150 primary students at Belmore South and Lakemba Primary Schools are the first in Australia to take part in OzHarvest’s new education program FEAST (Food Education and Sustainability Training). The pilot program has been run by both schools in the Bankstown-Canterbury area and aims to inspire kids to eat healthy, waste less and become change-makers in their local communities.

The curriculum aligned program teaches kids about sustainability, food waste and nutrition using hands-on cooking and inquiry based learning. Students have spent this term exploring the role food plays in our everyday lives, learning about food waste and the importance of protecting the planet, having fun cooking healthy food such as fast fritters and peach parfait and creating their own recipes using food that might otherwise be wasted.

OzHarvest Founder and CEO, Ronni Kahn said education is the key to influencing change. “Children are the future to saving the planet and this program is about inspiring them to make a difference. Like any good FEAST, we have designed it to be fun, engaging and filled with good food! It combines creative cooking, together with nutrition knowledge, healthy eating and reducing food waste to protect the environment and help everyone lead fully sustainable lives.”

Mayor of the City of Canterbury Bankstown, Khal Asfour said it was great to see local school taking part in the pilot program. “It’s fantastic to see Canterbury-Bankstown be the first City in Australia to benefit from the FEAST program. As a father, I know how important it is to instill healthy eating habits and the idea of wasting less, into our children at a young age.”

Belmore South Stage 3 teacher John Galea has run the pilot program in his class for the last 10 weeks. “My students have had great fun learning about food waste, creating their own recipes and getting stuck in to the hands-on cooking activities. Interaction is a great way to get results and FEAST is a great example of this.”

The new program features the creation of a School Cookbook which Belmore South students presented today to OzHarvest Founder Ronni Kahn and David Lowery, Education Officer for Environmental Sustainability at Canterbury-Bankstown Council.

The pilot program will continue with primary schools in Narwee and Beverly Hills North in Term 3, with plans for roll out across NSW in January 2019. FEAST will be available nationally from January 2020.

Schools can register their interest at https://staging.ozharvest.org/feast/