1 October 2025 –
At LandWorks, the simple act of growing, cooking, and sharing food has always been about much more than meals. It’s about connection – to the land, to each other, and to ourselves. That’s why we’re excited to share two new publications that celebrate the transformative power of food in our community and the wider criminal justice system.
Officially launched at our Annual Supporter’s Day in August, The Big Thank You is the second edition of the LandWorks Recipe Book, building on the success of our first volume, It Is What It Is.
Lunch at LandWorks is prepared each day by a combination of team members, trainees and volunteers, sourcing fresh produce where possible from our market garden. While including some old favourites, the recipes in The Big Thank You reflect the trainees increasing interest in trying out new dishes and taking on new challenges in the kitchen. The title stems from the moment that lunch arrives at the table. Everyone shows their appreciation for the food and the work that has gone into it. It is always a moment of joy.
“Eating together brings together so many fundamentals that it is easy to take for granted – good food, conversation and companionship,” explained LandWorks Project Director, Chris Parsons. “Sharing lunch around a table is a new and intimidating experience for many trainees; but over time, as relationships build, along with confidence and self-esteem, it becomes normal, and normality is one of the keys to rehabilitation.”
As Trainee Tom, puts it: “They make their own dinners here […] proper dinners rather than just chicken nuggets and chips or whatever. Not only do they teach you how to make the food, then you get a proper meal to eat as well. Everything about it is nice […] you can have a chat around the table and have a little discussion whilst you’re having the dinner and it’s good that we all eat at the same time.”
Good Food and Good Lives
The experience of growing food and cooking at LandWorks, and its potential to transform the lives of trainees, is highlighted in an important new publication – The Role of Good Food in Resettlement and Rehabilitation: Good Food and Good Lives – just published by Routledge and edited by Julie Parsons and Kevin Wong.
Associate Professor in Sociology and Criminology at Plymouth University, Julie Parsons has led the PeN Project at LandWorks since 2015 and is a volunteer cook at the charity. She is passionate about the power of food to bring people together and draws extensively on the lived experience of trainees at LandWorks in her case-study on The transformational potential of cooking and growing for people with custodial sentences at LandWorks.
In Julie’s and other chapters, The Role of Good Food in Resettlement and Rehabilitation: Good Food and Good Lives examines the tangible ways in which food has the potential to be transformative, helping people with convictions to develop a change in outlook as they navigate their way back into the community.
Hot off the press, it was officially launched on 22 September 2025 at Back on Track, a Manchester charity providing community learning and support to adults experiencing multiple disadvantages.
“Back on Track” has a very similar ethos to LandWorks and its in-house café is the subject of another chapter in the book,” explained Julie. “The café provides catering training in a commercial standard kitchen and offers vital work experience to people facing barriers to employment – not to mention a welcoming social space for people to enjoy good food in the company of others.”
Last word to T-Bunny whose reflections on lunch at LandWorks can be found in the PeN Project blog and The Big Thank You: “No matter what walk of life you come from, it’s like, there’s no prejudice, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or whatever, we’re all here now, you know, so to be present in the situation… also able to enjoy a meal, everyone eating the same as well and to sit down and just interact with different stories, different chit chats…it makes it like a celebration of food rather than just something to eat, you know, so that’s really nice.”
The Big Thank You can be purchased online here, and at the LandWorks shop on the Dartington Estate.
