First-Ever Food and Culture Festival Promises Fun, Education
Photo via @thecookinggene Instagram
Ava McConnell | Contributing Writer
The University of Dayton alumni chair of humanities is serving up experiences to broaden your horizons and taste buds this week as part of UD’s first-ever Food and Culture Festival, which will include round table discussions, a keynote speaker, and performances by the Dayton Opera.
On Thursday, keynote speaker Michael Twitty is scheduled to present in the Roger Glass Center for the Arts. Twitty is a culinary historian in residence at UD and the holder of a Jewish Book Award.
This event will begin with an address from James Beard and will be followed by Twitty’s speech, which focuses on history, controversies, and myths around Southern Food along with how these things connect to race and identity. This free event starts at 5:30 p.m., but you must reserve your seat through the Roger Glass Center’s Ticketmaster page.
The Dayton Opera will close out the week on Friday and Saturday, performing a double feature including “Bon Appétit” (1981) and “The Cook-Off” (2023). This series of features will start with the story of chef Julia Child as she bakes a chocolate cake. The stakes are taken higher in “The Cook-Off,” as the story centers on contestants who take the stage in a comedic rendition of a televised cooking competition. Tickets for this event are for sale on the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance website, with show times at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 and 7, along with a matinee at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The event, which began Monday, Feb. 2, is intended to showcase food as a part of the humanities.
“I would love for folks to recognize that the humanities are for everyone,” Samuel Dorf, the alumni chair in humanities, said. “Food is another way to tell our stories, to think about our past, and to imagine a new future.”
Festivities began Monday afternoon with a roundtable discussion in the Roger Glass Center for the Arts. The free event featured multiple culinary artists from Dayton area restaurants, including Wheat Penny, Culture, Tony and Pete’s, and Mazu Eats. Along with this, Dayton Business Journal food columnist Alexis Larsen moderated the event. Discussions focused on stories of serving food.
Wednesday featured a second free panel discussion, this in the Sears Recital Hall. Discussions in the panel focused on accessibility and food justice in the Dayton area. Presenters represented the Gem City Market, BIPOC Ohio Farm and Food Network, 6888 Kitchen Incubator, and the Hall Hunger Initiative. UD alumna Te’Jal Cartwright moderated.
The festival focuses on food, the stories that come with it, and much more. Dr. Samuel Dorf writes, “If we are lucky, most of us get to eat three times a day. I hope folks who attend this public humanities festival will think about the food on their plates in new ways and see their own role in preserving and reimagining their own food and cultures.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ava McConnell is enrolled in the Flyer News Practicum, which offers students experiential experiences in the journalism arts. The Practicum, an elective in the Department of Communication curriculum, College of Arts and Sciences, is offered fall and spring.