Let’s get the nation cooking!

Help us kickstart a Welsh food revolution…

A close up photo of a steak being cooked with a blow torch.

We’re on a mission - to transform Wales’ relationship with food…

We all know that food in Wales isn’t working for us – it’s failing our health, our farmers, our wildlife and our rural economy. We teach children and adults to cook food which is healthy, affordable and always delicious. Our courses and programmes give people an in-depth understanding of where food comes from and why it is important, delivered by some of Wales’ best cooks, farmers and growers. 

We’ve already seen the extraordinary change this can make. Now, we want to bring this work to more primary schools, community groups and leadership across Wales. 

Help us raise £250,000 by December 2024, to transform lives through food.

When people connect to real food, they never go back

Cegin y Bobl is an ambitious new charity formed in autumn 2024 to continue the successful work of the 3-year Carmarthenshire ‘Cook24’ project (run with the support of Coleg Sir Gâr, Carmarthenshire County Council and Levelling Up). 

We have seen the difference that reconnecting people with food can make. We have worked with everyone from urban primary school kids to rural older women’s groups – and seen lives transformed.

There’s 9-year old *Ben, who thinks the course of his life has been changed by doing this. Or the cohort of foodbank users who spent 6 half-days on one of our courses - and stopped using the foodbank thanks to their newfound skills - and sense of achievement.

We need to empower the nation

We believe that every community has the resources to turn this situation around. When people are passionate about food, understand its importance and know how to make it taste great at affordable prices, they can improve their health, their wellbeing and support their local economy and producers.

With your help, in 2025 we will:

  • Deepen our work in Carmarthenshire. We want to continue working in-depth in the communities where we’ve seen change, but know there is more to do, finding more ways to reconnect people to food. 

  • Start delivering across Wales. We’ve seen the incredible impact this work can have. We want to connect passionate cooks in other parts of the country with schools and groups who want to learn to cook, creating impact across Wales.

  • Look to the future – through investing in education. We need to raise the next generation of food leaders, policymakers and passionate cooks in Wales – so we are working with fantastic partners to deliver exciting, real education in food and farming

A close up photo of a pair of hands holding baby tomatoes over a kitchen sink.

Our People…

We are privileged to have a passionate and skilled team with backgrounds across hospitality, education, academia, charity management, finance, fundraising and marketing. 

Many of our cooks and teachers have a national profile, and are working with us on this in order to make a real difference. The list includes Simon Wright, Jen Goss, Barny Haughton, Anja Dunk, Carwyn Graves, Maryann Wright, Alex Vines, Scott Davis, Hazel Thomas, Jemma Vickers, Polly Baldwin and many others.

We are also privileged to have fantastic patrons supporting our work - on which more before long…

…and Partners

There is a simplicity to our model:

It’s about tackling diet-related disease, food insecurity and the challenges facing food and farming by building on one simple insight: Once people connect to real food, they never go back.

"Cegin y Bobl is the most exciting story I have come across in decades of food journalism" BBC Food Programme's Sheila Dillon

"Cegin y Bobl is the most exciting story I have come across in decades of food journalism" BBC Food Programme's Sheila Dillon

Right now, we need your help!

We have an ambitious vision, and we need your support to make it happen. But as things stand, this important work with the experienced team delivering it comes to an end on Jan 1st 2025.  All we need is £600,000, which will allow us to:

  • Deepen and expand our work to change the school food culture in Carmarthenshire with intensive work with pupils, teachers and school menus in 14 primary schools - £200,000

  • Start to expand to other areas of Wales, with an in-depth pilot in a community in another part of the country - £100,000

  •  Work with at least 50 community groups to train them in food leadership and community cooking - £200,000

  • Launch Wales’ first further education course in sustainable food leadership to educate the next generation - £100,000

  • Establish Cegin y Bobl as a leading charity in food leadership education in Wales

We are talking to generous individuals to source just over half of these sums - but we need you to help us get to £250,000 for our work to continue. Every £10 helps enormously. 

Can you give now to help get us underway?

Just £20 a month will support us in transforming someone’s life through food. And if only one thousand people give a one-off gift of £250 we will have secured a future for this work.

Help us raise £250,000 to transform lives through food.

THANK YOU!