We are working with Welsh communities to uncover, document and celebrate their local food knowledge, attitudes and heritage, before it is too late. What we eat has dramatically changed over a few generations, and this is having worrying effects on people and the planet. In many parts of Wales, this has included a wholesale shift from fresh, local food – that came to be seen as old-fashioned – to ultra-processed products within the course of one lifetime.

Recording the oral heritage still at large in Welsh communities will make a significant contribution to a wider understanding of social, economic and land-use histories. The project will use storytelling to improve understanding of what healthy food and farming systems looked like in the past, and how to improve our current food system for healthy people and planet.

We will be working closely with communities and grassroots groups throughout Gwynedd, including in the post-industrial Welsh-speaking slate quarrying communities of Dyffryn Nantlle.