These notes were taken from a group discussion session at the Food Sovereignty Convergence in Canbbera 23/24 November 2017.
Discussion led by Ben McMenamin.
- Chef for 11 years, runs Social Food Project- consulting, events, workshops etc. AFSA committee for 2 years
- Chefs have a platform, especially celebrity chefs. How do we mobilise that?
- Notion of cooking- young people are less capable, losing food literacy + skills. Role of chef as teachers?
- Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden- enjoyable food education program for primary school kids. Grow, harvest, cook and share. Embedded in curriculum.
- Is this generation less literate? Much more diversity than our parent’s generation
- Chefs could work with schools?
- Bruce Pascoe event with chefs in Brisbane- how to get indigenous staples widely grown and used?
- Educating chefs
- Building relationships between chefs and farmers. Cross promotion, skill share etc.
- Difficult to build relationships with chefs- long hours and stockists are far cheaper and easier
- Connnecting meat farmers with chefs is easier than greens
- Model where chefs create a new menu each week- risky but good experience
- Events- producer’s lunches
- Often chefs will love a producer but they can’t grow the quantity required
- How to manage so many different suppliers?
- Changing menus is a huge undertaking
- Provenance on menus
- Events ideas
- School workshops- cooking meals for parents/staff
- Farmers market tours
- Food for thought festival- Albany
- Workshops
- Soil health workshops for farmers
- Creating spaces for farmers to network and share
- Chefs teaching people to cook
- Ipswich- highest obesity rates
- Jamie Oliver- ministry of food
- Farmers have to pay to get promo campaign
- Woolworths links criticised
- Running 6-7 years, subsidised first few years
- Lots of people in Ipswich have now done a basic course
- Really helps with food literacy but less now because $110 not $10.
- Could local councils/community groups adopt a similar model?
- Teaching parents to cook vegetables without boiling them to death
- Canberra Environment Centre workshops
- Locavore workshops- lots of interest
- ‘Making a meal of it’- how to buy, store, cook, use leftovers etc.
- Program for year 9/10 students about getting them into hospitality- training them up, big event at the end @ local winery kitchen.
- Daylesford Culture Club
- Beechworth Honey Kitchen workshop
- Ballarat Chef School- excursions to meet bakers, producers etc. rather than excursion to Melbourne to eat.
- Do chefs have a responsibility?
- There is so much good affordable food in the city, so people choose to go out and not cook
- Food that is ethically produced is also the most delicious- win-win
- Seasonal cooking- chefs having ‘creative trust’ and being educators about seasonality, people going somewhere because they like the chef’s style rather than specific menu items. But can you have a seasonal thai restaurant in Canberra?
- Does the ‘creative chef’ idea exclude people who can’t afford to pay for it?
- How do I find seasonal, ethical, sustainable restaurants?
- Top-level creative chefs have a trickle down effect on the whole industry
- Chefs do respond to customers- so go and ask questions! Where does this ingredient come from?