With increased demand for local organic produce to ensure clean and healthy food, the fifth annual Sunshine Coast Real Food Festival will hold workshops to educate locals on the importance of local food supply chains and how the community can get involved.
Local food supply pioneer and owner of Good Harvest, Mick Dan, said his presentation will focus on how the local real food movement has gone global.
“After travelling around the world working with local communities and development projects and just having returned from a research trip in the Amazon, I’m passionate about educating the community about their local food supply chain.
“I’ve been involved with the Sunshine Coast food supply chain for six years now, and my store Good Harvest sells fresh, local, organic seasonal produce. We are also proud to be launching at the festival, two new offerings for customers to have in-season local produce delivered fresh weekly, available as a mixed box, and also a full service wholefoods grocery delivery” Mick said.
University of the Sunshine Coast, School of Business Associate Lecturer in Marketing, David Fleischman, said that food box schemes were becoming increasingly popular online and suited the busy lifestyles of community members.
“We are seeing market trends expand outside just the fruit and veggie food box scheme and there is an increased demand from consumers for other fresh products including dairy products, meat and wine.
“The whole concept of the food box scheme makes the consumer more aware of where their food comes from and educates them about seasonal produce, while also shortening the food suppy chain.
“Some of the younger generation is far removed from how and where the food they consume is produced. It’s important that we educate the next generation about the origin of fresh local produce and its connection to more sustainable living,” David said.
The Food for Thought and Nourishing Ideas venues at the Real Food Festival will host presentations on a range of subjects, including our food supply chain, distribution of food surplus, food labelling, diet and health related issues, with particular emphasis this year on nutrition for different stages of life.
The Sunshine Coast Real Food Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as part of a dynamic calendar of events throughout the state. It is also supported by Sunshine Coast Council and Sunshine Coast Destination Limited.
The event is expecting 10,000 visitors through the gates over the Festival weekend. There will be over 50 presentations at eight different venues including cooking demonstrations, chef talks, expert presentations, interactive workshops and kids activities within the Festival as well as over 100 food exhibitors from throughout the Sunshine Coast region.
The Real Food Festival will be held at the Maleny Showgrounds, 13 Stanley River Road, Maleny on 12 & 13 September from 9am to 4pm daily and will showcase an abundance of good foods from Sunshine Coast producers, manufacturers and restaurants. Entry is $20 for a daily adult pass and children under 16 are free.
For more information on the Real Food Festival, visit the website at www.realfoodfestivals.com.au.
Tickets are available at the Festival or you can also purchase your tickets via Ticketmaster – just go to http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/ and search for Real Food Festival.
