Food in Glasgow is not only about meals on the table. It is about dignity, health, education, and community. The city’s current journey began in 2019, when a Food Insecurity Inquiry exposed how fragmented the local food landscape had become: many organisations were doing good work, but often in isolation. The inquiry brought these efforts together and laid the ground for the Glasgow City Food Plan, launched in 2021.
“There was a food inquiry in 2019 that highlighted food insecurity and showed how many people in Glasgow were trying to do different things,” recalls David Lyon, Business Engagement Adviser at Glasgow City Council. “There were already a lot of people growing and developing the food system, and the inquiry brought everyone together. That was the point when we started to develop the City Food Plan.”
Building the Glasgow City Food Plan
The Food Plan, running until 2031, sets out more than 50 actions across health, equity, and sustainability. It is not a single author strategy but a shared document. Community organisations co-wrote sections, while the Glasgow Centre for Population Health helps coordinate six subgroups that meet regularly and involve third sector partners, schools, and local NGOs. This governance model builds on Scotland’s Good Food Nation Act, embedding food into statutory planning.
The evidence is clear that community participation and involvement is really, really strong in Glasgow.
For Lyon, the plan not only sets a direction but also ensures Glasgow can act quickly when new funding opportunities arise. “If we are on this journey with steps mapped out for the next five to ten years, then if any significant capital funding becomes available at short notice, we already have a ready-made plan.”
Community-led change
Glasgow has invested heavily in community food organisations, as more than 60 currently receive city support. These local anchors distribute food, run cooking classes, and create spaces for connection.
The Scottish Pantry Network has become a defining feature of the city’s food landscape. Unlike food banks, this community-led organisation operates on a membership model where people pay a small fee to choose food, with dignity at the centre. Community hubs such as SWAMP and Cranhill use food as an entry point to education, training, and local participation.
“We’ve got a lot of third sector organisations and charities that are delivering a really good service within communities,” recognises Lyon. “They are community focused and trying to make a difference in their own local areas. The evidence is clear that community participation and involvement is really, really strong in Glasgow.”
The approach is rooted in trust. “It’s perfect because it’s driven by the community and by community need,” he explains. “If we can help those organisations grow and deliver more services, then it’s a win–win for everyone.”
Scaling up: from neighbourhood to city region
Local initiatives have already shown their impact, for example, providing school meal programmes during holidays, or expanding growing spaces in the city and its surroundings. But Glasgow’s ambition is larger: they want to move beyond fragmented projects to a city-region food system, involving eight surrounding local authorities and linking Glasgow’s demand with farmland outside the city.
Over the next five years, we need to really scale up.
“Over the next five years, we need to really scale up,” Lyon says. “We have been making a difference, but it’s been quite small. We need to take it to a more industrial scale.”
The challenges are clear. Glasgow’s own land is limited and often of poor quality. Relationships with farmers remain tentative. “We have relationships with individual farmers, but it’s about trying to get that coordinated wider approach,” Lyon explains. “To do that, I feel I need to have potential funding in place to make it interesting for them.”
Governance in practice
Unlike many cities, Glasgow does not directly run most food services. Instead, it funds and coordinates others. This creates space for diverse approaches but requires careful governance. The Food Plan combines formal elements, like statutory working groups, with more experimental tools, such as participatory mapping, peer facilitation, and living labs that test community-led solutions.
David Lyon admits the Plan can sometimes be unwieldy: “Our food plan is too long. It should be something we can hold, explain, and act on.” What makes it work, he adds, is its people-first orientation. “Glasgow’s model works because it’s people-first, not process-first. We need to make the invisible work visible.”
Glasgow’s model works because it’s people-first, not process-first.
Learning through European exchange
Although the UK is outside the EU, Glasgow remains closely connected to European networks and projects like Cleverfood. Exchanges with other cities such as Milan, Groningen, or Cagliari have shaped local thinking.
For example, visiting Milan’s school meals service sparked new ideas for Glasgow’s pantry network. “We went to see the school meals facility and what they’re doing and that was fantastic,” says Lyon. “If Glasgow had a large kitchen following that model, it could be used to distribute food across the pantry network.”
Last June, the Cleverfood peer-learning visit in Glasgow turned the tables, with the city acting as host for Cagliari. Participants explored how food has become a bridge for health, dignity, and community building. Field visits to the SWAMP and Cranhill hubs showcased how local centres combine food with education, training, and peer support.
The delegation also saw the Scottish Pantry Network, which shifts away from traditional food bank models towards a more dignified, membership-based system. In addition, they learned about Glasgow’s cash-first approach, which prioritises direct cash transfers or vouchers over food aid to help individuals address their immediate needs flexibly. They also learnt about the Glasgow Helps service, a free, confidential helpline that connects residents to tailored support across areas such as food, housing, benefits, childcare, and mental wellbeing.
The visit also highlighted Glasgow’s progress in tackling structural issues. Child poverty in the city has fallen from 33% to 24%, and more than 60 community food organisations are supported through the Food Plan. These results are a reminder that while challenges remain, the approach of putting communities first is delivering visible change.
The delegation from Cagliari found particularly interesting Glasgow’s strong trust-based collaboration between the council and communities. Isabella Ligia, Head of the Strategic Planning and Programming Service in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, reflected on the visit: “Sometimes it’s about mapping what’s already there and creating ways to connect it.” The Italian delegation also noted how flexible responses and participatory tools could be adapted at home, even if infrastructure gaps, such as the lack of hot food chains, remains.
For Glasgow, the visit was also a moment of learning and reflection. “The workshop helped me see how food is an entry point to everything: health, community, climate”, Lyon said after the exchange. “This session helped me understand how we are already doing more than we thought.”
Annette Christie, Councillor for Glasgow, captured the broader lesson of the visit: “We have to change our relationship to food from function to value.”
Looking ahead
Sometimes it’s about mapping what’s already there and creating ways to connect it.
The city’s long-term goal is simple yet demanding: “Access for everyone to healthy, nutritious, appropriate food and a system that will sustain itself,” says Lyon. That means affordable prices, short supply chains, and community-led delivery.
The next steps involve recommissioning working groups, documenting methods so others can replicate them, and continuing to share case studies with networks like Sustainable Food Places and the Food 2030 Network.
Glasgow’s food story is still taking shape, but its direction is clear. It’s being built together with communities, third sector organisations, and European partners who continue to share knowledge and ideas. As Lyon summed it up: “We could do this. Here’s a plan. Let’s just follow this plan.”
