Slow Food Hunter Valley commenced this community food program in 2014 in response to local needs. The program involves taking donated foods from nearby farms, local gardens and businesses,and turning it into nutritious and tasty meals. The meals are made under the guidance of local chef and Slow Food leader Amorelle Dempster. Amorelle instigated the project in 2014, kindly enabling the food preparation to take place in her cafe alongside the normal operation of the cafe.
Throughout the week, for 35 weeks of the year, a dedicated group of volunteers of all ages and stages of life, prepares and cooks the donated food. The completed meals are boxed on Saturday mornings ready for to be collected by OzHarvest on Monday mornings. The meals are then distributed to disadvantaged people within the community through organisations such as Maitland Neighbourhood Centre, Carries Place (a womens refuge), Samaritans Youth Accommodation Service Maitland, CRC Rutherford and Mindaribba LALC Maitland. In 2016 we were pleased to have provided a total of 3723 meals to local people in need.
We are always striving to produce our food more efficiently as the need in the local community is growing.