Abergavenny has long been home to a vibrant food culture, with a year-round schedule of community dinners, grow-your-own initiatives, political debates and social get-togethers. Which is exactly why, here at Festival HQ, we want to tell you about it too. Here are a handful of ways you can get involved, even after the Festival is over.
Incredible Edible Abergavenny
Want to learn to grow your own food or taste how delicious just-picked veggies can be? The Incredible Edible team can help you! Get involved with digging veggie beds, growing fruit trees and watering herbs, or help yourself to fresh produce in public spaces around town. Incredible Edible Abergavenny wants to involve as many people as possible in growing food, and you don’t need any previous knowledge to help out. Get in touch via their Facebook group to learn how you can grow and source food in a planet-friendly way.
facebook.com/incredibleedibleaber
Abergavenny Community Canteen
Enjoy a two-course meal once a month at the Community Canteen. Planned and prepped by volunteers, the meal is vegetarian, using local or Fairtrade, and organic ingredients. Donations support local or international social projects, and there’ll be local musicians, storytellers and poets to guarantee a fun evening. Find out how you can volunteer or pop along for a tasty bite.
abergavennytransition.org/community-canteen
Abergavenny Community Centre Kitchen Project
From monthly World Bistro dinners to weekly community lunches, coffee mornings and workshops, the Kitchen Project is getting people together and bringing new cultures, recipes and flavours to the community. Using local produce and supporting small businesses, meals are tasty and nutritious. The Kitchen Project also works with Tesco’s Fareshare scheme, as well as other supermarkets and individuals, to redirect surplus food for locals to use. To get involved, head to their website, or email aber.hub@gmail.com.
abergavennycc.org/food-network
Just Food
Just Food is an Abergavenny-based group of local people who promote political debate around food and hunger. The group works to raise awareness on social justice and sustainability issues, and will be launching a Manifesto for Food Justice for Wales at the Christmas Food Festival in December. The Manifesto is available to read and open for comments here.
abergavennytransition.org/food
Laurie Jones Community Orchard
Planted in 2011, the Community Orchard has a mix of dessert, culinary and cider apples, dessert and perry pears, plums, damsons and cherries, quince and medlar. Go along to help out with the orchard’s upkeep as well as their fruit pressing event in October. Email ieabergavenny@gmail.com to get on the mailing list.
abergavennytransition.org/community-orchards
Photograph: Debs Eye