Health eating with Jamie's Ministry of Food

Our commitment to delivering healthy cooking and good nutrition programs in our local communities continues through our exciting partnerships with Jamie’s Ministry of Food.

In FY17, over 3,660 of our residents, customers and local community members participated in a variety of initiatives that provided opportunities to change behaviours through education and practical hands-on cooking programs.

These programs included the continued delivery of cooking classes at our permanent kitchen at Stockland Wetherill Park (NSW) and our hosting of the Jamie’s Ministry of Food Mobile Kitchen at Stockland Cairns (Qld), Cleveland (Qld), Newport (Qld) and Baldivis (WA).

Our retirement village residents have also benefited from Jamie’s Ministry of Food programs, participating in cooking demonstrations and the Learn Your Fruit and Veg program with their grandchildren during school holidays.

The focus of these classes was having generations cooking together in a fun and educational environment. Fruit and vegetables were introduced with loads of facts and visuals around smelling, touching and tasting the different varieties, followed by the grandparents and grandchildren making a simple no cook Jamie Oliver recipe.

Independent evaluations conducted by Melbourne University and Deakin University in 2014 and 2015 concluded that the Jamie’s Ministry of Food program not only increases participants’ cooking confidence, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards cooking and healthy eating, but shifted behaviour change towards healthier cooking and eating in the home.

Participants of both the permanent and mobile kitchens were found to increase their vegetable consumption by over half a serve per day and this behaviour has been sustained six months after the completion of the program. The program has also been shown to increase social connectedness particularly for the socially isolated and people with disabilities.