Regional Development Australia ACT has an ambitious mission to transform Canberra and the surrounding region into the nation’s largest sustainable agrifood hub. The Victualis 2 Dinner, a Canberra Region Food Collaborative (CRFC) and Food in the Capital event, is one of a series of events organised by RDA ACT to help advance that mission.
Victualis 2 – RDA ACT and the CRFC’s signature food event for 2023 – draws its name from an old English term meaning ‘nourishment, provision, diet, that which sustains life’. It aims to bring together key players in Canberra region’s food system, including agrifood producers, processors, manufacturers, transporters, service providers and retailers as well as researchers, investors and policymakers, to help find ‘imaginative solutions to produce, store and sell more food sustainably into the closest markets – our cities and towns – driving investment, inclusion, jobs and better social and economic outcomes’, state the organisers.
Secure your place at the Victualis 2 table and be a part of the conversation – and the solution.
Last year’s Victualis Dinner. Image courtesy of RDA ACT and the CRFC
Agenda
6-6.30pm: Introductory drinks and canapes
6.45-7.30pm: Welcome and entree
7.30-8.15pm: Facilitated panel discussion, featuring:
- Angus Harris, co-CEO of Harris Farm Markets, who will talk about what the arrival of Harris Farm in Canberra means for local shoppers – notably, a wider variety of quality food goods and healthy grocery-price competition;
- special guests Nick Rose, Executive Director of Melbourne-based food-systems-change NFP Sustain, and Rabekha Siebert, Urban Agriculture Plan Manager from Dallas, Texas, who’ll discuss the sustainability of food under climate change and the need to commit urgently to urban food production; and
- University of Wollongong Professor Karen Charlton on plans afoot to develop and implement a ‘paddock-to-plate’ food strategy in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions of NSW.
One question to be answered is: What will the new ACT Food Strategy mean for consumers and food enterprises?
8.15-9.30pm: Main course, accompanied by a ‘Food in Politics’ presentation with Angela Vithoulkas.
10pm: Close.
RDA ACT’s Michael Claessens addresses guests at last year’s Victualis dinner. Image courtesy of RDA ACT and the CRFC
Speakers and panellists
Speakers and panellists at the Victualis 2 dinner include:
- Angela Vithoulkas, multi-award-winning small business advocate and SME consultant, café owner, outspoken opinion leader and a regular guest on ABC TV’s The Drum.
- Angus Harris, co-CEO of successful independent fresh-food and grocery chain Harris Farm Markets;
- Nick Rose, Executive Director of Melbourne, Australia-based Sustain, a not-for-profit initiative established to promote health and wellbeing through a broader food-systems approach;
- Rabekha Siebert, an urban planner and Environmental Coordinator for the City of Dallas, Texas, responsible for developing, planning and implementing Dallas’ first Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Plan.
- Karen Charlton, a Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at NSW’s University of Wollongong and ARC Future Fellow and an advocate for healthy, sustainable, equitable food systems.
For more about the speakers and panellists, click here.
A discussion around sustainable food hubs hosted by the Canberra Regional Food Collaborative. Image courtesy of RDA ACT and CRFC
When and where
The dinner will take place on Wednesday 15 November 2023, from 6-10pm AEDT. It’s at the Poseidon Room of the Hellenic Club (Canberra City), 13 Moore Street Canberra, ACT 2601. View on map.
Ticketing and further information
Tickets to the dinner cost $89.19 per person and grants you access to a three-course meal – canapes, entree, main – accompanied by local red and white wine and beer.
Note that seats are limited and as last year’s Victualis dinner was oversubscribed, RDA ACT recommends that you buy your tickets asap.
To purchase your mobile e-ticket for the dinner, click here.