Food I am
Taste flavours of the world without leaving your own backyard. Food I am heroes local produce and provides a educational, agritourism experience for visitors and locals. Tania owner of Food I am shares their 'grassroots' story below.
Q. How did your grassroots story start?
A. Food I Am was born in 2011 after identifying a gap in the market for food tourism and education of a high standard. While the Riverina is one of Australia's most agriculturally-productive regions, there were limited experiences available to showcase this.
As an obsessed foodie and home cook, I had taken part in many food-based experiences while travelling, witnessing the success of Australian and international agritourism. My vision turned into reality when I opened our purpose-built cooking school in 2014. Food I Am is a beautiful modern facility to showcase local produce via a high quality food and agritourism experiences.
Q. How would you define your business/service as local?
A. Food I Am is located on 100 acres, the highest elevated building site in Wagga Wagga and offers exclusive views over the city and beyond. We have evolved into a multi-faceted agritourism business that supports regional producers, chefs and provides quality food experiences. Food I Am is a nationally recognised cooking school, always evolving to ensure a cutting-edge paddock-to-plate experience for visitors. Our strategy and passion is to work with local producers, accomodation providers and restaurants to increase tourism into our region, and increase awareness of the Riverina's exceptional produce outside the region. Our chefs educate about their recipes and local products such as how food is produced, producers’ stories, and why we should buy regional produce. Guests benefit by understanding a producer's journey, why they pay more for certain products, and what our region produces.
Q. How have you pivoted during this time of Covid-19? And, have you experienced an increase in ‘shopping local?’
A. Our business, like many, came to a crashing halt at the end of March due to Covid-19. We have used this time to reshape our cooking class calendar, improve procedural systems, do some maintenance and strategies moving forward. We are lucky to have so much space at our venue so are well placed with current restrictions. Our marquee, deck, lawn area and cooking school provide beautiful spaces to learn and dine in and make it easy to comply with restrictions. Wedding and corporate enquiries/bookings have ramped up considerably in the last six weeks.
Q. Why is it important for consumers to shop/root for local?
A. When you buy local you are not only supporting that business but more of your money is in turn used to make purchases from other local businesses. Small business owners care about you and the experience you have in their business. Buying local produce rather than imported is a no-brainer – LOCAL tastes better! Not to mention supports our local farmers, producers and artisans and the dollars remain in our local community which in turn generates a better economy for all who live in our region.
Q. What’s next for your business/service?
A. Our cooking class calendar starts up again in August. We are currently in the process of loading all our events and new classes for the back half of the year. We are excited to be welcoming people back into our kitchen.
Head to Food I am's listing for more on this great business.
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