Local social enterprise Growing Communities has won the Best Big Food Idea prize at the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
The Hackney-based initiative beat Sainsbury’s and the Cornish Food Market to scoop the award during a ceremony on November 29 at Birmingham’s NEC arena.
Attended by a host of food experts including Raymond Blanc, Paul Hollywood, Angela Hartnett and Adam Henson, yesterday’s awards celebrated the best of British cuisine, by rewarding companies who encourage sustainable food production.
Growing Communities was set up over 18 years ago to increase the production of local and urban food through a number of programmes across the borough of Hackney.
Richenda Wilson, Growing Communities’ marketing assistant believes the award will help them to encourage other communities across the United Kingdom to use a similar model.
Spurred by the desire to change the “currently damaging food system based on large scale supermarkets”, Wilson hopes Growing Communities will continue to build on its successes.