Being food secure is defined as when all people, at all times, have regular and reliable physical, social and economic access to enough safe, nutritious and culturally relevant food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences. This also means that people are not relying on strategies like emergency food relief on an ongoing basis to put food on the table.

Many Victorians, including residents of Cardinia Shire, are worrying about and/or unable to put food on the table for themselves and members of their household for a range of reasons. This is food insecurity and COVID-19 and rising cost of living pressures has exacerbated this and exposed many households to this experience. Food insecurity is a complex problem, with people often experiencing multiple physical, economic and social barriers to fresh food access.

In collaboration with Cardinia Food Circles we are working towards reimagining for a food secure future across Cardinia Shire.

'Reimagining for a Food Secure Future: Harnessing community expertise in understanding and acting on food insecurity' project was supported by funding from Monash Warwick Alliance.

We would like to thank the community members of Cardinia Shire that contributed to this project.

People discussed ways they believed accessing food could be easier for them and aspects of the food environment that needed improvement. There was an emphasis on affordable and readily available access to locally produced food, whether from farmers or through community gardens.