The concept of milltir sgwâr is one with deep roots in Wales. Its literal translation is square mile, but it means more than this. We wanted to explore what milltir sgwâr meant in terms of food for the people of Wales, and we have been investigating it through a series of talks, both online and in person.
Initially our focus was to look at Welsh food culture. The food culture of Wales has changed dramatically over recent times and we wanted to explore how this has impacted the food we eat. Our speaker Dr Simon Roberts explained that in his mind the concept promotes the ideology of belonging to and being immersed in a small community. Community is key to Slow Food. Each and every one of us who is a member is involved in a local, national and international community, so we explored this during our debates.
An online forum during lockdown gave us access to speakers nationwide. We looked at how local food production and supply was seeing the biggest resurgence since the Second World War. Patrick Holden of Sustain UK pointed out that if imports were becoming harder to source, this may focus our minds on local food production, and that there could be a renaissance of Welsh fruit and vegetables as a result, which would be better for our health, our environment and our communities. Carolyn Steel, author of Sitopia, took this further, explaining that we need to look beyond the twentieth century concept of the good life. We need to look to what gives us pleasure, and that includes spending time with your family and engaging with nature.
If you missed it, you can watch it again here.
Post-Covid we looked at the cost of living crisis. We wanted to see how this was affecting the concept of local eating, and we asked what was really happening on the ground with local people and food. What transpired was a discussion around the need for food banks and community fridges. Does the former solve the problem, or merely provide a sticking plaster?
This formed the basis of our next debate, which took place at Hay-on-Wye’s world famous book festival. Here we looked at global challenges to food production and distribution, and how these can be met through local resilience and sustainability. We had an illustrious panel including Sheila Dillon, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, the environmental journalist Louise Gary and Professor Bryce Evans of Liverpool Hope University, all expertly chaired by Ian Rasmussen. Key themes included rebuilding local food economies through community action, globalisation and de-globalisation, food pricing and food poverty.
That led on to our event at the Abergavenny Food Festival, where we hosted a communal meal based on the concept of the British Restaurant, of which there were 2,500 in the UK during the period around the two World Wars. With delicious produce provided by local producers and supportive businesses, we shared the meal and talked about what food and the concept of the square mile mean in today’s society.
So what is next? We are putting the themes that have arisen from these debates into action, hosting events across the country to encourage people to come together in their communities to eat locally, seasonally and regionally. We are working to influence government policy, and working on a UK-wide education policy to ensure all our members, and the communities they live in, have access to the skills we all need to live a rich and pleasurable life in our milltir sgwâr.
For more information or collaborative opportunities please email [email protected].
