‘More food education for children and adults’ was one of the key messages NCSFP took from the Nottingham Climate Assembly.
The Partnership participated in the event, gathering the views of consumers at the Nottingham Green Partnership Exhibition held at Nottingham Contemporary on May 9, 2026, and then providing expert evidence at the Assembly on May 10 and May 16, 2026.
During the exhibition, NCSFP consulted people about the biggest challenges to eating healthy food in Nottingham, and what can be done about it?
We shamelessly bribed visitors to our stall with free surplus veg, generously supplied by Fareshare Midlands.
An enthusiastic crowd told us the challenges to the food system included, limited access to healthy, local food; the cost-of-living crisis, so people cannot afford healthy food; supermarkets outcompeting independent food stores, and too little food education in schools.
However, they thought there were solutions to the challenges in promoting social growing and eating; food education for children and adults – including cooking and how to grow food, as well as public institutions offering more healthy food like beans – but employing a chef to make it attractive.
Entrepreneur and local food systems consultant Bethan McIlroy and NCSFP coordinator Charles Walker then supported Climate Assembly participants in their initial deliberations about the local food system. The following week, Dr Ursula Davis, an experienced food systems researcher at the University of Nottingham, helped participants refine their ideas, before they submitted them for consideration by the Assembly.
The views gathered at the event will contribute to the creation of a Nottingham Food Charter.