from my family’s kitchen to yours, why NEST feels personal.

By Elisha West, National NEST Program Manager, OzHarvest

Food has always been at the centre of my life. Growing up in a Greek family, it wasn’t just something we ate, it was how we welcomed people, showed love, and connected. My Mum and Thea (Great Aunty) started teaching me to cook when I was just 4 years old and those early moments shaped everything I’d go on to do.

I’ve carried it into my own family life, and as National NEST Program Manager, I love that I now get to create those same moments for people through NEST. That experience of cooking alongside others and sitting down to share a meal is something everyone deserves, regardless of background or circumstance.

NEST is OzHarvest’s Nutrition Education Skills Training Program: a 6-week evidence-based nutrition and food literacy program delivered directly at community organisations by university-qualified nutritionists and dietitians.  The program is designed for adults who want to eat well but aren’t sure where to start, parents on tight budgets, elderly people cooking for one, or anyone who never had the chance to learn the basics.

Each weekly session runs for 2.5 hours, covering interactive nutrition activities, hands-on group cooking, and a shared meal together at the end.  Over 6 weeks, participants learn about the food groups, label reading, food safety and storage, building healthy habits, and how to make simple, nourishing meals from everyday ingredients.  At the final session, everyone receives a certificate, take-home fact sheets (which are available in 10 languages) and the OzHarvest Everyday Cookbook, which is full of recipes that cost less than $4 per serve.

NEST is practical, it’s warm, it’s simple, and it’s inviting, because the people NEST is designed for have often arrived carrying a lot financial stress, uncertainty, and sense that healthy eating is a luxury they can’t afford.  The last thing they need is to feel judged or out of their depth.

Several years ago, I was running a NEST program when one of the participants opened up about what had brought her there. She’d lost her job.  She and her husband were struggling financially, leaning heavily on ready-made meals and takeaway because cooking felt like one more thing they didn’t have the bandwidth for. Money was tight. She heard about NEST through a food pantry and signed up because their budget genuinely depended on it.

She told me that during the weeks she was attending NEST, she was also spending long days at Centrelink. That was exhausting and demoralising, but NEST on Monday was the highlight of her week.

Six months later, I had the privilege of interviewing her as part of our program evaluation. She had found a job.  She and her husband had found their feet. And even though money was no longer tight, she was still using everything she’d learned.  She was meal-prepping nutritious packed lunches for work and quick meals for dinner.

That’s NEST. It shows up for people when life is hard. And what it leaves behind goes beyond skills. It’s a shift in confidence, in capability, in how people feel about themselves and their futures.

That story is one of thousands.

Our evaluation published in the Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics studied 258 participants and found that NEST creates meaningful and lasting change. Food insecurity reduced from 43% to 32%.  Fruit intake increased from 75% to 91% of participants meeting the recommendations, and vegetable intake increased from 34% to 48%.  Critically, the improvements in fruit and vegetable intake, nutrition knowledge, cooking confidence, and food behaviours were all sustained at 6-month follow-up.  That kind of sustained change is what we’re here for.

I’m a public health nutritionist and I’ve spent my career driven by one idea: that everyone deserves access to nutritious foods and the knowledge of how to turn them into nourishing meals.  Health shouldn’t depend on your postcode, your income, or what you grew up knowing.  NEST sits right at the intersection of those things; it meets people where they are, welcoming every cultural background, every skill level, and every life circumstance.

There are a few ways to get involved.

If you’re a nutrition professional looking to make a real difference in your community, we’d love to have you volunteer alongside our team. If your organisation works with vulnerable populations, you might consider hosting NEST at your site. We partner with organisations across Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, Melbourne, and Adelaide to deliver the program directly.  For those working in regional or rural areas, our train-the-trainer model means you can bring NEST to your community and run it yourselves.

The need is real, the evidence is strong, and there’s always room for more passionate people in this work. Visit ozharvest.org/education/nest to learn more, or get in touch directly.