What Story Does Your Food Tell?
Omved Gardens, London
Food systems, resilience and why connecting the right people can create stronger places.
Food is one of the most powerful ways we have to communicate place. Yet I repeatedly see a disconnect between the stories hospitality businesses and destinations want to tell and the food and drink their visitors actually experience.
I don't believe Ireland has a shortage of exceptional farmers, growers, artisan producers or great food stories. I believe we have a shortage of connections and people working together.
Much of my life's work, including what I do today through AOT and Fat Tomato, has been about bridging that gap – connecting farmers and artisan producers with chefs, hospitality businesses, visitor attractions, destinations and public bodies, and using food to bring the stories of a place to life.
Earlier this summer, I returned to OmVed Gardens in London for my fourth United Nations Chef's Manifesto Action Hub. This year's theme of resilience prompted me to think again about how we build stronger food systems – and the role that hospitality and tourism can play within them.
There isn't one solution. There are thousands.
We need to start connecting them.
In my latest article for Georgina Campbell's Food & Hospitality Guides, I explore what I brought home from OmVed – from heritage seed and circular food systems to the importance of supporting the people quietly producing food well.