Wells Food Festival has become a much-loved fixture in the artisan food calendar, and the FareShare South West team were thrilled to join this year to talk local food and sustainability.

Sponsored by Charlie Bigham’s (more on him shortly), the festival is now in its sixth year, and drew a record 20,000 people. England’s smallest city was completely taken over for the festival, with the main streets, town hall and cathedral taken over by hundreds of stalls. The range of food and drink on offer was vast: international street food, fresh venison, local cider and honey, and plenty of baked treats.

What’s your favourite Charlie Bigham’s meal?

One of the undeniable draws on the day was Charlie Bigham, who joined FareShare South West and other local charities, community groups and local advocates in the Food for Thought tent.

Charlie wouldn’t be drawn on his favourite of their meals, but by the number of times fish pie was mentioned in the Q&A, the public choice is settled! He covered a range of topics, from why their kitchens stick to a ‘slow is good’ ethos to maintain that feeling of a home-cooked meal, to why the range doesn’t include more vegetarian meals. (Short answer: they tried it, they just didn’t sell.)

Tessa Munt, MP for Wells and Mendip, also spoke and demonstrated her keen understanding of the issues facing farmers and shoppers locally.

She spoke of her frustration with the recent chaos surrounding the Sustainable Farming Incentive, which saw a £233m fund fully allocated in just six hours, leaving many farmers in her constituency to learn the fund had both launched and run out between leaving for work in the early hours and coming home.

Her fellow Liberal Democrat Sarah Dyke, MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, is leading the Good Food Bill, and both MPs sit on the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs committee advising Defra. Food – quality, equity, access – is clearly high on her agenda.

It’s encouraging to know the south west has such strong voices working for a sustainable, fair and secure food system.

Community food support in Wells

Tessa Munt MP also spoke of the importance of people accessing the support that is available, emphasising that there should be no stigma in reaching out.

That was echoed by FareShare South West Head of Communications Susie Day, who took to the stage to explain why good food goes to waste in our broken food system, and how FareShare South West joins the dots between that food and the local community. She shared that the weekly FareShare South West delivery would be arriving in Wells the following morning, in a van packed and driven by volunteers, full of food that’s good to eat. Sometimes it even includes Charlie Bigham’s prepared meals, thanks to our long-running partnership.

Local community food support was also well represented by the Shepton Community Fridge team, who collect short-dated food directly from local retailers to share with the community. Their model has grown to include a monthly essentials service, in collaboration with local charity shops who will always have some products that don’t sell and cost them money to keep in storage.

Community, connection and good food: what more could you ask from a festival?

You can read more about FareShare South West and how we work in local communities in our latest Impact Report.