Two decades ago, renowned Australian cook and food writer Stephanie Alexander set up the Kitchen Garden Foundation to support children and young people to form positive food habits for life.
Recognising the concerning reality that so few children and young people were consuming the recommended amount of vegetables, Stephanie embarked on a mission to change this narrative.
The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation empowers educators across Australia with the inspiration, resources and support necessary to deliver pleasurable food education to children and young people across Australia via the Kitchen Garden Program.
Starting with just one kitchen garden program in 2004 at Collingwood College in Melbourne, the Foundation has grown in leaps and bounds and now supports more than 1000 schools and early childhood settings across Australia to run kitchen garden programs.
Over 20 years, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation has facilitated:
Everyone who works with and volunteers for the organisation has a genuine passion for “pleasurable food education” which essentially inspires good food habits in children and young people through hands on activities using fresh, delicious, seasonal produce. It helps children to develop a deeper connection to produce, celebrate the joy of fresh food and the act of coming together to share it.
The foundation has found their program not only fosters better food knowledge but helps children and schools build a connection to their local community.
These connections are built both through community volunteers helping to run the programs and through settings which invite broader community participation such as markets where children can help sell the gardens excess produce.
While the program is already in place across more than a thousand locations, there’s still a lot of unmet demand.
One of the biggest challenges to starting a kitchen garden program is lack of funding.
This is where Macdoch Foundation has stepped in, so far providing the funds to support 10 schools across Australia with grants to begin their kitchen garden programs.
The Foundation has a bright vision for the future and is working towards the goal to have more than a million children and young people benefiting from a Kitchen Garden program over the next 20 years.
Programs can start as small as some pot plants on the classroom windowsill.
Through the foundation, more Australian children and young people are gaining invaluable knowledge about food, fostering healthier habits and building stronger connections to their communities.
Alongside their participating schools, learning centres and educators, they are helping to sowing the seeds for a brighter, healthier future for generations to come.
To learn more about Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens, head to the website: www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au
