnership, lived experience, and collective mutual support.
- Celebrating and acknowledging differences: We recognise that everyone is in a different position, some are in food crisis, some just about managing, some people are thriving. Everyone has a different food culture and we will journey together.
- Learning together: We acknowledge there are no easy answers, however we presume good will as we learn together, working together for locally led change.
Three priority areas (that have come out of community conversations):
- Access to food
- Building food knowledge/food education
- Food as a tool for connectivity, fun and joy
Background – Some local organisations began a conversation just before the pandemic, how can we connect and make a bigger difference in the area around food, and before we got much further, we hit a national lockdown. Every single one of those organisations rose to the challenge to ensure that people were not hungry, working hard to provide emergency food, connecting both the city and local response. We continued to meet on-line, in part to check-in and in part to connect/know what else was happening, to spot gaps and trends. As the community remerged we started to hold community conversations, at the local market, online, at drop-ins – gathered interested residents to join the conversation. We now meet quarterly to build connections, look at our agreed priority areas and identify options for collective action. This is an open invitation for anyone who wants to contribute.
Some recent action: Coordinating a Food page in the Knowledge, recipe posters on the Broadway, coming together to offer Welcome Spaces, and at Knowle West Fest we distributed 100+ Cook at Home Meal kits prepared by Square Food Foundation that included a wide range of leaflets about different cookery classes/schools, food provision and community cafes in the area. We asked everyone who received one to tell us their favourite home cooked meal, we also asked via an online survey and at local groups. The winner of Knowle West’s Favourite Home Cooked Meal was …… The Sunday Roast.
April 2023, the community collaborated to create a delicious community roast. We ate really well, we had some big conversations about food and we made some lush connections. Supported by The Park, Square Food Foundation, Redcatch Community Garden, Inns Court, Bristol Community Learning, Knowle West Media Centre. reworkcommunity, Springfield Community Allotment. The community roast could not have happened without all the volunteers that helped, joined in and made the day a huge success. Thank you!
You can read a blog about one of our Food Network meetings, written by Romana from Bristol Good Food 2030: here.
To be added to the Food Network mailing list (to receive information about meetings, minutes and local food updates), email: info@kwalliance.co.uk
Knowle West Food Network: Terms of Reference
Knowle West Alliance 