about vanessa

Vanessa trained as a dietitian in the UK, graduating with first-class honours, and holds a master’s degree with distinction in food policy. She is an award-winning author in infant nutrition; her first book, Real Food for Babies and Toddlers, was awarded the prize for the best family cookbook by a leading British parenting magazine. Vanessa is a PhD researcher in food systems transition design and governance at the University of Melbourne and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University. Through her consulting practice, Foodways Consulting and Advisory, she works with governments (local, state, and national) and non-profit organisations to devise innovative ways of transforming food systems through policy and practice. Vanessa lives, writes, cooks and grows on beautiful Boon Wurrung Country, outside Naarm (Melbourne), Australia, with her husband and children.