This petition is designed for the community of Ballarat, and the greater region, to sign in support of bringing a Jamie's Ministry of Food Pop-up Centre to Ballarat.

Bringing the Ministry of Food to Ballarat will not only support the Ballarat Community, but it will also support the greater regions from Horsham, Bendigo, Ararat, Bacchus Marsh and Maryborough, to Beaufort, Creswick, Stawell and Ballan.

Let’s show the Good Foundation and the Jamie Oliver Foundation how our communities can come together in support towards fighting and helping reduce the obesity epidemic, and other environment-related chronic diseases, in Victoria and Australia.

Please sign our petition to enable us to achieve another step closer to reducing health problems, increasing positive nutritional awareness and living a long and healthy life here in Australia.

ABOUT THE CAUSE:

Having a Ministry of Food within Ballarat will not only allow our local community to significantly benefit from this movement, but it will also enable our nearby communities of Horsham, Bendigo, Ararat and Maryborough to also benefit from this Centre too. Ballarat is a centralised hub easily accessible to neighbouring towns. Majorly including our Federation University, it creates unity between Ballarat and our nearby communities, which label Ballarat as a home away from home.

There are many individuals and families that seek the ease of accessibility to the fast food varieties in Ballarat. It is utterly important for our community to be made fully conscious of the hidden health effects of these conveniences. Whilst most individuals understand that fast food is not healthy, they may be daunted by the perceived cost of time and money to enjoy the healthier alternatives. Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food has unparalleled experience and expertise in making a healthier diet more affordable and accessible to the general public.

This may not be you or your family, but many families will raise their children with this exact example. This will lead them and their children to seek a daily diet from fast food outlets, rather than cooking at home. This not only reduces their life expectancy through the unhealthy food they may be consuming, but it also disables them from learning the life essential skills of knowing how to cook, knowing what’s in the food they’re eating, and understanding what good and bad food choices are.

The debate may be that this is not a problem right now for Ballarat, as statistics show our town has more of an overweight population than we do an obese population. However, these statistics may be closer to changing faster, more than we think. We must take a preemptive approach towards this by enhancing our cooking skills and nutritional education community wide. The nearby community or Ararat is at this moment featured on the current series of "The Biggest Loser" as the most obese town in Australia. Let us not allow Ballarat to follow suit. Instead, let Ballarat lead by example - by combining the expertise of the Ministry of Food pop-up kitchen with the marvellous fresh produce available to us in Victoria.

Let’s be proactive instead of reactive towards fighting this global epidemic.