Join the Appalachian Food Summit for a Mountain Foodways Journey Along Roads, Routes, Rails and Rivers

Posted: September 7, 2016


Author: Tim Jordan

Science studentsBEREA, KY (September 2, 2016) – The 3rd Annual Appalachian Food Summit will be held September 17 from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. at Gray Auditorium in Presser Hall at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door for $25.

This year’s summit is focused on Appalachian foodways and the impact and influence of roads, routes and roots. The event will explore drover’s roads to back roads, routes of outmigration to homecomings, country stores to gas stations and will challenge the accepted history of Appalachia, showcasing the lasting impact diverse communities have made on mountain foodways. 

Speakers include a keynote by Steven Alvarez at noon and a second keynote session between authors Ronni Lundy, whose newest book is Victuals and Toni-Tipton Martin, a recent James Beard Award winner for her book The Jemima Code. Discussions include a panel on “Rivers, Routes, Roads and Railways” with members Tom Lee, Gurney Norman and Erica Abrams Locklear.

Another panel will explore “Road Food: Gas Station Pepperoni Rolls, Strip Mall Tacos and the Mapping of Appalachian Eats” with writer and West Virginia native Courtney Balestier, Kostas Skordas with the Appalachian Regional Commission and Dan Margolies, who will discuss Blue Ridge tacos. The program will also include a panel on the rise of craft beer in the mountains, the impact of tourism on mountain foodways and a look at the influx of new cultures and ethnicities on the Appalachian table.

Lunch will be a Drover’s Road Dine Around, with the Berea College Farm providing local ingredients interpreted by both the Berea College dining hall and the new Berea College Wholly Habaneros Café. Attendees will be encouraged to visit the Berea College Farm Store and the Berea Farmers Market. 

The AFS is a movement of writers, chefs, academicians, social historians and interested individuals who work to study and preserve the foodways of Appalachia and leverage this rich heritage towards economic development in the region. Grow Appalachia of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College provides administration of AFS.

For more information, visit  http://growappalachia.berea.edu/

Categories: News, Programs and Initiatives
Tags: Appalachia, Appalachian Food Summit, Appalachian Heritage, Food

Berea College, the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, focuses on learning, labor and service. The College only admits academically promising students with limited financial resources—primarily from Kentucky and Appalachia—but welcomes students from 41 states and 76 countries. Every Berea student receives a Tuition Promise Scholarship, which means no Berea student pays for tuition. Berea is one of nine federally recognized Work Colleges, so students work 10 hours or more weekly to earn money for books, housing and meals. The College’s motto, “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth,” speaks to its inclusive Christian character.