Vote now! Sustain CEO nominated for Food Hero award

Sustain CEO Kath Dalmeny has been included in the shortlist of outstanding Food Heroes chosen by The British Library Food Season team. Key individuals have been nominated based on their outstanding positive impact on the food we eat, food culture or our understanding of food.

The winner of the Food Hero award is now open to the public vote.

The Sustain team is incredibly proud of this nomination. Kath’s unrelenting work drive and passion keeps Sustain on the map and our key campaign asks in our politicians’ ears.  Working alongside colleagues and alliance members, Kath ensures Sustain has an impact where it matters, as we push for a healthy, sustainable food system that is good for people, animals and planet.

Vote today!

Final winners announced at the start of June at the Food Season Food Awards Announcement at the British Library.

About Kath Dalmeny

Chief Executive of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming.

Kath is a passionate food campaigner and advocate for action on social and environmental justice. Over a career dedicated to improving the food system, Kath has helped instigate and run projects including the Sustainable Food Places Network, Campaign for a Better Food Britain, Beyond the Food Bank and the Campaign for Better Hospital Food. During Covid-19 Kath worked with the Good Law Project and Doughty Street Chambers to launch a judicial review of the government's approach to children's hunger during school holidays. Outside these specific initiatives, as Chief Executive of the charity Sustain, Kath helps facilitate and coordinate a broad alliance of organisations, agencies, places and individuals committed to improving the food system for citizens, producers, animals and the environment.

Kath's irresistible energy means she can bring disparate groups together to find solutions to complicated problems. Kath is a great strategic thinker, able to see the big picture, but she also has the compassion and humanity to understand and respond to the ways that a broken food system impacts on people's lives and our environment. 

Vote today for Kath!

Why does this nomination matter?

Farming has become a political minefield, as have climate and nature policy. With the rise of international conflict, there is more talk of food security, yet not the type of security that reaches everybody. 15% of the UK population is already food insecure due to inadequate incomes and poor food provision. Many farmers are also financially insecure, and continue to get an unfair deal, especially fruit and veg growers. Meanwhile, it is still much easier and more profitable to make and market soft drinks and junk foods.  

But the right food policy can transform lives, and with a Land Use Framework out for consultation and a national Food Strategy promised, some of this may now be within reach. From nature-friendly farming schemes to address the climate and nature emergency, to supply chain fairness for growers and farmers. Legislation and policy can also help build heathier communities, with healthy food advertising policies and the expansion of our nutritional safety nets such as school food for all and Healthy Start.

“2025 feels like an historic moment. We stand at moment of possibility. The possibility that we can take action into our own hands, in our own work at local level. And at national level, the possibility that our politicians adopt the policies the public want to see: for a more affordable, healthier, and inherently sustainable food and farming system.”

Kath Dalmeny, Sustain Annual Conference, March 2025