Greetings All,

It’s Fair Food Week

Fair Food Week is almost upon us, and what a fantastic week it promises to be! There are dozens of events celebrating the pleasure and values that food embodies for us all – check out the website www.fairfoodweek.org for an event near you.  If there isn’t an event near you, create your own.  Get inspiration from other events, create your own, and please share it on our website and Facebook page.  It could be as simple as a shared meal with friends or local produce or plant a fruit tree.

Over the last few months I have spoken to hundreds of people about Fair Food and the week we celebrate it. The most common question was; what makes food fair?  The answers varied enormously and reflected the wonderful diversity that is the fair food movement, but they can all be distilled into three basic groups that revolve around environmental, social and economic justice.

The concept of a ‘fair go’ resonates so deeply with Australians, that for many it is a visceral response and we equate the ‘fair go’ with natural justice. So it is a very healthy thing for the fair food movement to tackle the systemic issues of the food system from multiple directions simultaneously.   The great variety of events demonstrates our resilience through diversity.

I would also suggest that it would be fair to say (pun intended) that a ‘fair go’ is the strongest of unifying themes in Australia. Give that Fair Food Week is deliberately centred around World Food Day, it is a great response to the local, national and global challenges to food sovereignty.  Fair Food Week is truly thinking globally whilst acting locally.

Best regards and in solidarity,
Michael Croft