Wales' leading food education charity, Cegin y Bobl (The People's Kitchen), is celebrating six months of Cegin Llanelli this week.
The weekly community cookalong and meal is powered by a team of volunteer cooks trained by the charity and takes place at the Antioch Centre, Llanelli.
Over its first six months, Cegin Llanelli has served over 1,040 delicious and nourishing two-course meals to the community on a free or pay-what-you-can basis.
Since launching in February, a dedicated team of 15 people have volunteered over 690 hours at Cegin Llanelli. Under the guidance of Cegin y Bobl's passionate chefs and their years of experience in the world of hospitality, they have developed essential cooking skills to cook fresh food from scratch using seasonal vegetables, locally-sourced meat, store cupboard basics and rescued surplus supplies.
Every week, volunteer cooks craft nourishing menus from a modest budget. By making good use of surplus ingredients and donated goods from local organisations, the kitchen has saved over 100 kilos of food from going to waste since June alone.
To celebrate, over a hundred people gathered for a special lunch on Monday 17th August where volunteers were honoured with awards, nominated by their fellow volunteers and chefs.
Diners enjoyed a meal of caramelised onion and cheese tart with roasted vegetables and lemony new potatoes. The lunch was cooked predominantly from ingredients donated by charity Foothold Cymru and fresh produce from their vegetable patch.
To mark the milestone, Cegin y Bobl has released six of the recipes cooked at Cegin Llanelli throughout the past six months. Illustrated beautifully by volunteer Lauren Pollard, a self-taught artist based in Llanelli, they are now available to view online.
Her bright work captures the vibrancy of the dishes served and their fresh ingredients. The easy-to-follow, customisable recipes include main dishes like smoked haddock fishcakes with a summer slaw, and a chilli con carne with rice, lime yoghurt, quick-pickled onions and a pea and broad bean guacamole, as well as puddings like a classic rice pudding with cherry coulis.
Cegin Llanelli is supported by King Charles III Charitable Fund's Coronation Food Project, the National Lottery Community Fund and Carmarthenshire County Council.
Cegin y Bobl's volunteer programme is funded by the Welsh Government's Volunteering Wales Main Grants Scheme, administered by WCVA.
The weekly event serves as an opportunity for the community to connect, share a meal, and learn more about Cegin y Bobl's wider mission: to get the nation cooking.
Launched in late 2024, the charity has quickly become a leading voice in Wales' food movement, proving that healthy, locally sourced meals can be the norm when people are given the skills and confidence to cook from scratch.
Cegin y Bobl runs hands-on food workshops led by chefs from the Welsh hospitality world.
Its work includes six-week ‘Food Discovery' courses where primary school pupils get stuck-in to real cooking at pop-up kitchens in the classroom, and experience a farm visit to pick fresh produce. ‘Early Years' sessions support new parents with baby weaning and postnatal nutrition, while the ‘Food Leadership' programme gives teachers and community leaders the tools to make food part of everyday learning.
And through the power of its grassroots programmes, Cegin y Bobl aims to catalys local and national government into improving what's served on the public plate in schools, hospitals and care homes.
Cegin y Bobl Director of Delivery Jen Goss said:
“Cegin Llanelli is a testament to what happens when a group of people come together to take power back into their own hands. Cooking delicious food from scratch is a superpower, allowing more people to regain control of their health, their food and their futures.”
Cegin y Bobl Chef Jemma Vickers said:
“Every week I'm overjoyed to see what this mighty team of volunteers comes up with in the kitchen. Cegin Llanelli is a fantastic opportunity to build new skills, tackle food waste, cook tasty food, and come together as a community.
“We start with a rough idea, but we incorporate whichever ingredients are available, which keeps us creative and on our toes. We've turned leftover ingredients into something special – from making a courgette cake with a glut of vegetables to using leftover fruit for compotes. We even create variations like beetroot raita to serve alongside traditional cucumber raita.
“We also quick-pickle leftover vegetables. Once, a diner asked how we'd made the ‘red cabbage' taste so good. I told them it was actually beetroot. When they insisted, ‘but I hate beetroot,' I just replied, ‘not anymore!”
Cegin Llanelli Volunteer Cook Gary Corfield said:
“Usually I'm stuck in the house, so it's good to get out to volunteer. Being disabled, I'm on the receiving end of care from lots of people, so it feels good to be on the other side, giving back.
“I feel full after volunteering, and not just because of the lunch we cook. I feel good that there's a group of people who are going to have a healthy plate of food.”
Sarah, a mother who attended Cegin Llanelli and has completed a Cegin y Bobl cookery course said:
“It feels relaxing being here. I don't have the kids today so I could've stayed at home, but I wanted to be here. It's a good atmosphere. There's a variety of different foods here that I probably wouldn't have tasted before.”
Members of the community can attend Cegin Llanelli every Monday, 12.30pm-2.30pm at the Antioch Centre, Llanelli. Meals are offered on a free or pay-what-you-can basis. Cegin y Bobl is also recruiting volunteers who would like to get involved with the cooking.
