Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Feast Down East, UNCW and community partners have joined efforts to host Food Day Wilmington 2015 on Oct. 23.

This free public event will take place throughout the day on UNC Wilmington’s campus and at participating area restaurants and businesses. Free parking is available in Lot M.

Activities include educational workshops and a Sustainable Food Fair. Workshops will run from 9 -11:30 a.m. on topics such as healthy eating habits, listening to your body, eating well on a budget and the implications of modern agricultural practices. The fair will run from noon to 2 p.m. and include kale eating competitions, cooking competitions, free vegetable plants, raffle prizes and more.

At 11:30 a.m., there will be a welcome session in the UNCW Amphitheatre. UNCW administrators and local leaders will share their thoughts, including UNCW Chancellor Jose V. Sartarelli, City of Wilmington Mayor Pro-Tem Margaret Haynes and New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr.

In celebration of Food Day, locally-sourced specials will be offered by a number of area restaurants and UNCW Campus Dining facilities, which are also open to the public. Restaurants that will be offering Food Day specials throughout the weekend include Catch, Kornerstone Bistro, Surf House, Tidal Creek Food Co-op, Hops Supply Co., The Basics, Ceviche’s, Circa 1922, 22 North, Flying Pi Kitchen, South Beach Grill, CAM Café, Front Street Brewery, Dig & Dive, manna, The German Cafe and Rx Restaurant & Bar.

During the week leading up to Food Day, Oct. 17-23, there will be a food drive at Tidal Creek Food Co-op, Lowes Foods on College Road and Lowes Foods on Pine Grove Drive to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.  

Food Day is a nationwide celebration of and movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, culminating in a day of action. Every Oct. 24, thousands of events nationwide bring Americans together to celebrate and enjoy real food and to push for improved food policies. Created by the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day aims to bring us closer to a food system with “real food-just food” that is produced with care for the environment, animals, and the men and women who grow, harvest and serve it. The 2015 theme of Food Day is “Toward a Greener Diet.”

For more information and a detailed schedule of Food Day 2015 events, please visit the Feast Down East website, join the Food Day Wilmington 2015 event on Facebook or contact Sarah Daniels at 910.962.7723 or danielss@uncw.edu.

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Feast Down East, also known as the Southeastern North Carolina Food Systems Program (SENCFS), was established in early 2006 in order to join public and private agencies together to create a local and regional food system that supports local farmers; increases the sales of local farm products; educates consumers and the public on the importance of ‘buying local’; and sustains and expands farm employment, profit, and ownership, particularly among limited-resource farmers. UNCW is the lead agent for SENCFS. The Feast Down East Processing & Distribution Center is a USDA designated Food Hub. For more information on how to get involved, visit their website www.FeastDownEast.org.