Growing Community Through Food – LOVE Food CIC

LOVE Food CIC has just set up a new community food hub in St Thomas, Exeter at 95 Cowick St, EX4 1 JF. LOVE Food is a vegan organisation, so the food hub is 100% plant based. They organise activities to increase access to, and promote the benefits of, Local, Organic, Vegan, Ethical food for animals, health and the environment.

They also aim to address food poverty, reduce food waste, help people eat better and bring the local community together. Their focus is on making healthy and sustainable eating accessible for everyone, regardless of budget and cooking skills. They have been running for 2.5 years and now have a paid part-time coordinator, a team of over 20 volunteers, and 5 freelance cookery tutors.

The community food hub will host their pay what you can lunch club, a community fridge with free food for all, low-cost plant based cooking sessions, foraging walks, an apple juicing project, bring a dish events, and other food activities. They also have a permanent Swap Shop funded by CAG Devon, so anyone using the food hub, can also get clothes, toys, books, and other items.

At other times, including most evenings and weekends, the space is available to hire. They have already hosted arts & crafts workshops and community meetings, and also have vegan pop-up meals coming soon. The space is also available for anyone who wants to hire it to run their own vegan cooking sessions, or for vegan food production.

All of LOVE Food CIC’s activities focus on healthy, easy, affordable, tasty vegan food. Some of the organisations we have run cooking sessions for include Wellbeing Exeter, Co Lab Women’s Project, Barnfield Surgery, Exeter University Students Guild, and the Devon Food Rescue Project

We get regular food donations from Exeter Food Action, St Thomas Community Garden, Devon Dig and Donate, Shillingford Organics, households, and allotments, and will also be getting deliveries from Fare Share.

Find out more about LOVE Food CIC on their website.