Overview
Queen Victoria Market's Purpose Precinct has done things differently since it launched in 2022. Operating as a social enterprise marketplace filled with over 80 products designed to create social, environmental and cultural good, one part of this forward-thinking marketplace is the Moving Feast Kitchen — a space that explores what food justice and sustainability look like in practice.
It's been announced that Australian chef, author and food advocate Tobie Puttock is moving into the kitchen as the new Innovation Chef, bringing his enduring passion for sustainable food systems. Best known for his long-standing collaboration with Jamie Oliver, where he helped establish training restaurants for underprivileged young people, Puttock's ambitious approach to zero-waste cooking and food education is central to his purpose-driven goals.
Back home in Melbourne, Puttock's pairing with Moving Feast Kitchen is certainly a harmonious fit. "Food has the power to bring people together, to nourish, and to create lasting change. The Moving Feast model – circular, inclusive, community-driven — is exactly the kind of space where I want to cook, teach and collaborate," says Puttock.
Launched by leading social enterprise STREAT at the start of the pandemic, Moving Feast's network of food-based social enterprises collaborates on fair and regenerative system projects. Though it was initially founded in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, the operation has since expanded to over 30 one-off and multi-year projects, including the Purpose Precinct and Crowd Sauce — a series of pantry ingredients made from surplus produce.
Now with Puttock at the helm, Moving Feast Kitchen will step up its program of cooking classes, events and zero-waste retail food products. "We're expanding our commitment to innovation and community impact at Queen Victoria Market, and the work happening through the Purpose Precinct is central to this," says Matt Elliott, CEO of Queen Victoria Market. "The addition of Tobie will build on the incredible work by the STREAT team already underway on site."
In tackling issues like food waste and food injustice, Moving Feast aims to address numerous climate and social challenges. From within the Purpose Precinct, it operates more as a science lab than a traditional kitchen, giving innovative changemakers like Puttock the space to rethink our relationship with the food supply chain to make a tangible impact. However, the pantry's range of long-shelf life products made from overripe and unsold produce also makes for a nourishing bite.
Moving Feast Kitchen is open at QVM's Purpose Precinct on Tuesdays and Thursday–Saturday from 9am–3pm. Head to the website for more information.