Member Article

North East graduate stirs up healthy initiatives at Food Newcastle

A Newcastle University graduate is cooking up fresh plans for healthy living in the city.

Ellie Dowding has been appointed as the coordinator for Food Newcastle – a partnership of individuals from the public, private and voluntary sectors working together to promote Newcastle’s vibrant culinary culture whilst tackling its biggest food challenges.

Ellie’s role has been created following Food Newcastle’s successful bid to make the city one of six flagship Sustainable Food Cities in the UK.

Newcastle will receive a share of £1million of funding from the national Sustainable Food Cities programme as part of a three-year scheme to make healthy and sustainable living a defining characteristic of the city’s future.

Ellie, who hails from Somerset, studied Politics at Newcastle University and worked as a communications coordinator at the Bristol-based Sustainable Food Trust before returning to the North East to join Food Newcastle.

In her new role, Ellie will work with the five other flagship cities in the Sustainable Food Cities network - Belfast, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Liverpool and Stockport - to learn from their models and share their experiences.

Ellie will also be developing Food Newcastle’s social media presence and promoting the work of Food Newcastle at a range of events throughout the city.

In particular, Ellie will spread the word about the Food Newcastle Charter, which encourages organisations and individuals to pledge to make a change around their approach to food, with the aim of improving the health and wellbeing of people in Newcastle.

Ellie said: “I’m thrilled to join Food Newcastle at such an exciting time. When I was at university here I saw the potential for sustainable food initiatives to play an important part in Newcastle’s future development - directly affecting health and wellbeing of communities - and I thought it would be very rewarding to be part of that process.

“I hope to help strengthen and grow a group of people actively working on healthy food projects, to add value and expand on the fantastic work already taking place, and to spot opportunities for new developments. There’s so much happening – from groups banding together to champion the region’s fantastic food businesses, to community food growing sites and craft breweries.

“Everyone can contribute to the success of the partnership in some way. It could be changing a few items in your weekly shop in order to support local producers, right through to taking part in community food growing initiatives, getting involved in planting an orchard or working on an allotment. We aim to equip people with the knowledge and tools to feel more connected to where their food comes from, and to be mindful of the journey food has taken to get to their plate.

“We’re keen to look beyond the usual channels to find sources of inspiration for our food projects, and would welcome opportunities to work with other local food or non-food businesses over the coming months.”

Chair of the Food Newcastle Steering Group, Jamie Sadler, said: “Ellie is very passionate about food culture in Newcastle, and her enthusiasm for promoting healthy, sustainable living is infectious. We’re delighted to have her on board to coordinate the wealth of exciting developments we have in the pipeline, and to help inspire the people of Newcastle to make a change – however small - in their day to day attitudes to food.”

For more information about Food Newcastle, and to read the Food Newcastle Charter, visit www.foodnewcastle.org, follow @foodnewcastle on Twitter, like Food Newcastle on Facebook.

Contact Ellie Dowding on ellie@foodnewcastle.org or 0191 276 0595.

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