01/09/2026
The Little Food Festival is much more than a fun, educational and free event for kids. Our founding partners – Sandro Demaio Foundation, Fed Square and Monash University – set out to build food systems literacy amongst children, and we’ve been tracking our work since the first festival.
So, are we meeting this ambitious goal? A team of researchers from Monash University have been engaging children in food systems research at each Little Food Festival to answer this very question.
In 2023, they conducted a mixed-methods study to assess the level of food system literacy amongst children and families attending the Little Food Festival, and asked children to draw a picture about one action they could take to improve our food system.
Turns out kids see lots things as within their sphere on influence, from five broad categories:
1. Gardening – growing own food, understanding plant needs, caring for plants
2. Food consumption – eating seasonal and local foods
3. Waste management – reducing food and packaging waste in landfill, composting food
4. Behaviour change and advocacy – personal responsibility to protect nature and the need to influence others for greater impact and collective action
5. Respect and understanding of the natural ecosystem – conservation of natural resources, understanding life cycles and biodiversity in the food system
Link in bio to read the full piece from guest author and SDF Board Member Dr Liza Barbour
