New York author Laurie Colwin said it best, “The table is a meeting place, a gathering ground, the source of sustenance and nourishment, fearlessness and joy,” indeed few acts are more powerful than sharing a meal. Across cultures, faiths and generations, food has always been about far more than sustenance.
It is how families express love, how neighbours build trust, and how strangers become friends. For social entrepreneur Shaun Christie-David, food has also become a tool for social justice, economic empowerment and community transformation.
The founder of Colombo Social, Kabul Social, Kyiv Social, Kolkata Social and the charity Plate It Forward Shaun has built a movement that feeds thousands, employs hundreds and challenges Australians to rethink who belongs.
His story, shared recently on the Uncommon Ground with Professor Talal Yassine podcast, is a powerful reminder that one person’s experiences of hardship and exclusion can become the catalyst for creating opportunities for countless others.
Born in Sydney to Sri Lankan Tamil parents who fled the turmoil of civil conflict, Christie-David grew up in Fairfield and Denham Court in Sydney’s southwest. Like many children of migrants, he inherited a deep appreciation for sacrifice.
His father had worked as an engineer overseas, only to discover that his qualifications were not recognised in Australia. Forced to start again, he retrained and became a mechanic. His mother devoted herself to raising the family before later pursuing a career in early childhood education.
The message in Shaun’s home is one shared among many migrant families, and is highlighted by the simple phrase ‘education creates opportunity’. For Shaun that opportunity meant entry into Holsworthy Agricultural High School, one of New South Wales’ most respected selective schools. Where he admitted being an average student.
However, a pivotal moment came when a teacher challenged him directly. The teacher saw potential that Christie-David himself was not fully using and bluntly told him that he was wasting his opportunities.
Decades later, he still remembers that conversation. Like many of us, he can trace the course of his life back to a few defining moments and a handful of people who believed in him when it mattered most.
From corporate success to social purpose
After school, Christie-David followed a familiar path for ambitious children of migrants. He completed a business degree and entered the world of finance, working for major institutions and building what appeared to be a successful corporate career, as he refers to it, his ‘finance-bro era’
Yet beneath the professional achievements lay a growing discomfort. Throughout his career he encountered subtle and sometimes blatant forms of racism and exclusion. As one of the few people of colour in certain workplaces, he found himself confronting attitudes that questioned who belonged and who did not.
The turning point came when a client made a racist remark about Barack Obama becoming President of the United States. Christie-David raised concerns, expecting the behaviour to be challenged. Instead, the response was that the client was too valuable to upset.
That moment crystallised something important. Profit had been placed above principle. Rather than accepting the status quo, Christie-David decided to walk away and build something different.
His departure from finance was not simply a career change. It was the beginning of a mission to create workplaces where people would be valued for their humanity rather than judged by their ethnicity, accent or background.
The power of food to change lives
The inspiration for that mission arrived during a visit to Sri Lanka. While being fitted for custom-made suits in Colombo, Christie-David watched young workers measuring customers and carrying out tasks he realised he could easily have been doing himself had his parents not migrated to Australia.
It was a moment of profound perspective.
He understood that much of his success was not simply the result of hard work but also of opportunity. The question then became: what responsibility comes with that opportunity?
His answer was food.
That belief led to the creation of Colombo Social, a restaurant that blended Sri Lankan heritage with contemporary Australian culture. It was not designed merely as a place to eat. It was designed as a place where Australians from all backgrounds could see themselves reflected.
The concept quickly evolved. Christie-David began employing refugees, asylum seekers and people facing barriers to employment. Customers arrived for the food but left having engaged with stories that challenged stereotypes and replaced assumptions with understanding.
Feeding more than hunger
When COVID-19 struck, many hospitality businesses struggled simply to survive. Christie-David chose a different path.
Seeing rising hardship across Sydney, he used his restaurant resources to provide meals to vulnerable communities. What began as an emergency response grew into Plate It Forward, one of Australia’s most inspiring social enterprises.
Today, hundreds of thousands of meals have been distributed through the organisation. Yet Christie-David often argues that employment is the greater achievement. More than 260 people from marginalised communities have found meaningful work through the enterprise, with an extraordinary retention rate exceeding 90 per cent.
The workforce reflects modern Australia. Refugees, migrant women, people rebuilding their lives after incarceration, and individuals who might otherwise be excluded from employment have found both opportunity and dignity.
This approach reflects a principle familiar to many Muslim communities. Charity is important, but empowerment is even more powerful. Providing a meal can help someone through a difficult day. Providing meaningful work can change the trajectory of an entire life.
Building the Australia we need
Today, Christie-David’s hospitality group includes restaurants celebrating Sri Lankan, Afghan, Ukrainian and Indian cuisines. Each venue tells a story about migration, resilience and belonging. Each customer becomes part of a broader movement that connects commercial success with social impact.
His vision for the future is equally ambitious. He hopes to create pathways that help migrant women launch and own hospitality businesses, supported by the systems and infrastructure his organisation has already developed.
For many of us there is a familiar lesson in Christie-David’s story. Hospitality, generosity and care for others have always been central values in our faith and communities. We understand instinctively that sharing food creates connection and that serving others strengthens society.
Shaun Christie-David has taken those timeless values and transformed them into a movement. One meal becomes one conversation. One conversation becomes one opportunity. One opportunity changes a life.
You can listen to the full Uncommon Ground interview by clicking on the link at the top of this article.
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