Barwon Health - Healthy Communities

Healthy Communities - Community Kitchens

Due to the current restrictions around social gatherings, Community Kitchens across the Barwon region are currently not running.

A number of Neighbourhood Houses in Barwon are keeping connected with their communities via Facebook videos. Take a look:

What is a Community Kitchen?

A Community Kitchen is a group of people who come together on a regular basis to cook, socialise and enjoy good food. Each group decides how their kitchen will run, how often they will meet and what food they will prepare. We currently have 20 Community Kitchens running across the Barwon region.

Community Kitchens can run anywhere there is an existing kitchen facility. This includes:

Schools
Neighbourhood houses
Community health services
Churches
Service clubs
Private businesses

Find a Community Kitchen near you

Why join a community kitchen?

Community KItchens are a great way to gain knowledge and skills about nutritious food and food preparation. Most importantly are affordable, fun and a great way to socialise.

Join our Community Kitchens ‘What’s Cooking?’ newsletter. Every season we share important dates, seasonal produce, cooking tips and recipes.

See below for our previous editions:

What happens at a community kitchen?

Community Kitchens are not all about cooking. Much of the success of a community kitchen is the teamwork that takes place when a group comes together.

Community Kitchen participants are involved in all stages of the cooking process; menu planning, shopping, cooking and eating. Each group is supported by a trained Community Kitchen facilitator.

Community Kitchen participants are involved in all stages of the cooking process.
Process

Menu planning

During the menu planning session, participants discuss their recipes, plan the purchasing of ingredients and decide upon an appropriate budget.

Cooking session

During the cooking session, participants are involved in all stages of food preparation. At the end of the session, groups decide whether they share the prepared food together or take it home to enjoy later.

Comments

How can you get involved in a Community Kitchen?

For more information about joining a community kitchen or creating your own Community Kitchen group, contact The Healthy Communities Team on (03) 4215 3476 and ask for Suzanne Harman.

Facilitator training

Community Kitchen facilitators help ensure a Community Kitchen runs smoothly. Community Kitchens have at least one or two facilitators, so they can share the responsibilities and support one another.

The Community Kitchen facilitator role is to assist participants to run the Community Kitchen. A facilitator can be a group participant, volunteer or an employed worker. Over time, participants may be willing to step up into the facilitator role.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in co-facilitating a community kitchen please contact us.

Suzanne Harman - ph. (03) 4215 3476

Healthy Communities