Feast Down East and the University of North Carolina Wilmington celebrated national Food Day 2014 with plenty of kale tastings, local chef battles, and information about sustainable agriculture and eating local Friday, Oct. 24.
During the sustainable food fair and food drive Friday afternoon, community members and students visited the various information booths stationed around UNCW’s amphitheater, witnessing and smelling the preparation of locally sourced produce.
UNCW campus dining chef Cory Webb was hard at work creating creamy tomato bisque with kale, sweet potato and basil on an outdoor burner while another UNCW chef prepared an autumn squash bisque.
At a table in the middle of the amphitheater, competitors sat down in front of bowls of freshly cooked local kale to see who could devour the leafy greens the fastest. The kale-eating competition was won by UNCW senior public health studies major Steven Kuzmenco, a repeat kale-eating contest winner from last year’s Food Day celebration.
He said the secret was a healthy portion of kale in his everyday diet.
“It is amazing because it is so cheap and healthy,” Kuzmenco said. “I practice what I preach and I am all about eating healthy and local.”
New Hanover County Commissioner Beth Dawson was nearby observing the contest.
“I am glad to see so many community members participating, from college students to retirees,” Dawson said. “There are a tremendous amount of opportunities around local and sustainable food in our community for people to get involved.”
One of the opportunities on display during the Food Day fair was the Cape Fear Crop Mob. The mob consists of a fluid group of individuals who care about small farms, sustainable agriculture and local produce who come together for projects on local farms.
“We are a loose-knit group of people that gets together and helps a small, local farmer with a project that needs to get done,” said crop mob organizer Chris Dean. “We provide the networking for anyone interested in helping out and the farmer will direct us from there about what needs to be done.”
The goal of the Cape Fear Crop Mob mirrored the goal of Food Day, with a series of discussions, films and presentations focused around connecting the community to local farmers and vice-versa.
Justin Bradley, AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service for America member and Feast Down East coordinator, said the event effectively gathered community support for the local food system.
“What we are trying to do here is educate the public about the importance of supporting the local food systems,” Bradley said. “We work with a lot of limited-resource farmers in North Carolina and are trying to connect them with communities to help support the local farmers and the communities that lack resources like fresh and healthy foods.”
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