Community FEaST!

Today was the Community FEaST (Food Engagement and Story Telling) meal on Appalachian State University’s campus. This was hosted by AppalFRESH (Appalachian Food Research for Equity Sustainability and Health), a trans-disciplinary group I founded in 2015 to bring together faculty, staff and students across Appalachian’s campus who are involved in sustainable food research and outreach.

This is the first annual event and we had NO idea what to expect but set a table in the middle of campus for 300 people and ordered 450 potatoes and toppers with the help of many campus entities and student groups (see the list at the end of the film).

The turnout was phenomenal! We estimate there were 500 diners who gathered around this table to talk about the importantce of a sustainable food system. We included conversation starters to help these tables discuss these important topics from several perspectives, including food equity, the importance of home cooking, seed saving and nutrition.