Nottingham – a Social Eating City?

Community research engagements into food growing, consumption and composting

Photo by Marsha Smith

Lead researchers: Penney Poyzer and Shona Munro of Nottingham Good Food Partnership (NGFP) and research adviser Marsha Smith (PhD)

The team asked representatives from 30 local food organisations in Nottingham how social eating spaces might be linked with local food growing and community composting. This information was then mapped alongside Nottingham City Council’s (NCC) Carbon Neutral Nottingham 2028 (CN2028) plan. NCC’s Wellbeing Design Guide, co-authored with NGFP, was borne in mind throughout.

This project found that there is substantial expertise within Nottingham and that groups across the city are already engaging in activities that support CN2028. Social eating initiatives, alongside local growers and composters, may be considered anchor organisations who engage with diverse audiences across the city. The project identified multi-level and multi-scale points of intervention at structural, community and individual level across the activities of growing, eating and composting. 

Funded by The Future Food Beacon using a Research England grant