Healing Through Food and Fire: Rebuilding Health and Inspiring a Community

When Polly was struck by a mysterious illness that left her bedridden, unable to walk without falling and riddled with chronic pain her life changed overnight. Doctors couldn’t pinpoint the cause, offering a carousel of diagnoses from arthritis to anxiety. Polly’s turning point wasn’t in hospital, but round the table, over bowls of ramen and green juice. There, one doctor’s words ignited a spark of hope: “Everything you need to heal is in these bowls.” This set Polly on a path of discovery, where food became both medicine and connection. Her amazing story isn’t just about personal healing but also about how fire cooking and community have become crucial to her mission of nurturing others.

Healing the Gut Through Food and Fire

Polly’s illness was eventually traced to post-viral fatigue and a severely compromised gut wall. Modern medicine offered little hope for regeneration. “There was no pill for this,” Polly recalls. But what emerged was a radical shift in perspective. Instead of looking outward for a cure, Polly turned inward, focusing on nourishing food, not just as sustenance but as a source of healing. “When I started nourishing my body with the right ingredients, I could feel it regenerate,” Polly explains. Over four years, she rebuilt her health by embracing nutrient-rich, whole foods, many prepared over fire. Cooking over fire became a hugely transformative practice for Polly. “Fire commands attention and respect,” she says. “It gets people out of their heads and into their bodies.”

The primal act of preparing food this way didn’t just nourish her body; it reconnected her to the joy and simplicity of life. Meals like baked beans with cumin and ginger or sweet potato wedges weren’t just about eating but about engaging all the senses. This led Polly to set up her business the Jolly Allotment focused on supporting guts, minds, bodies and souls; and her food truck, The Jolly Trolley, travelling the country nourishing others with beautiful bone broths and medicinal bowls.

Cegin y Bobl: Inspiring a New Generation in Wales

Polly’s journey with food and fire hasn’t stopped with The Jolly Allotment. She’s now a key figure in Cegin y Bobl, a groundbreaking initiative in Wales designed to reconnect young people and communities with their food. The project, funded initially by the UK government, runs workshops, school programmes, and community cooking events to inspire healthier eating and deeper connections to sustainable food sources. One of the project’s key components is teaching children to cook over fire.

Polly’s workshops go beyond basic culinary skills, fostering respect for food and the environment. “Fire is such a powerful teacher,” she notes. “It helps kids feel safe, engaged, and connected, both to their food and to each other.” In these sessions, children learn to prepare meals real simple food; such as sweet potato wedges, beans, and locally sourced welsh halloumi, often discovering new tastes and textures they’d never tried before.

Cegin y Bobl also emphasises the importance of local, seasonal ingredients. “The health of the soil and the health of our gut are deeply interconnected,” Polly explains. By introducing young people to concepts like seasonal eating and sustainable farming, the programme creates a foundation for lifelong healthy habits. ‘There were children at the beginning of the programme who thought their food came from Uber; now they’ve been given the opportunity to connect the dots and see that these foods start in the soil’.

This project is now fundraising to be able to continue its crucial work due to cuts in government funding. You can support their work here.

Reconnecting Through Food

Polly’s work with Cegin y Bobl demonstrates the transformative power of food and community. Whether she’s leading fire cooking workshops or hosting sessions on gut health, her message is clear: food is about more than sustenance, it’s about connection to our bodies, to the earth, and to each other. Her advice for anyone looking to start their own journey? “Gather around a fire, cook something simple and nourishing, and share it with others. There’s power in that.”

From healing her own body to helping a new generation connect with their food, Polly’s story is a testament to resilience and the importance of community. Through the Jolly Allotment and Cegin y Bobl, she’s literally lighting a path for others to follow, proving that the simplest acts, like cooking over fire, can have the most profound impact.

You can join Polly at one of her workshops or watch out for the Jolly Trolley at a festival near you this summer.