The Healing Power of Food with Danny McCubbin | LCS Virtual Speaker Series

This week, our community had the special pleasure of connecting with digital consultant, speaker, food campaigner, and former LCS exchange student, Danny McCubbin. Danny joined us for the fourth instalment of our Virtual Speaker Series in 2021. 

Danny has dedicated his career to promoting food-focused social enterprises and helping diverse businesses create social value with the belief that food has the power to transform lives. Danny believes that food is the most powerful thing to bring people together.

Throughout the evening, Danny shared highlights of his inspiring career, including his time working for celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. After working in the corporate technology industry for a number of years, Danny had the opportunity to work for Jamie Oliver as a digital, social media, and marketing manager. He held a number of different roles over his 17 years of working for Jamie Oliver LTD, serving as the Culture Manager before leaving in 2019. Despite being at the height of his career, Danny knew he wanted to pursue his own passion as a food campaigner and social entrepreneur.

Last year, he took a leap of faith and purchased a one Euro home (you read that right!) in Sicily, Italy. After months of crowdfunding, Danny raised £42,000 to convert this aging home into a lively, community kitchen, where those experiencing food insecurity can access quality, nutritious meals. Danny’s idea to start this community kitchen has inspired chefs around the world and he recently created a 6-week program to train other chefs how to operate a community kitchen, including cooking in bulk, creating meals based on spur of the moment donations, and more. 

When Danny learned about our Northcote school vegetable garden, he was very excited. He knows first-hand the power of food and community and recognized the potential for our students to have meaningful learning experiences that change the way they view food production and consumption. Danny even offered some suggestions for our school garden, including donating our fresh produce to local food kitchens. Outdoor Education Assistant, Allyson Brown was happy to report (live during the event) that this is already a part of the plan. We will intentionally grow an excess of produce in order to supply local charities with the supplies needed to serve members of our community. 

We are so grateful for Danny’s time speaking with our community. We are inspired by his dedication to food security and education and look forward to the wonderful opportunities in store at our Northcote campus.