ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces, details, and reflects on the findings of a small-scale project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of its Connected Communities programme. The project, Grown Edible Meaningful (GEM), ran for a year through the growing seasons of 2013 and sought to explore the meaningfulness of growing edible plants. Participants were invited to grow edible flora to inspire reflection on environmental issues across cultures and faiths. Through the use of practical intervention workshops with follow-up interviews and through data gathering in a series of story circles and dialogues at a food festival, researchers explored connections to place, land, people, and traditions, and recorded how food growing provides an emotional link across time and geography. Issues relating to diaspora and migration in this diverse neighbourhood of northern England were particularly notable and led to many transnational stories.
