Meet the team: Lucie Wardle

Each month, E-News will introduce you to a member of our Soil Association Scotland and Food for Life Scotland teams. This month, Senior Development Manager Lucie Wardle shares the impact of public procurement. 

Q1. What is your name and your job title? 

LW: My name is Lucie Wardle, and I am the Senior Development Manager and Supply Chain Lead for Food for Life Scotland. 

Q2. When did you join Food for Life Scotland? 

LW: I joined Soil Association in 2019 as a Supply Chain Officer. That was the first time that we had someone dedicated to supply chain work. My role was focused on increasing the amount of Scottish food in the public sector and working with suppliers and producers around Scotland. 

A few years later I moved into the Supply Chain Development Manager role and last year, I took on a new role as Senior Development Manager, which includes wider aspects of the programme like fundraising and managing parts of the team, as well as long-term strategic planning. In addition to that role, I still lead on all supply chain work in Scotland – it's a huge focus for the programme and a great passion of mine.  

We work hard to support local authorities with maximising the impact of their catering service through supply chain projects. This helps Scottish suppliers and farmers to find valuable routes to market. A great example of this is our Give Peas a Chance! Pilot project in Aberdeen City Council.  

Q3. What is one of your favourite things about working at Soil Association/Food for Life Scotland? 

LW: I love that everyone who works at the Soil Association has a shared goal of making the world a better place and improving our environment and the health of the nation through valuing food and farming. 

I also love working with the suppliers, farmers and producers. To be able to see that real change happening through public procurement is great. I'm from a farming family myself, so to be able to work with farmers and offer them free support and help them achieve their goals through finding new routes to market via public procurement is really rewarding. It’s also great to get that fantastic Scottish produce into school meals and see kids across Scotland enjoying it. We have some amazing people working in local authority catering in Scotland too, so working closely with them is also a real highlight and inspiration.  

In short, we know that we're doing the right thing and that we can support local authorities through the all the functions of the Food for Life programme such as supply chain support, data analysis, menu and recipe development and communications support. And when you get to see the positive outcomes, it's very rewarding. 

Q4. Discuss your journey with sustainability/the environment. Why is this important to you?  

LW: During my career, I’ve always worked in the food industry in one way or another. Quite a few years ago now I realised that we had a huge issue on our hands – we'd created a food system that was entirely unsustainable for our planet, and our health. It was then that I got completely absorbed by the environmental issues facing our global food supply and I couldn’t ignore it any longer. At that time, I was working in a corporate role in Australia, but I came back to the UK to study MSc Food Security at the University of Edinburgh. I learnt so much and decided that my next role would be with an organisation that was helping to find solutions to our combined environmental, health and nature crises. That’s when I found the Soil Association and never looked back.   

Q5. Can you walk us through a day in your life? 

LW: I've never had two days the same at Soil Association, which is pretty good after 5 and a half years. I'm always working on a couple of different projects (often supply chain related), managing people in the team and general running of the programme.  

Just recently I have been working on a progress report to demonstrate to our impact and showcase our achievements to our funders at Scottish Government. Last week I had a really fun day filming at a school and on the farm for a film about one of our supply chain pilot projects. I’m also often catching up with local authorities, suppliers and stakeholders – always looking for new opportunities and ways to support.  It can really vary week by week. 

Q6. What is your favourite dish to cook?  

LW: It would have to be cottage pie. It's one of the first meals I learned how to cook with my Mum, and it was always a firm family favourite. I use high-quality organic beef and pile it up with loads of green veggies on the side, like broccoli and kale. Since working on our Give Peas a Chance pilot project though, I’ve been adding in some lovely organic peas from Balmakewan Farm which work really well in the recipe (a tip I learnt from a school cook at Aberdeen City Council).  

Q7. What is a recipe book you always go back to, and why?  

LW: I always go back to Ottolenghi, my current favourite book of his is Simple. Even though it's not simple really, you often need a lot of different ingredients, but I always go back to his recipes because they're just fail-safe and delicious. 

When I'm having a big dinner party, I love to make collection of different dishes from that book for the table. His recipes have really interesting flavour combinations and use loads of veggies and pulses, which I love. 

Q8. What do you do to relax? 

LW: I find cooking quite relaxing when I'm not time pressured. I love to travel and combine that with a cooking class when I go on holiday. Recently I was in South Korea, and I went to a kimchi-making class, which was brilliant, as well as a chilli-paste class. Getting to learn more about new places and cultures through food and travel is a real joy. 

Over the last year, I have also gotten into weightlifting and found that it's really fun and I love the people at my gym. It has been great for mental and physical health. 

Q9. What is a podcast or album you’re listening to right now? 

LW: I regularly listen to a brilliant podcast called How to Fail or will have either of Self Esteem’s albums playing on repeat. 

Q10. What one thing do you want people to know about your job? 

LW: That transforming our food system for the better can begin from small positive changes on public sector plates. The food on offer in our public sector kitchens and dining halls can have a massive impact on the environment, the local economy, and our health. These sites (like schools, care homes and hospitals) are the cornerstones of our society, and they have a huge potential to embed food practices that support a healthy diet using local, seasonal and sustainable foods. Many councils in Scotland are already doing a fantastic job, and it’s our role at Food for Life Scotland to support all local authorities to make these positive proactive steps forward.