FOR THOUGHTFood

Local businesses have teamed up with a Sunshine Coast charity in a bid to help our most vulnerable, Ingrid Nelson discovers more.

Food starts a conversation. That’s the message behind The Hatted Chef, a delicious new range of heat-and-eat meals that is supporting the Sunshine Coast’s most vulnerable.

Curated by hatted chef Chris Sell of The Dock Mooloolaba and available through all White’s IGA stores, every fifth meal sold will go to Sunny Street, a charity organisation created to help the homeless and at-risk community.

The idea was brewing in The Dock kitchens for some time, however the onset of COVID was the catalyst for the team to bring the idea to life.

“When the restaurant was closed for dining in because of COVID-19, we wanted to create options for our customers beyond just takeaway and also provide work for our staff,” says Chris.

Using the same ethos as at the restaurant, The Hatted Chef uses the highest quality ingredients, sourced locally wherever possible, with the meals lovingly prepared by chefs under the watchful eye of Chris, who was awarded a coveted Good Food Guide Chef Hat in 2016.

“We wanted to offer great food with the highest quality ingredients, sourced as locally as possible, but we also wanted to give back to the community beyond just creating jobs, and supporting producers – and that’s when we decided to use the products to support homelessness in our local area,” says Chris.

“That led us to the incredible work being done by Dr Nova Evans and nurse Sonia Goodwin at Sunny Street, which provides medical care and support for homeless people on the Sunshine Coast.

“For every four packs sold, one meal or the equivalent value will be provided to Sunny Street, which is 20% of everything sold.”

Both previously in managerial positions with Queensland Health, Nova and Sonia were charged with getting patients home after their stay in hospital. However, the dynamic duo saw a real need to fill a gap for those who had no home to go to.

“Everyone wants to be home, it’s where they feel their best, but unfortunately we saw a lot of people who were re-presenting through the emergency department with drug use issues and mental health issues who had nowhere to sleep,” says Nova.

“We realised there was a gap in the service. We knew we, and our colleagues, were doing a great job when they came through the hospital doors but what about those who didn’t make it through those doors? It got us thinking about how we could help,” adds Sonia.

Parents to eight children and three grandchildren between them, the brave duo, who were both the sole income earners for their families at the time, decided to resign from their secure, permanent jobs and follow their passion to help our most vulnerable.

“To be honest we got tired of asking permission. We hit an innovation ceiling in our workplace. We did as much as we could in the system and so we realised we had to work outside it,” says Nova.

“Essentially, we have created a health care system for vulnerable Australians ourselves to help people in that gap who says often is the simplest of conditions they need help with.

“Simple things when you are sleeping rough become really serious, getting covered in mozzie bites for example,” she said. “One gent we treated was covered in abscesses.

“A lot of people have had traumatic lives, so to walk through the doors and ask for help is incredibly confronting for them. Even a lack of health literacy and anxiety plays a massive part.”

Both Nova and Sonia are delighted to be partnering with The Hatted Chef, which will mean nutritionallyintentional food rather than opportunistic eating that happens when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.

The biggest thing is that food starts a conversation,” says Nova.

“Healthcare has to be in collaboration with other stakeholders like the Hatted Chef who are community-centered. We are all in this together to look after our community. If we don’t we are all on our own.” are not accessing appropriate healthcare. It was a massive jump, we call it our Geronimo moment!”

Well known for her community spirit and helping others to reach their dreams, award-winning business woman Roz White says she was delighted to be able to support the Hatted Chef through selling the meals through White’s IGA Stores.

The duo began running two clinics per week for the first six months, and now run nine per week across South East Queensland including Gympie, Tewantin, Nambour and Maroochydore.

“The majority are men aged between 35-55, as they seem to be the last on the list to get housing, it’s really quite sad. We had one gent say to us ‘I’ve been on the streets too long’. There is a sorrow that embeds them, you can feel it when you meet them,” says Sonia.

“The second biggest group are females aged 8 to 25 and the fasting growing is women over 55 who have perhaps spent their life looking after family and have little superannuation.”

Citing embarrassment, self-shame and self-stigma as some of the main reasons those who are homeless are reluctant to present to a hospital, Nova

“It’s a great range that is of a very high-quality, it’s convenient and the servings are generous, with each pack serving two people, and its local which we love,” she said. “Plus, it’s helping those in our community who need it most.”

Restaurant-quality meals that are ready in minutes and made from locally-sourced ingredients with a generous side serving of helping your community - Order up!

Food For Thought

The Hatted Chef range includes four different dishes and each pack includes two generous serves:

∙ Wild Mushroom Risotto

(vegetarian): RRP $12.99

∙ Smoked Peppered Beef Brisket: RRP $19.99

∙ Smoked Wagyu Beef Brisket: RRP $19.99

∙ Smoked Pulled Pork: RRP $19.99

For stockists or to become a distributor visit www.thehattedchef.com.au

When my three-year-old was two, she’d sit on the kitchen bench as I made dinner and ‘help’ me by stealing pieces of raw pumpkin and zucchini and munching them down gleefully.

What a proud and deluded dad I was.

Somewhere in the transition to becoming a threenager, the word ‘disgusting’ entered her vocabulary, and she now uses it to describe the majority of vegetables, raw or cooked. Even the threat of ice cream bans and chocolate rationing is often not enough to get her to force them down.

I know I’m not alone, and I know it’s not a new problem; I’m sure kids have been slipping their brussels sprouts to the family dog when mum wasn’t looking for generations.

The difference is that when grandma and grandpa didn’t eat their dinner, they just went hungry.

As a guilt-ridden, time-poor, modern day parent myself, I often give in to the dietary ‘preferences’ of my child, just to avoid tantrums (from her, not me) and to know she’s at least eating something.

Now before you go calling social services on me, I can assure you that my daughter is perfectly well nourished and most of the time has a very healthy diet.

It’s taken a bit of trial and error, but I’ve discovered the greatest successes come from looking at the foods she does like, then working in healthy elements so there’s a good balance of nutrients and sanity.

Spaghetti Bolognaise is a great example; a sauce that could be just onions, mince and tomatoes is the perfect place to hide grated zucchini, carrots and celery.

Fried rice is another good way to get a whole lot of different vegetables into one meal, and by simply dicing them all nice and small, it would seem they no longer display any of the characteristics of their former disgusting selves.

The statistics clearly show that Australians’ love of processed foods, refined sugars and unhealthy fats, and a deficit in fruit, vegetables and whole grains in their diet is leading to an epidemic in obesity and diabetes, which in turn creates all sorts of other medical issues.

But a much greater problem this country is facing is a population that is plagued with mental health issues like anxiety and depression, and it’s a problem that’s affecting us at an increasingly younger age.

You could blame that on the pressures kids face in the school yard, on social media, or on the ever-looping 24-hour news cycle filling their heads with stories of tragedy, but there’s a distinct and proven correlation between how we fuel our children’s bodies and minds and their ability to cope with everything life throws at them.

I don’t believe bringing up a healthy family requires a degree in nutrition, or ruling the kitchen with an iron fist; but it does take a commitment to moderation, an awareness that we are surrounded by processed convenience foods and having the fortitude to resist them, and a basic understanding of the types of food required to make up a balanced diet.

Matt’s Very Special Fried Rice recipe is packed full of vegetables including peas, carrot, corn, zucchini, broccoli, capsicum and mushroom, but can be adjusted to suit whatever vegetables your child enjoys. You can find his kid-friendly recipes on the following pages.

School kitchen gardens have become an important way to educate young people about the realities of growing food and will hopefully play a part in bringing up a generation with a greater respect for the food they consume.

They might even teach their parents a thing or two.

I have no doubt that when Miss three turns to four I’ll be faced with a swathe of new parenting challenges, but for now if all I have to do is think of creative ways to make broccoli disappear to keep those beautiful little eyes sparkling then I’ll just keep up the magic show!

‘BRAIN FOOD’ GRANOLA, COCONUT YOGHURT, BLUEBERRIES AND NECTARINES

Pumpkin seeds, nuts, dark chocolate and green tea all register highly on the list of foods which are good for brain function, so I’ve come up with a granola recipe that incorporates all four into one delicious crunchy brekky treat. Coconut yoghurt (or any yoghurt for that matter) is great for gut health and blueberries are a fantastic antioxidant.

Without the yoghurt and fruit, the granola makes an easy lunchbox snack, and is a good alternative to overpackaged, high sugar muesli bars.

For a gluten free version, just replace the oats with extra rice puffs.