SilverChef grant a leg-up for food security

article

FOOD insecurity is a problem normally associated with Third World countries plagued by, for example, war and drought.

However, it’s an issue that’s close to home too, especially in Indigenous communities in Australia’s remote areas.

“These communities have limited access to affordable and healthy food options,” says Levi-Joel Tamou, the founder of Indigenous Futures Foundation (IFF), a not-for-profit helping to close the food gap.

“This is due in large part to the higher cost of transporting fresh produce and other essential items to these areas.”

The IFF is on a mission to help end the food crisis in First Nation communities by distributing free meals, providing hospitality training, and teaching people how to grow their own food.

For the past six years the foundation has been distributing free meals — prepared and packaged by charity kitchen Fareshare — to communities in South East Queensland and Northern NSW.

Indigenous households are 3 x more likely to experience severe or moderate food insecurity compared to non-Indigenous households — ABS

While these regions are close to food sources, factors such as poverty, unemployment, homelessness and high grocery prices make food security more precarious.

It’s not just food availability and accessibility at play, but also a lack of facilities to safely prepare food at home, making many Indigenous families more reliant on less-healthy processed and takeaway foods.

Another component of the IFF’s food-security mission is hospitality training, which aims to improve participants’ nutritional knowledge and provide them with employment pathways.

Since last year, the foundation has been providing training to residents of Cherbourg, about 250km north-west of Brisbane.

The non-accredited training takes place in a community café fitted out by the foundation — the first café the town of 1,200 people has had in over 20 years.

It was given a boost recently when SilverChef awarded the IFF a $5,000 community grant that they used to buy a fully refurbished fridge and smoker for the café.

Sadie (left) and Maureen enjoying learning to make their first lattes during barista training provided by the Indigenous Futures Foundation in Cherbourg.

The foundation plans to become a registered training organisation (RTO) offering accredited courses not only in hospitality but also horticulture (the third plank in its mission).

Says Levi: “Longer term, we want to get our mob back to our culture of cultivating the land, growing food, and being self-sustainable.”

"SilverChef has been so generous with their community grant, enabling us to access equipment we wouldn’t normally be able to prioritise as we begin working on becoming an RTO delivering qualifications in hospitality and horticulture".