Podcast 26: Robert Hall: Wholegrain Organics

The Rubbish Trip Podcast

Podcast 26: Robert Hall: Wholegrain Organics

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This podcast with Robert Hall, owner of Wholegrain Organics, paints a perfect picture of the value of resilience and resourcefulness when it comes to accessing, growing and preparing kai. Although recorded at the beginning of January 2020, the relevance of Rob’s message rings loud and clear in the current COVID-19 era.

In the heart of Palmerston North, the Wholegrain Organics cafe and store boasts a bright, welcoming atmosphere on one of the city’s busiest streets. While it may be best known for its delicious plant-based pizzas, pasta and baking made from wholegrain flours milled on-site from largely locally sourced grains, behind all this lies an organisation devoted to so much more than a wholesome meal.

All of Wholegrain Organics‘ profits go to their community outreach and education arm, Hands-On Food. They run food cooking workshops for 12-19 year olds, where participants learn comprehensive skills in preparing and cooking wholesome, nutritionally balanced meals, as well as serving and selling their creations to the public.

Wholegrain Organics has more recently been developing organic gardens around Palmerston North to supply their cafe and sell fresh organic produce at local markets. The Hands-On Food programme has now expanded to gardening to complete the student’s garden-to-table food learning experience, and Wholegrain Organics are expanding this model with the development of a substantial garden at a local school.

In this podcast, we talk to Robert Hall, owner of Wholegrain Organics, about how heath and nutrition, community outreach and education, and environmental sustainability and resilience all come together in their work.