Both Gemma and Ebony are third year nutrition and dietetic students at the University of Wollongong who are passionate about promoting health to others. They joined the Food Fairness Illawarra (FFI) community by the 6 month volunteer media and communications internship. This internship has trained them in managing FFI’s social media pages, keeping the website up to date and producing the bi-monthly newsletter.
The internship is all about engaging the local community to work towards a sustainable and fair food system.
Ebony
In this internship I have learnt and promoted things from kitchen tips to reduce food waste to discovering local courses to develop skills in gardening.
Gemma
Both budding dietitians agree that FFI has been a great avenue to promote health in a sustainable manner and excited about this edition of the FFI newsletter as the theme ‘Eating Well’ complements their academic interests.
It is not just through their time at FFI that they have been working towards a fairer food system; Gemma supports local growers and producers by shopping at Wollongong Online Farmers Markets and other local markets.
Markets are fantastic. It feels great to support local businesses as well as having the security in knowing that my food is fresh and in season.
Gemma
Ebony enjoys tending to her balcony herb garden and growing her own lettuce. She also enjoys minimising her food wastage by cooking a variety of meals, where the key ingredient of the dinner is often the food that is on it’s last few days in the fridge!
It’s a fun way for me to get variety in my meals, learn new dishes and ensure that I’m not having excess food waste. I’ve done a uni practical on sustainable cooking too, where we had three key ingredients which we needed to incorporate into a meal.
Ebony
As young foodies they both agree that their favourite thing about food, is not the food itself but how it influences and promotes relationships. To them, food is social.
For me, food is all about sharing a meal with someone.
Gemma
In respect to their degree, both agree that eating well is all about a balance. Having a lifestyle full of nourishing food where it enables you to do the things you love is all what eating well is about. Food shouldn’t be restricted or avoided, but enjoyed in a healthy balanced way. Eating well is also about ensuring that our food is also beneficial to the planet.
In class it has been really interesting to learn about the planetary health diet, which is this concept that a healthy diet should be healthy to the consumers and also the planet.
Ebony
Read more about the planetary health diet
As uni students, they understand that food, especially recently, can be expensive. So, below is a list of their top tips to eating well on a budget.
Eating well on a budget tips:
- Have more plant based meals (use beans, legumes and lentils to fill out a meal)
- Cook up and freeze leftovers
- Stock up on non-perishables when on sale
- Buy in season fruits and vegetables
- Combine fresh with frozen or canned fruit and vegetables
P.S. Come join Gemma and Ebony by applying for the FFI Internship
