The fourth annual UNC-Asheville Farm-to-Table Dinner on the Quad will be held Tuesday, September 4, from 5:30–8:30 p.m. on the University Quad. Food writer and culinary historian Michael Twitty will be this year’s guest host. Author of the James Beard Award-winning book The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, Twitty will also give a free public lecture on Thursday, September 6, at 7 p.m. in Lipinsky Hall.
With this dinner, UNCA seeks to create a fall harvest ritual around food and farming on campus; to recognize and celebrate efforts in sustainability of student gardeners, faculty, staff and community collaborators; and to advance and accelerate working together in future years.
“On the surface, it’s a meal where we are getting together and eating food produced in our campus gardens and by our local farmers,” says Sonia Marcus, UNCA’s director of sustainability. “But really it’s about building community between the students, faculty and staff on campus who have been involved with food and landscape and food systems work for years. It also builds community with all of the local nonprofits that we work with and the local businesses that supply us on campus.”
Options will be available for every dietary preference and need, including gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian. “We are trying to bring everyone to the table, literally and metaphorically, who has a shared interest in sustainable food systems,” Marcus says.
Tickets are $28 for the general public, faculty, staff and OLLI members, and $10 for students. To learn more or to purchase tickets, visit unca.edu/events. Lipinsky Hall is located at 300 Library Lane on the UNCA campus.
