Do you want to know Brisbane’s best kept and most awesome foodie secret?  Yes?  Then you had better read on….

I can tell you, but you have to promise me, that you wont keep this delicious secret to yourself.  You must tell everyone you know, ok, ok, I would just like you to share this post on your facebook or twitter page, and consider getting involved in some small way – deal?

Ok, here it is.  Are you ready????

Brisbane foodies, food reviewers and chefs get together three times a year and help feed Brisbane’s homeless by cooking up a gigantic feast of kindness, in Musgrave Park in West End, Brisbane.

Yes that is right, this Sunday 15th March 2015, Brisbane’s most kindest foodies and aficionados chip in their time and talent, don their aprons and feed between 600 to 1000 people who are experiencing homelessness at the Signal Flare BBQ for the homeless and other people in need.

Leading the charge is the big-hearted and talented chef Jerome Dalton from highly acclaimed catering company Dalton Hospitality, who recently won an Australian Good Food and Travel Guide‘s 2015 Readers Choice Award.  Jerome is seriously one amazing chef who gives back in the most wonderful way, with very little public recognition – hence why this is Brisbane’s best kept foodie secret.

For over two years, Jerome has been rallying his contacts in Queensland’s hospitality industry, and supplying a hearty BBQ, including braises, salads, fruit and take home packs.   Jerome, also at his own cost, supplies shuttle a bus to bring people from homeless shelters around Brisbane.

Jerome says that at every homeless BBQ he is part of, there is always a moment that warms or breaks his heart.   Like the little old lady who comes to each event, sits on the end of the buffet, searching for her son, who walked out of home twenty years ago.  Or the two little girls aged 3 and 5, almost the identical ages of Jerome’s own daughters, with steely blue eyes, that gave Jerome a glimpse of a tough start to life.

These young girls made Jerome cry.

So why does he do it?

Jerome says that giving people who are homeless a good meal is a start, but what he loves the most, is to be able to help someone looking for a way out.  Looking to work, looking to change their situation, but don’t know how. “If a person has no fixed address, it is a real problem climbing out of the homeless roundabout.  Without an address, you can’t get government assistance and there is often mental and physical health issues that are not being managed properly.  The cycle is hard to break.” Jerome says. “We often employ folk in our kitchen, help with a phone, shoes for an interview and in other ways”.

Jerome is just one of the amazing groups of people pitching in to make the Signal Flare BBQ a great success.  There is a clothes washing van, legal advice, medical help and much more.  Jerome is quick to point out that the brains, energy and passion behind this stuff is Benedikte Palings and Grant the Polite Guy. “We just cook” says Jerome. 

“It is nice to know that people do care.” said Jerome.

Jerome urgently needs your help!! He needs donations of food, soft drinks, toiletries, clothing for men, women and children and children’s toys.  Also, you don’t have to be a foodie to volunteer!  Jerome needs volunteers to help on the day from 8am at Musgrave Park in West End.  You could volunteer for one hour, or all day – all help gratefully received. Get in touch with Jerome here:

Signal Flare Homeless BBQ facebook
Email Jerome
Visit the Dalton Hospitality website
Like the Dalton Hospitality facebook

THANK YOU in advance for sharing this top-secret foodie secret of Brisbane!