Chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver has launched a global petition to persuade governments of the G20 countries to provide their nations’ children with food education in schools.

I welcome Jamie’s voice being added to ours as an effective advocate for food education for Australian children.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is now active in 800 schools. It is not just the programs that are being delivered regularly over two years, but the hundreds of resources to assist teachers and students, and in-depth training programs, that the Foundation offers. Over 14 years the Foundation has delivered exceptional levels of student and parental engagement.

We have now launched a new membership structure so that any school can join the Australian kitchen garden community and use whatever resources are appropriate to that school – be it an Early Learning Centre, a Primary School, or a Secondary School.

At the core of what we do is the belief that food education must integrate with the core curriculum and that it has the potential to expand and elucidate concepts and language.

As Jamie said, “It takes champions like Stephanie but it also takes governments to create the right conditions and mandate change.”

You’ll be helping our cause by signing this petition.