When Passion Meets Purpose: In Conversation with Ronni Kahn AO

Ronni Kahn is the founder and Visionary-in-Residence of OzHarvest – the charity that rescues surplus food to feed the hungry and save it from going into landfill.

Recognised as an Officer of the Order of Australia and Australian Local Hero of the Year, Ronni’s story is captured in the documentary Food Fighter and her memoir A Repurposed Life.

At a Collabor8Women event at Sydney’s Catalina restaurant, I interviewed the CEO about her journey as a social entrepreneur. Here’s an extract of that conversation.

Media trainer and journalist Theresa Miller interviews special guest Ronni Kahn AO, founder OzHarvest. (Photo: Simona Janek)

TM: Behind all the impressive work you’ve done, what does food mean to you personally? 

RK: “To me, food is about seasons. It’s about fragrance. It’s about flavour. It’s about eating local, and loving, enjoying and understanding that… Once I discovered food, I realised how powerful it is, how precious it is… We forget what it takes to grow food, from the soil, to the energy, to the water, to the labour, to the love of the farm, and then we throw out a third of all food produced. Households waste about 49% of food.”

TM: You spent time on a kibbutz in Israel. Did that change your relationship with food? 

RK: “Absolutely. Going into a field and taking a watermelon and smashing it open and just having the juice dripping down made you appreciate… because I saw the people who were tending those fields and growing that produce. It absolutely shifted and changed everything.”

TM: You once catered an event that became a turning point for you in food rescue. What happened? 

RK: “There were thousands and thousands of kilos of magnificent food, and I decided at two in the morning I’d just put it in a van… and drive it to the Matthew Talbot hostel. It was incredibly confronting… but the joy with which it was received absolutely opened my eyes and began my rogue food rescue life.”

TM: In your book you write about the term ‘tikkun olam’. Can you explain what it means and why it’s important to you? 

RK: “Tikkun olam is a concept within the Jewish culture, that it is incumbent on each and every one of us to repair the world in some way. It is the notion that each and every one of us, in some way, can find whatever way it is. And it could be a small, generous act of kindness, it could be a thought, it could be a deed, and it could be starting a food rescue organisation, as it was in mine.”

TM: In the early days of OzHarvest, you met with potential philanthropists, but the meeting didn’t go as planned. What did you learn? 

RK: “I learned that when you’re dealing with people, they give money to people they like and people who are like them… It fundamentally changed my whole attitude to philanthropy, because philanthropy is about relationships. It’s about people giving money to people they like for causes they believe in.”

TM: You changed laws to make food donation easier. How did that happen? 

RK: “They told me they weren’t going to give me food because they were worried about their liability. We needed to change the laws. So, we did, with the help of a pro bono law firm. It took a year to have the laws changed in NSW and the ACT, and then Queensland and South Australia. It made it possible to give away food for free without fear of liability.”

TM: How do you know when to keep pushing and when to step back? 

RK: “The beautiful part about what I do is I’m never asking for anything for me. The purpose of OzHarvest is to nourish our country… Today in Australia, 3.4 million households, just under 10 million Australians, at some point need food relief. With that imperative, I ask: how can you help? And yes, there are people who say no. I move on, I’d rather be with the people who say yes.”

TM: Tell us about the CEO CookOff. 

RK: “It’s our major fundraiser. Business leaders cook alongside top chefs, prepare a meal, serve our guests, the people we serve, who are the VIPs. We run it in seven cities. We always get 80% men; I’d love to see more women.”

TM: Finally, can you share the story behind your ‘Order of the Teaspoon’? 

RK: “In the event of a huge fire, you can run away, you can write an angry letter, or you can find a bucket… or a jug… or a teaspoon. And if every one of us uses our teaspoon, we can put out that fire. I invite you to become members of the Order of the Teaspoon; be generous, be kind, be thoughtful, and use your teaspoon every day.”