from farm to table: loving local food.

For me, loving what you eat isn’t only about what ends up on your plate. It’s also about the experience of choosing food, knowing where it comes from and feeling connected to the
people and places that produce it.

Living in Victoria on the Mornington Peninsula, I’m lucky to have access to so many local farms, growers and producers close to home. Whether it’s picking up fresh, seasonal produce from places like Hawkes Farm and Torello Farm, discovering locally made foods from other Peninsula producers, or even stopping for Hawkes Farm’s well-known hot chips, shopping locally feels like more than just buying groceries. It becomes part of the food experience and helps me feel more connected to where my food comes from.

At Hawkes Farm in Boneo, the farm market sits within a working vegetable farm. The Hawkes family has been growing Victorian fruit and vegetables for generations, and the market now sells both its own produce and products from other local growers and makers. The farm also identifies regenerative practices as part of its farming approach.

Farm-gate shopping also naturally encourages you to notice what is in season. The produce changes throughout the year depending on what is being grown and harvested.

Torello Farm describes its farm gate as an ever-changing collection of seasonal fruit and vegetables grown both on the farm and by other Mornington Peninsula growers. It also brings together other locally produced foods, including bread, cheese, olive oil and preserves.

For me, that makes shopping more interesting. You might go in expecting to buy one thing and leave with a vegetable or variety you haven’t cooked with before.

It’s also a simple way to try foods you might not usually pick up and add a bit more variety to what you eat.

Shopping locally is also an opportunity to support farmers, growers and food producers within your own community.

Not everything sold at a farm gate will necessarily have been grown metres from the shop, but many farm stores make a conscious effort to showcase food produced within their surrounding region.

Hawkes Farm, stocks produce and products from a range of Mornington Peninsula and Victorian producers alongside its own vegetables, while Torello Farm focuses on food that is “Peninsula grown, grazed and gathered.”

You feel connected to the people actually growing and producing the food you’re buying.

There is also something particularly enjoyable about walking into a farm shop and seeing crates of fresh vegetables, seasonal fruit and produce.

Having beautiful fresh produce in front of you can make eating vegetables and trying new foods feel genuinely exciting.

National Nutrition Week’s Loving what we eat isn’t just about nutrition, it’s also about the experiences, people and places connected to our food.

For me, visiting local farms helps me appreciate food differently. I get to see where some of it is grown, notice which foods are in season, support local producers and come home excited to use the ingredients I’ve bought.

You don’t necessarily need to live near a farm to experience that connection either. Farmers’ markets, independent fruit and vegetable shops, community gardens and choosing locally grown produce where possible can all help us become a little more connected to our food.

Sometimes loving what you eat can begin with simply knowing a little more about where it came from.