Our focus areas:
- Increase access to affordable, nutritionally and culturally appropriate food in the local community.
- Increase community resources, knowledge and skills for food growing, cooking and eating.
- Shift cultural norms to create and enhance positive relationships between people, food and their bodies.
Key initiatives:
Mealtime Expectations
We partner with early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to create positive mealtime environments through fostering an environment where children enjoy eating and develop a positive and respectful relationship with food and their bodies. We achieve this through reflection, capacity building, and co-design with education staff and families.
More Than a Mealtime shares the findings of Better Health Network’s evaluation of Mealtime Expectations, a health promotion initiative developed in partnership with Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services and families. The evaluation found that meaningful change occurred when attention shifted away from monitoring children’s eating behaviours and towards understanding the beliefs, expectations and practices shaping children’s experiences of food and eating.
Through reflective practice, co-design and collaboration, ECEC staff reported greater confidence in their role during mealtimes, families described reduced pressure around feeding, and children experienced calmer and more positive mealtime environments. The project also contributed to policy reform, strengthened sector partnerships and generated practice-based evidence to inform broader conversations about children’s food environments.
This report offers valuable insights for educators, health promotion practitioners, policymakers and anyone interested in creating positive, responsive and sustainable food environments for children.
View the More Than a Mealtime report here.
View our Mealtime Expectations Flyer for more information.
Cooks Network
We support ECEC cooks through hosting a network where they come together to increase their knowledge, capacity and confidence to create safe and inclusive food environments that support the health and wellbeing of children.
Lunchtime Expectations
We partner with primary schools to create environments where children feel safe and supported while eating and to nurture students’ relationship with food and their bodies. We achieve this through reflection, capacity building, and co-design with teachers, families, and students.
View our Lunchtime Expectations Flyer for more information.
Local Food Systems
We support local councils to develop an understanding and improve the local food system including how people grow, access, eat, dispose, and learn about nutritious, sustainable and culturally appropriate food.
Food Access
We work with our local council partners and community organisations providing support to improve community access to food growing, sharing and composting as well as improve food access for children and young people.
View the City of Port Phillip Free Food Directory Guide to see when and where you can access a free meal in your local area.
To find out more about our service or to get involved, email our Health Promotion team at [email protected]