We're honored to team up with the CRAFT (Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transportation) at Chatham University's Eden Hall Campus for a special storytelling dinner in mid-July!
Here's the lowdown from our friends at CRAFT:
This Storytelling Dinner is the culminating event for our oral history project entitled: “Babka and Beyond: Bread, Grains, and Baked Goods in Western Pennsylvania”. Together, this project and dinner aim to bridge tradition and modernity across Rust Belt and Appalachian regions.
The project:
“Babka and Beyond: Bread, Grains, and Baked Goods in Western Pennsylvania” explores in-depth stories about how grains — from agriculture to bread making and baking — can contribute to larger themes of identity, community, and social capital. Through 40 oral history interviews, we aimed to better understand how people interact with the food system through the most basic of needs: bread.
Bread defines community — through the type of grain used, the method of preparing and cooking, and perhaps most importantly, with whom people break bread. Those similarities and differences cut across regions, cultures, and nations. This project relies on a common approach to oral history as a research method that uncovers the experiences of people and place through food.
The dinner:
This 6-course farm dinner, featuring locally sourced grains, produce, and meat, is inspired from the 40 interviews completed throughout this project. Each course will reflect themes and stories from the project, and diners will get to hear audio as they eat a meal that is reflective of our region’s rich food history.
Menu will be released soon!
Vegetarian options available upon request.
BYOB! Locally made hard cider will also be provided.