Foodies, farmers, educators and advocates will explore these and more “farm to table” and sustainability questions during a community discussion of “Soul Food: A Contemporary And Historical Exploration of New South Food” on Thursday, October 2 at UNC Charlotte Center City, 320 E. Ninth St.
The day’s first discussion, “Rethinking Our Relationship to the Land,” will focus primarily on the sustainable food production system known as aquaponics and its impact on the environment, as well as on approaches to educating people about sustainability. Panelists will include architect Ron Morgan, aquaponics farmer Sam Fleming, and UNC Charlotte anthropology assistant professor Nicole Peterson, a leader in the NSF-funded Integrated Network for Social Sustainability initiative based at UNC Charlotte, and Edna Chirico, managing partner, Green Teacher Network Charlotte.
The second panel, called “Can We All Get What We Need from Here?” will focus on the challenges of growing and distributing food locally and on issues such as “food deserts” and franchise-food operations. Members of the Piedmont Culinary Guild will lead the panel. The grassroots guild effort seeks to create a community that connects chefs to chefs, chefs to farmers and chefs to resources. The goal is to strengthen the local chefs’ community and build momentum for Charlotte as a food community. Ashli Stokes, a UNC Charlotte communication studies professor, will moderate the panel.
The final event of the day will feature Miller, whose book won the prestigious James Beard Award for a scholarly reference book in 2014. An attorney and former presidential advisor, Miller will talk about the varied cuisines brought together by Africans, Europeans and Native Americans to create a new and distinctively American cuisine. He also will talk about how society can deal with food challenges and what must happen to meet consumer expectations in the future.