Give a Fork!
Give a Fork! is a campaign run by Sustainable Table aimed at bringing about positive change through the food we eat. The campaign gets people thinking about the environmental and ethical impact of the food we buy, whilst bringing the sexy back into caring. That’s why we’ve coined the term Grexy*.
Because taking care of the planet is way sexier than trashing it.
Unfortunately Give a Fork! has not taken place over the past few years as we have not been able to secure the funding to supports its delivery. However, 2021 will be a BRAND NEW YEAR and we’re hoping we can get this baby off the ground again! Please sign up to our database to stay informed about other activities throughout the year.


Give a Fork! Campaign 2016.
In 2016, there were two ways in which participants could engage in the campaign – through participating in a ‘#grexy* eco–challenge’ and/or by dining on a ‘Give a Fork! special’ at a participating restaurant.
1. The grexy eco-challenge

Challenge 1:
#Grexy Teaser
Cut the disposable cup, carry a drink bottle and request your drinks shaken, not strawed.

Challenge 2:
Halfway to #Grexy
Make meat a treat, get your veg on and commit to meat–free weekdays for a month.

Challenge 3:
Drop Dead #Grexy
The ultimate 30–day crash course – a perfect intro to sustainable living. Attempt to fit all your landfill waste for the month into one container and learn how to incorporate sustainable eating.
2. Dine at a participating cafe or restaurant
Restaurants from around the country were engaged to develop and sell a Give a Fork! special following our 4 food rules. Restaurants then donated a portion of sales from the dish to Sustainable Table.
The aim was to encourage restaurants to:
- review their supply chain and seek out truly free range meats and sustainable seafood
- review their menu and increase representation of vegetarian dishes
- seek local producers
- seek organic produce
- review their kitchen waste and look at ways of reducing it
- promote their food philosophies to increase awareness of issues amongst their patrons.
A total of 101 restaurants around the country signed up to the campaign.
The Give a Fork! Food Rules
Rule 1
Make plants the hero
Celebrate vegetables by making them the focus of your dish and show your customers just how delicious they can be. Reducing our meat intake is a powerful way of reducing our impact on the environment and curbing climate change.

18% of global emissions
It is estimated that livestock and their by-products account for a whopping 18% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, with some reports putting that figure closer to 50%. Either way you look at it, it pays to limit our consumption of animal products.
Rule 2
Choose truly free range or organic meat or sustainable seafood
If you choose to make your dish a meaty one, ensure it’s truly free range and feature less popular cuts.
For information on free range and sustainable seafood options visit sustainabletable.org.au

500m+ animals in factory farms
Over 500 million animals are housed in factory farms each year in Australia alone.
80% of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited or overexploited, which means we simply can’t keep eating seafood the way we are.
Rule 3
Use at least one edible ingredient that commonly gets discarded in kitchens and celebrate it
Think animal bones, vegie peels, broccoli stems, snapper wings, weeds, herb stems and celery tops. Tell customers why it’s delicious and shouldn’t be binned.

Food waste 3rd biggest emitter
Did you know that if food waste was a country, it’d be the 3rd biggest greenhouse gas emitter after the USA and China. Let’s show people how to get creative with reducing food waste.
Rule 4
Know the provenance of the ingredients
“Fish and Chips? Sorry, what fish? Where is it from? How was it caught?”
“Vegetable ratatouille. Ummm, are the vegies from the state you’re in, another state or China?”

Where does it really come from?
We’ve lost sight of where our food actually comes from which is half the battle, so let’s change this.
Outcomes From 2016 Give a Fork! Campaign.
298 people participated in our #Grexy Challenges and a total of $8,282 was raised!

Challenge 1:
#Grexy Teaser
of #Grexy Teaser participants no longer order coffee in a disposable cup!
Now ask for their drink without a straw or carry their own.
Started recycling better in general.

Challenge 2:
Halfway to #Grexy
of Halfway to #Grexy participants reduced their meat intake.
now eat more vegetables!
Now think about where they can purchase so that more money reaches the producer.

Challenge 3:
Drop Dead #Grexy
of Drop Dead #Grexy participants now take their own containers to the shops.
reduced plastic packaging.
dramatically reduced their landfill!
Outcomes – Cafe + Restaurants Campaign.
101 restaurants all over Australia participated and raised $28,000. Almost 10,000 specials were sold!
The top 10 fundraising restaurants were:
- Pei Modern
- Barry
- Embla
- Hash Specialty Coffee & Roaster
- Tucker St (weekly meal delivery service)