A story of Welsh food, community and why knowing where our food comes from still matters.

A cheese riot sounds like something I might jokingly threaten when someone takes the last piece from the board.

But in Carmarthen in September 1818, it was a serious matter.

On 25 September, a crowd stopped a consignment of cheese from being shipped out of the town. The cheese was taken back to a warehouse. When another attempt was made a few days later, people intervened again, and the vessel was ransacked.

Local people objected to cheese and butter being exported when they believed it should be available to feed their own community. For working families, cheese was an important source of nourishment when meat was beyond their means.

The name makes us smile. The concern behind it deserves more thought.

Who gets to eat the food a place produces?

A story close to home

I’ve long believed in local food feeding local people, and in supporting the farmers and producers who make that possible.

That belief has roots in my own family. My great-grandparents had a farm, where they made butter. As a child, I picked wild berries and took them home for my grandmother, and later my mother, to turn into pies.

Food came with people, places and memories attached.

It still does.

At Abergavenny Food Festival recently, I bought cheeses from Caws Teifi and Bryngaer Goats. Enjoying them afterwards was part of the pleasure. So was buying directly from the producers.

Knowing something about the maker changes how I look at what’s on the plate. It gives me a reason to pay attention.

What a photograph can tell us

As a photographer, I’m interested in the finished food and everything that leads to it.

The hands at work. The ingredients. The setting. The small decisions made by someone who knows their craft.

A carefully made photograph can show the texture of a cheese or make a dish look inviting. A collection of photographs can go further, helping us understand the work involved and the people responsible.

That matters for an independent food business. Customers can see a price straight away. The care behind the product often needs showing.

My documentary photography background has taught me to look for those details. Through The Crafted Lens, I bring that approach to food and the people who produce it.

Food, people and place

The events in Carmarthen more than two centuries ago remind us that food has always been about more than what appears on the table.

It’s about the people who produce it, the communities they support and the places where those traditions continue.

Across Wales, independent farmers, cheesemakers and artisan producers are creating food with its own identity and story.

Those are the stories I want to explore and photograph.

And beginning with a cheese riot feels rather appropriate.

It brings together history, community and a subject I’m always happy to investigate.

Preferably with crackers.

Which local food producer do you think more people should know about?

I’d love to hear your recommendations.

David Jones — The Crafted Lens

Documentary-inspired food and brand photography across Wales.

Further reading: The Carmarthen Cheese Riot of 1818 — Love Carmarthen.