Thursday, February 02, 2017

Feast Down East will celebrate its 7th annual Local Food Conference on Feb. 10 at the UNCW Burney Center. Farmers and fishermen, food retailers and restauranteurs, foodies and community leaders alike will gather for a day of workshops and networking to support growing the local food system in southeastern North Carolina.

This year’s Feast Down East will include workshops on farm business management and marketing, agricultural growing techniques, mushroom cultivation, networking and training for food policy councils, cooking demonstrations and tastings from local chefs.

“The partnership between UNCW Campus Dining and Feast Down East has played a critical role in our ability to source and supply our students with local products for more than six years,” said Matt Rogers, district manager for ARAMARK Food Services and UNCW Campus Dining, and vice president of Feast Down East's board of directors. “The annual conference is a chance to bring together the farmers, buyers and community to both celebrate and build on the local food movement here in southeastern N.C.”

Since 2006, Feast Down East has sought to create a healthy, accessible local food system to support economic growth in the region. Originally a UNCW-affiliated economic development project, Feast Down East was established as a nonprofit organization in 2010.

Supporting Feast Down East and the Annual Local Food Conference helps build the backbone of UNCW’s Strategic Plan. Strengthening the activities of, and relationships between, local food system growers and supporters demonstrates the university’s commitment to increasing regional and economic impact.

To view the 7th annual Local Food Conference schedule, visit the Feast Down East website. Registration to attend the conference will be open until Feb. 8.

-- Caitlin Taylor ’18M

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