Giving gourmet food

Feed Me Bellarine
Passionate. Wild. Risky

Anthony Woodbury stepped away from his burgeoning career as a chef to co-found Feed Me Bellarine, which provides thousands of meals a month to families in need.

Anthony is an exceptional chef and was climbing the culinary ranks. Then he had a chance conversation with a local caterer who had started packaging leftover food to donate. The outcome of their chat was Feed Me Bellarine.

The pair rescue food and meals from local hospitality and wholesale businesses to distribute. They also source fresh produce to create chef-quality dishes with the help of over 100 volunteers.

They have distributed more than 100,000 meals over the past two years.

Anthony was motivated to help because he grew up in poverty. He is proud to serve around 700 families delicious and healthy meals each week.

The charity also runs a supermarket where families can pick up fresh produce and a café that serves gourmet meals on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Apart from filling bellies, Anthony has helped save more than 238,000kg of food from landfill.

Anthony likes to fly below the radar and feels humbled to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “I was head chef at various wineries and grew up in extreme poverty. So when the opportunity to use leftover food and meals to benefit the public came up, I went for it with all I had,” he says.

Westfield Local Heroes are nominated and voted for by their communities, with the three top finalists per Westfield centre each awarded a $10,000 grant for their affiliated organisation. Feed Me Bellarine will use its funds to upgrade its kitchen to help more people in need.

For further information on the Westfield Local Heroes program, click here