Blue Mountains Food Security Fair

Join us at the Planetary Health Centre on Saturday 18th October for our inaugural Food Security Fair. The day will include stalls, talks and demos about growing, sourcing, cooking, preserving and enjoying plant based food and protecting habitat for wildlife.

Each session needs to be booked individually as numbers are strictly limited.

PROGRAM

FEATURED SESSIONS

Breakfast with Michael from Good Fat Pastry

Be prepared to rethink what it takes to make delicious mouth watering pastries as you try Good Fat Pastry's delicious plant based (and mostly gluten free!) treats for breakfast. Michael, the creative baker producing these treats, will inspire you to rethink everything you know about baking:

Baking is both borne and constrained by convention—as are our expectations. Since Ancient Egypt and Rome, eggs, dairy, and cereals have been used in baked goods for flavour and functionality. The enormity of cakes, pastries, biscuits, and desserts we know and love—and the countless we have no awareness of—have been discovered and created through spontaneity and experimentation. Almost always resting on the magical transformations of these key ingredients under heat and energy.

Yet as the realm of food is one of creativity and sensory inquisitiveness there are inherent possibilities for alternatives—in replicating the familiar as well as creating novelty. This path can follow the complexities of molecular gastronomy or the simple pragmatism of substituting with what's on hand. Find whatever works for you.

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Wild Edibles with Marnee Fox

Marnee Fox is a sustainable interior decorator, stylist, foodie and weed convert. She's also one half of Forage to Feast Australia with husband, renowned environmental educator Diego Bonetto. Building on Diego's much-loved weed foraging workshops, Marnee takes the food found on the foraging tour to the table. In this session she'll touch on how to incorporate wild ingredients into your every day diet AND make it delicious. 

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Mid Blue Mountains Seed Savers: Lloyd Sharp

Join us as we hear from inspiring seed saver Lloyd Sharp about how central to our whole existence seeds are, and why we need to save locally acclimatised seeds. Lloyd will talk about seed saving, Mid Mountains Seed Savers and share suggestions as we launch Upper Mountains Seed Savers.

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The Future of Food with Dr Milena Bojovic

What we eat, how we grow it, and the choices we make at the dinner table have never been more important than today. This presentation offers a journey through the current state of farming and climate change and why it’s time for a major rethink of how we produce our food and understand why our current food systems are under pressure. This talk will offer insights into how we can shift towards fairer, more sustainable ways of feeding the world, ones that are better for both people and the planet. Drawing on her research in food system sustainability, Milena will share insights into how Australia and New Zealand are navigating the future of food, highlighting the role of alternative proteins such as plant-based options and fascinating new tech like precision fermentation, where meat and dairy are made without the need for animals.

Dr. Milena Bojovic is a Lecturer in Sustainability and Environmental Studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She has a background in geography and completed her PhD at Macquarie University, focusing on just transitions in Aotearoa New Zealand’s dairy sector. Milena’s research explores the intersections of climate change and agriculture, food system sustainability, and the social and environmental justice issues that shape the future of food transitions.

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Ferment the season with Holly Davis

Holly Davis will demonstrate how to ferment the season to create more nutrient rich and digestible food.

Holly is a wholefood chef, author and educator. She co-founded Sydney’s Iku Wholefoods in 1985 and has written Ferment – A Guide to the Ancient Art of Culturing Foods and Nourish: Sustenance for Body and Soul.

Holly aims to seduce people to better ways of thinking about, sourcing, preparing, and eating balanced wholefood meals, by teaching them to make or feeding them, irresistibly delicious foods, that happen to be good for them. She has been intentionally fermenting food and drinks to deliciousness for over four decades!

In this talk and demonstration you will learn how to limit waste and raise the nutrient value and digestibility of the meals you eat.

Learn the foundational principles and several techniques for fermenting seasonally abundant produce. Fermentation increases nutrition and eating a little ferment with every meal has unlimited benefits for our overall wellbeing and the planet!

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Plant Inspired demo and degustation: Replacing dairy and eggs in cooking, and plant based cheese tasting with Dr Teya Brooks Pribac

Discover how delicious and simple plant-based cooking can be! Join Teya from the Plant Inspired project for an engaging session on swapping out dairy and eggs with easy, everyday alternatives. In the hands-on part of the workshop, you’ll get to roll up your sleeves (and taste buds) as we create egg-free sandwiches, silky coconut custard, and even aquafaba ice-cream. And of course, no event would be complete without a taste of Teya’s vegan cheeses!

Teya is a multi disciplinary artist, researcher in animal studies and author of Not Just Another Vegan Cookbook. She is also the founder of Plant Inspired.

Plant Inspired's mission is to empower people to adopt a plant based diet and create a kinder, healthier, more sustainable future. Learn more here

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Weaving with weeds: Erin Hall

In this relaxing and enjoyable workshop Erin Hall will help you identify common invasive weeds that are ideal for basket making, and teach you the basic skills to weave a range of different objects. At the same time you'll be removing and repurposing weeds that are destroying habitat for our wildlife!

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How to build a solar powered food dehydrator with Nev Sweeney

Nev & Linda Sweeney have been living in St Clair Western Sydney for over 45 years on their 600m2 block, where they attempt to live a more sustainable and resilient lifestyle using permaculture. They have been operating their website Under the Choko Tree for over 15 years.

In this session learn how to make and use solar powered food dehydrators. Nev will talk about why food dehydration is a good idea, some techniques that can be used to dry food, pretreat or not to pretreat, general tips and considerations about food drying, drying fruit and veg, testing for dryness and using dried produce. He will explain how he made a simple direct solar food dryer and a more complex indirect solar food dryer. 
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STALLHOLDERS

Stalls on the day include:

• The Planetary Health Cafe

• EarthRising Mushroom Farm

• Mid Blue Mountains Seedsavers

• Edible Native Plants

• Blackheath Community Farm

If you would like to have a stall contact planetaryhealthevents@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

This Blue Mountains Planetary Health Environmental Trust event for World Animal Day is being supported by an Australian Association for Environmental Education sEEd grant.