In the UK, 1 in 20 meals served is paid for by the government — in schools, hospitals, prisons, and care homes. That’s an enormous amount of purchasing power, but are we using it well? The ‘public plate’ could be a powerful lever for food system transformation, connecting what we buy and serve to public health, climate goals, and local food economies. Yet too often, public food is seen as a cost to minimise rather than an investment in people and place.

Professor Kevin Morgan has spent over 20 years researching how public institutions can — and do — serve good food against the odds. From Universal Free School Meals in Wales to innovative hospital catering and prison rehabilitation programmes, there’s a ‘good food revolution’ underway. What can we learn from what’s working? What’s holding back faster progress? And how can local authorities, policymakers, and practitioners use public procurement to drive the changes we need?