On May 18 a community of Ballarat volunteers will come together at St Patrick's Cathedral Hall to create their own Italian inspired banquet.

It will be 'series two' of Plate Up Ballarat event Food for Thought where a meal will tell a story of resourcefulness, community connections and the power of food education.

THE RESCUED FOOD

The Ballarat Foundation is expecting to feed 100 guests at its Plate Up Ballarat event Food for Thought Series II: Little Italy on May 18.

The twist is the meals will be of little cost to the not-for-profit organisation. They will be made with rescued food.

The main banquet feature is traditional gnocchi, made with potatoes donated by a Bungaree potato farm Doonaree Farming.

The farm grows potatoes that are sold as seed to farmers for next year's potato crop.

The Courier visited the farm while staff were working to separate potatoes by size and monitor them for quality.

Potato farmer Jack Owen explained potatoes that are too big are separated as they can not be used for seed.

"It is hard to find a market for them. Supermarkets don't want them because they are too big and don't look good on the shelf," he said.

"Sometimes they get used for potato cakes because they are so big but most of the time they get used for stock feed if we can't sell them.

"There's nothing wrong with the potatoes, they are good to eat. They are just too big and the supermarkets don't want them on their shelves."

These are the potatoes that will be donated to the Ballarat Foundation rescue dinner.

Ballarat Foundation fundraising coordinator Margo Pettit said the establishment of a Foodbank in Ballarat would help more food be rescued and distributed to food relief charities in Ballarat.

Foodbank was awarded $10 million in a state government election promise in November to establish food distribution hubs in Ballarat and Morwell.

The food bank will act as a pantry to charities and community groups in Ballarat who feed those going hungry.

A Ballarat Community Health and Monash University report released last year revealed more than 12 per cent of Ballarat's population experience food insecurity.

While food relief remains an important focus for the Ballarat Foundation, Ms Pettit said the Food for Thought dinner would tell a story about the importance of food education and the power of food to connect communities.

"This next conversation, series two, is to share what food is all about," she said.

POWER OF EDUCATION

Corporate volunteers will learn to make gnocchi for the Food for Thought banquet.

Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre Cooking Up Jobs students will make arancini for entree and work as wait staff throughout the evening.

Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre social enterprise coordinator Katie Drummond-Gillett said the volunteer students last week graduated from the 16-week training program, that for many participants, had changed their lives.

"We train students who may have been out of work for years with the skills they need for work," she said.

"They don't all go on to hospitality, but within the course we have had 45 per cent of our students go on to get a job. This is people who find it very difficult to find work.

"The students come here for the program 16 weeks and it is important it is 16 weeks. We find during the14th week something special happens.

"One of the girls here has a disability and has trouble focusing. Across all other areas she was great. The 14th week suddenly she had her head down and looked upset. I said 'are you okay?' She said 'yes, I am focusing'. Now I could put her in a cafe, because she is so friendly and happy and knows everyone's names."

Angie Rowe graduated from the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre's Our Kitchen Cooking Up Jobs and Commercial Kitchen program last week.

She said she was now waiting to hear about an interview for a potential job.

"I have learnt a lot in the trade like knife skills. Learning how to store food properly and making it last as long as it can has already helped me at home tremendously," she said.

"I am not wasting as much food as I was because I didn't know how to store it."

Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre chef and trainer Kate Mirvis has been running the food training programs at the centre for a year and a half.

She said many of her students were immigrants, had been out of work for a while or had never worked before, and felt empowered after completing the training programs.

"We teach them how to communicate, have confidence, learn cooking skills and front of house skills, and empower them to believe in themselves, to step up and do something different with their lives," she said.

"On Wednesday we run a language and cooking class for immigrant women who struggle with English.

"Many people who come from other countries rely on canned foods and find supermarkets a little bit uncomfortable until they find their way around our shops and get to know the way they work.

"Coming to the centre helps them understand different ways of creating with our food source and also helps people from a lower demographic be enabled to cook.

"So many people struggle with cooking these days, may not be able to cook, may not be able to read a recipe or read what is on the cans in the supermarket. I have had students who can't read one word of English but by the time they leave my class they can cook for themselves and can at least read what is related to food."

CREATING CONNECTIONS

Ms Mirvis is passionate about food and its ability to bring people together.

The Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre runs a community lunch every fortnight and caters for City of Ballarat's seniors social connection program Bunch 4 Lunch on the first Friday of the month.

More than 50 people seniors enjoyed a three course lunch made with donations from SecondBite and Aldi on Friday when The Courier visited the centre.

"Food is the biggest connector in the world," Ms Mirvis said.

"For our immigrant students it helps them feel a part of the wider community, they settle better and become part of the network of our community.

"The seniors who come to the lunch on Friday connect and make friends."

Ms Drummond-Gillett said the Ballarat Foundation dinner would show there was more to food security than having access to food.

"For Ballarat Foundation the first step was getting the Foodbank in, because making sure people have food in their cupboards is the first step," she said.

"Now we have Foodbank coming to Ballarat the next stage is all of the other issues around food, eating together and learning the skills around cooking. We are filling in that missing gap."

Tickets are available online for the Ballarat Foundation's Food for Thought Dinner on May 18. Visit plateupballarat.com.au for more information.