Having showcased some of Sydney’s finest food, the Sydney International Food Festival now turns its attention to people who go without.

This Thursday a public forum will examine the innovative ways that Sydney residents are overcoming food insecurity. Convened by the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance, the event is timed to coincide with Anti-Poverty Week.

Daily Telegraph restaurant critic Simon Thomsen will moderate the Q&A style forum with a panel of experts including the Reverend Bill Crews from the Exodus Foundation and Ronnie Kahn from Oz Harvest. Audience members will ask challenging questions of the panel.

‘Although Australia is a wealthy nation, not everyone is able to access healthy food,’ said Mark Ludbrooke, Sydney Food Fairness Alliance spokesperson. ‘This year, over a million Australians will run out of food and not be able afford to purchase more. Faced  with such difficulties, many Sydney households are now coming together to help themselves to secure access to good food’. The forum will introduce innovative programs like the Salvation Army Food 4 Life Market – a membership based program that gives people in Warwick Farm access to an affordable food market. It will also showcase Food Within - a Western Sydney program started by a low-income mother determined to provide good food for her kids and local families.

The forum will be held from 6.30pm on Thursday 21 October at the Sydney Mechanics

School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street Sydney.

To RSVP contact nfo@sydneyfoodfairness.org.au

Simon Gregory from Salvation Army Food 4 Life Market and Liz Millen, President of

Sydney Food Fairness Alliance, are available for interviews.

Media contact: Liz Millen 0422 008 712