Food trio rewarded for contribution to local economy
The excellence awards were presented to a horticultural training unit at Bessborough, along with a Clonakilty-based organic shop where the food is grown in a Victorian walled garden, and an organisation which helps substance-abuse victims in the city’s northside receive training in horticulture.
The awards were organised by the Cork Food Policy Council (CFPC), a non-statutory group of food system representatives working towards an inclusive, fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system. More than 40 nominations were received.
Its chairman Dr Colin Sage said: “We want to acknowledge, recognise and encourage those who go that extra mile when it comes to sustainable food practices.”
Among the winners was the Horticulture Local Training Initiative at The Bessborough Centre.
A community-based initiative, it provides a horticulture training programme designed to support people who through either social, personal or geographic factors are disadvantaged in terms of access to the labour market or mainstream education and training courses.
Another winner was the Churchfield Community Trust in the city’s Blackpool area, which is also community-based.
The organisation works with and supports people who have substance addiction and offending behaviour, providing them with training and employment opportunities through mentoring initiatives at a horticulture centre, woodcraft centre and garden cafe.
The Lettercollum Kitchen Project in West Cork, meanwhile, completed the trio of winners.
It grows fruit, vegetables and herbs in a one-acre Victorian walled garden near Timoleague using organic methods and sells its products in their own Clonakilty store along with breads, salads, soups, sweet and savoury tarts, cakes and pizzas.
Most of the food is vegetarian and they make a large range of gluten-free and dairy-free products.
The three main winners each received a certificate of excellence and a financial donation from the SuperValu group, while all nominees received a certificate of recognition.
Dr Sage said: “A vast array of innovative and exciting applications were received from each of the three categories; private, non-profit and educational.”
He said, with one-in-10 people in Cork experiencing food poverty, addressing these food system issues has become even more important.
The awards, he noted, “recognise the people and groups in the city and county that have been working to improve our local food system and are at the frontline of addressing these urgent issues”.
Founded in 2013, the Cork Food Policy Council has pioneered innovative approaches to bring food systems thinking into the city, at both local and policy levels.
