Indigenous Food & Business Expo

On November 16, the TNQ Drought Hub was pleased to support the Indigenous Food and Business Expo in Cairns. First Nations owned food and beverage and other businesses from throughout Queensland firmly placed culture and innovation front and centre at the inaugural Indigenous Food and Business Expo. In the lead up to the expo, the FNQ Food Incubator Hub delivered five workshops focussed on holding a profitable market stall and preparing stall holders, so they had excellent promotional material and plenty of product.

There were over 50 amazing exhibitors selling beautiful artwork, delicious food and drinks, handmade jewellery and clothing, and so much more! The Expo was well attended with many taking it as an opportunity to find unique Christmas gifts.
Some of the stall holders included Sobah Beverages, Tribal Voice Connections, Lavis by Benita Williams, Gapirri Aboriginal Art, Beachtree Distilling Co. Sunshine Coast, Australian Gourmet Foodbank, and Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation.

Following the Expo, an Indigenous Food Gathering brought together more than 30 stakeholders from the Indigenous Food Industry on November 17, for a round table discussion regarding the challenges and opportunities facing First Nations Foods.

Some of the key points that resulted from the roundtable include;
(1) The need to define and regulate the First Nations Food Industry with a certification and/or accreditation system.
(2) The opportunity to explore methods to trace provenance and document the story and origin of each ingredient and product.
(3) The need for a central, free to access, database of resources including contacts, programs, research completed to date, and a list of projects currently being undertaken that stakeholder can easily access.

Images courtesy of Jennifer McHugh