How we’ve grown
When Bags of Taste started in 2014, Alicia was the only member of staff and she worked with 2 volunteers. There’s now 19 staff and more than 200 volunteers, and 5 board members.
Our Management Team
Alicia Weston
Founder and CEO
Bags of TasteAlicia founded Bags of Taste in 2014 to tackle the root causes of poor diet and food insecurity. Drawing on her background in economics, public health, and behavioural science, she designed a unique programme that helps people cook healthy, low-cost meals at home—long after the course ends.
What began as a pilot in Hackney has grown into a national organisation, supporting over 16,000 participants across 22 locations. Alicia’s leadership blends creative design, systems thinking, and hands-on community insight. She’s shaped everything from our Mentored Home Cooking Programme to our data-driven impact strategy.
Alicia has lectured medical and postgraduate students on health inequalities, advised the National Food Strategy, and won multiple awards—including the British Empire Medal for her work with Bags of Taste. Her approach is practical, empathetic, and focused on long-term change.
Babs Fry
Director of Operations
Bags of TasteBabs has been with Bags of Taste through its whole journey and was a student on the pilot course back in 2014. Since then, Babs, a mother of 5, has not only cooked most of the Bags of Taste recipes but also has been a volunteer and taught some of our courses.
She currently manages the significant logistics operation that’s required to package and individually deliver almost 9 tonnes of food a year, plus educational materials and equipment, to around 2,500 different particpants, across England.
Sarah Hooker
Head of Fundraising and Communications
Bags of TasteSarah has over 20 years’ experience working in fundraising for the not-for-profit sector with a range of national and local charities. She has worked in a number of different fundraising specialisms including: trusts and foundations; major donors; corporate fundraising; events; community fundraising; individual giving, and communications and marketing.
Sarah’s role encompasses not only fundraising but wider organisational communications and new business development.
Helen Buckland
Area Head Manager
Bags of TasteHelen started her career working in the catering industry before retraining as a Food and Nutrition teacher. She taught KS3 and GCSE Food and Nutrition for many years, and has written several textbooks on Food and Nutrition.
Helen started working as an Area Head in 2020 and has successfully established Bags of Taste projects across a number of areas. She trains and manages the Bags of Taste team of Area Heads and is responsible for project monitoring and evaluation so best practice is adopted across the organisation.
She also works on New Business.
Liesel Akers
Volunteer Coordinator, Partnerships Manager
Bags of TasteLiesel started with us as head of our Sheffield operations, which gives her a solid understanding of the workings of our operations and the support our project staff need.
As volunteer coordinator, Liesel oversees recruitment, training, and support of Bags of Taste’s large volunteer base who are primarily mentors.
As Partnerships Manager, she looks to build meaningful partnerships with councils, health providers and community organisations to bring the Bags of Taste programme to more people, creating happier and healthier communities.
Project staff
Maria Belobradova
Haringey, Hastings, Ipswich and Lowestoft
Bags of TasteMaria always tried to help people in need so volunteering for Bags of Taste as a cooking mentor after finishing her degree in nutrition was a clear choice. She loves the idea of teaching people how to cook healthy, nutritious meals on a budget because she believes that everyone should be able to eat healthy food. As an area recruiter, she has the ability to reach out to people and help them improve their health and finances.
Helen Fisher
Hackney and Waltham Forest
Bags of TasteAfter graduating from a Nutrition with Public Health degree in 2023, Helen wanted to be involved in projects that empower people to eat a healthier diet, eat fewer ultra-processed foods and cook more meals from scratch. She started with Bags of Taste as a volunteer mentor and now works across Hackney and Waltham Forest. Helen loves how inclusive Bags of Taste is and how low-cost store cupboard ingredients are used to make simple yet delicious meals.
Justin Roebuck
Islington
Bags of TasteJustin set up Bags of Taste in Islington which has been running successfully since 2016. As an established part of the community sector in Islington, Justin has played an instrumental part in setting up a food action plan for the borough.
We’ve held courses in community centres as well as our Mentored courses throughout Islington and have changed the lives of over 2000 residents.
Liesel Akers
Sheffield
Bags of TasteLiesel loves supporting people to be able to cook healthier and cheaper meals. She loves that the Bags of Taste recipes are simple and give people the confidence to try new things. She’s started cooking a lot over the past few years since moving out of the family home and she knows first hand how important good nutrition is. She really enjoys cooking and experimenting with new recipes weekly.
She also has several Head Office responsibilities including Volunteer Coordination.
Adele Buckland
Kensington and Chelsea and Thanet
Bags of TasteAdele manages Bags of Taste Kensington and Chelsea and Thanet.
Adele’s background is in sales and admin and she also has her own cleaning and property management business. She loves supporting participants at Bags of Taste and helping them with their cooking and motivating them to try new dishes.
Niamh Dunne
Tower Hamlets
Bags of TasteNiamh has volunteered as a cooking mentor at Bags of Taste for over 2 years and since then has started working in Tower Hamlets.
Niamh is a Registered Nutritionist and believes that everyone should have access to healthy and nutritious food. She has had experience working with children and families from different backgrounds in the NHS supporting families to make healthy dietary changes. She believes education in healthy eating and cooking is an important step to improving the health outcomes of people.
Ruth Pirrett
Tower Hamlets
Bags of TasteRuth first came across Bags of Taste while looking for a volunteer opportunity in Hackney. She was a mentor for the Hackney branch for 9 months before starting working at Bags of Taste Tower Hamlets.
She has always loved food and believes cooking nourishing meals is a skill that should be accessible to everyone. She is excited to be starting a masters degree in Nutrition and Public Health.
Talulah Noor
Waltham Forest
Bags of TasteAccording to a January 2021 Food Foundation research, one in six households struggled to access food and 47%. of children were living in poverty, in a borough of more than 250,000 inhabitants.
Talulah manages Bags of Taste in Waltham Forest and brings her experience of working in community education projects to Bags of Taste to help support residents facing these challenges.
Chicolle Dean
Wandsworth
Bags of TasteChicolle began her journey with Bags of Taste upon completing her BSc nutrition degree. Starting out as a mentor meant that she gained valuable experience understanding the barriers to healthy eating and how this impacts other aspects of life. Chicolle is now a course co-ordinator for Wandsworth and enjoys seeing how Bags of Taste improves participants’ confidence and equips them with a new skill set that they can carry forward into their daily lives.
Our Trustees
Tony Curzon Price
Chair of the Board
Bags of TasteTony has been an economist in public policy for over 10 years, including stints at Number 10, the Cabinet Office, BEIS and the CMA. Before that, he founded and grew a tech start-up and was editor-in-chief and CEO at openDemocracy. He now acts in a number of public and private sector advisory roles.
Luke Blackaby
Board Member
Bags of TasteLuke leads Ofgem’s innovation team, managing two national innovation funds and overseeing services that support new ideas and businesses in the energy sector.
Previously, he worked at a food-tech company, where he launched new markets and developed corporate strategy, gaining first-hand experience in building and scaling sustainable food businesses.
Dr Jenny Blythe
Board Member
Bags of TasteJenny lives and works as a GP in East London. She first became aware of Bags of Taste through teaching at Barts and The London, where she wanted her students to understand some of the issues that impact the local community.
She and Alicia organised sessions for students to gain experience of the work of Bags of Taste and an understanding of health inequalities.
With an academic interest in health inequalities and cross-sector working, Jenny is now studying for a PhD in public health at the London School of Hygiene alongside her GP work, and intends to bring her medical and educational experience to the Bags of Taste board.
Babs Fry
Company Secretary
Bags of TasteBabs was a participant on the pilot course of Bags of Taste and has been involved ever since as a volunteer then staff member. She brings to the board a deep understanding of our cohorts and ensures that their views and priorities remain our focus
Nicholas Towers
Board Member
Bags of TasteNicholas is a barrister specialising in complex commercial and property disputes. In his work for local authorities and registered social housing providers he has seen the problems faced by the people we support, and understands how annual household savings made by Bags of Taste students impact both landlords and tenants by helping reduce rent arrears and helping those in food poverty avoid homelessness.
He also recognises how cooking together is an invaluable opportunity for social interaction and community-building as many people in social housing are often isolated.
Alicia Weston
Executive Board Member, CEO
Bags of TasteAs the founder and CEO of Bags of Taste Alicia is able to draw on the broad and specialist skills on the board to inform strategy and develop the organisation.