Issue addressed Food literacy programs aim to improve an individual's knowledge and skills in the planning, management, selection, preparation and eating of healthy foods. Unhealthy dietary patterns across the life cycle are associated with an increased risk of chronic disease. Foodbank WA’s Healthy Food for All® (HFFA) team has made addressing health inequity a priority, by enhancing food literacy skills of vulnerable people across the lifespan. Methods A case study approach was utilised to explore HFFA’s suite of evidence‐based food literacy programs: Food Sensations® (FS) for Parents (of 0‐5 year olds), FS for Schools (kindergarten to Year 12), Fuel Your Future (adolescents 12‐18 years), and FS for Adults (FSA) (18 years and over). These programs are contextualised to meet the needs of vulnerable groups at all life stages. Results In the last decade the HFFA team have delivered 5047 food literacy sessions to over 62 000 vulnerable Western Australians. Evaluation results demonstrate the FS programs are successful at improving vulnerable people's food literacy skills and dietary behaviours. For example, over 70% of participants make at least one positive food behaviour change after attending FSA. Conclusions By targeting vulnerable people of all ages, HFFA’s food literacy programs provide multiple opportunities for intervention, to enhance health behaviours, and therefore reduce risk of chronic disease. So What? Food literacy programs are one effective strategy that is complementary in helping to address the health inequities in Australia. Government and broader community investment in food literacy initiatives is vital to improving the health outcomes of vulnerable populations.

Early childhood provides an opportunity to optimize growth and development and parents play a fundamental role in forming healthy eating habits in their children. A healthy diet improves quality of life and wellbeing and reduces the risk of chronic disease. The aim of this research was to explore parents’ experiences of feeding 0–5-year-old children and food literacy behaviors. This qualitative study employed a general inductive inquiry approach. Participants were recruited through community-based parenting organizations in disadvantaged areas. Eight focus groups were conducted with 67 parents (92.5% female) living in socially disadvantaged areas within metropolitan Perth of Western Australia. Ten themes emerged from the preliminary analysis and were aligned with domains of relatedness, autonomy, and competence within the self-determination theory. Themes included relatedness (1) feeding is emotional, (2) variations in routine and feeding structures, (3) external influences, autonomy (4) power struggles, (5) it must be quick and easy, (6) lack of strategies for feeding autonomy, competency (7) whatever works, (8) healthy is important but for some unattainable, (9) improvements in food literacy skills, and (10) conflicting information overload. This research informed the development of a food literacy program for parents. Parents faced many challenges when trying to provide healthy food. This research has shown parents would benefit from support to achieve healthy eating practices for their families.