Where It Began
Before Maintaining Eden became a food truck, it began with a simple response to a local need.
While living in Nimbin, we started creating community hubs centred around food, music, and shared space. We cooked vegan, organic curries and BBQs, setting up regular community nights where anyone could come and eat. These meals were primarily intended to support rough sleepers and people doing it tough, but something unexpected happened.
The whole town showed up.
Locals, travellers, families, and people sleeping rough all gathered in the same space, sharing food, music, and conversation. What started as food support quickly became genuine community nights, where barriers dissolved and people connected naturally.
Community in Practice
These gatherings were simple and open:
- Free, nourishing meals
- Live music
- No sign-ups or conditions
- A welcoming space for everyone
Food became the meeting point, and music helped create an atmosphere where people stayed, talked, and looked out for one another.
What emerged was something deeply encouraging — a reminder that when food is shared openly and consistently, community forms around it.
Taking It on the Road
Maintaining Eden was born out of these experiences.
We realised this model didn’t need to stay in one place. It could move. It could adapt. It could be shared.
The Pivot
We had great plans to take this mission on the road and spread it using our commercial food truck as we travelled around Australia. We made our first stop after a year of planning and building out our vans in Bangalow NSW. We set up the food truck next to the uniting church and started our trip.
We started buying our produce from Santos organics because we wanted our food to be locally sourced and organic. When Santos tried our food they offered us to run their local cafe in Mullumbimby.
Seeing our hearts and their hearts visions align we accepted and set up our food truck in the back garden in Mullumbimby. We took on the front cafe and launched our new menu of beautiful organic nourishing food made with love.
Where we landed
This is just the start of our adventure here in Mullumbimby. We have continued our vision in this town:
- Create welcoming spaces
- Feed people well
- Support those doing it tough
- Use food and music to bring people together
What began in Nimbin continues to shape everything we do today.
