Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash
Melbourne Food Orders for Good
A round-up of stay-at-home meals and food initiatives that support those impacted by Melbourne’s current lockdown.
by Jennifer Curcio
Melbourne has reinvented itself under lockdown. Market Lane’s roastery in East Brunswick now has a coffee bean vending machine, chefs normally making food are baking bread, and the food one once lined up for, is now delivered in fancy little boxes. The restrictions have not only forced regular hospitality businesses to pivot but social enterprises, as well as community initiatives too.
This round-up of Melbourne Food Orders for Good features a small list of food based initiatives where the proceeds from your orders are helping those who have directly been affected by the lockdown. This includes hospitality workers to public housing residents.
If you have any additions you’d like to see featured here, please email me: info@decisivecravings.com.au
Image source: https://www.freetofeed.org.au/brave-meals-order-here
Brave Meals is a beautiful initiative that has come out of lockdown from the inspiring team at Free to Feed. Each month features a different menu for collection or delivery and generates employment for Free to Feed participants who are refugees, people seeking asylum and new migrants . You can choose from feasts, banquets or mezzo grazing boxes. Meals are launched every Friday at 1pm for collection or delivery the following Friday.
Currently Brave Meals are being delivered locally to the following suburbs for a flat $10 fee: Northcote, Thornbury, Preston, Brunswick, Brunswick East, Clifton Hill, Fitzroy North, Fitzroy, Fairfield, Princess Hill, Collingwood, Coburg, Heidelberg West. Weekly Brave Meals also select a group of what they call ‘Brave Burbs’ or suburbs they don’t usually deliver to, to ensure everyone gets a taste of their meals for a flat fee of $15.
Image source: https://www.attica.com.au
Attica is a great example of a business that has reinvented itself to stay afloat and support its staff, twenty of which are temporary visa holders. A fixture on the new ‘At Home’ menu includes a Thai-inspired chicken broth ($25) and a fifth of its cost ($5) goes towards making a soup for an unemployed hospitality worker on a temporary visa – this idea was hatched by Attica’s owner Ben Shewry and food writer Dani Valent. You can read more about the project here.
Image source: https://www.streat.com.au
Bread, meals, hampers, groceries and more, social enterprise, Streat, deliver all these goodies within a 7km radius of Melbourne CBD Monday through to Friday. Minimum spend is $50, free delivery for orders of $95 otherwise a delivery fee of $8 applies. Pick up is also available.
Are you in a position to purchase a pay it forward produce box? If so, Joe’s Market Garden at CERES are distributing boxes through Cultivating Community and Open Table, who are delivering to public housing residents across Carlton, Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood that have been worst affected by the COVID pandemic. Boxes are $40 each.
Image source: https://www.fairfeed.com.au
Fair Feed is a community project born out of Melbourne’s first lockdown. While providing nourishing meals for Melbournians which can be ordered online, it is also providing employment for hospitality staff that have lost their jobs due to COVID-19. You order online for same day (if placed before 10:30am) or next day pick up or delivery. The delivery network is wide and can be found here.
