Where Does Our Food Come From?

GAMBIER, Ohio (May 1, 2006) Where did the ingredients in that caesar salad originate? How many miles did that lettuce travel before ending up on your plate? And who is responsible for getting a steak from the feedlot to your table? These often unasked questions about the world's food system will be the subject of an event to be held on Peirce Lawn on Saturday, May 5, from noon until 8:00 p.m.

The event, "Where Does Our Food Come From?," was organized by students in Professor of Sociology Howard Sacks's "Fieldwork: Rural Life" seminar. It will feature a bluegrass band, a farmer's market with locally grown produce, and a display of historical and modern farm machinery. The centerpiece of the event, though, is a student exhibit that looks "at the whole food system, from farm to table," says Sacks.

After its debut on May 5, the exhibit will travel around central Ohio on a tour that begins at the Knox County Fair in July and continues to the Centerburg Old Time Farming Festival in September. A year's worth of research went into the exhibit. Sacks's students conducted more than seventy-five interviews with Knox County farmers, as well as with auctioneers, business leaders, beekeepers, orchard owners, truck drivers, and nutritionists.

The farm machinery display will provide a historical view of changes in agricultural technology. The small farmer's market will offer locally grown products available in mid-spring, including early spring greens, maple syrup, honey, and meat.

Capping the day will be a performance from 6:00-8:00 p.m. by the David Verny Band, a bluegrass band from South Charleston, Ohio. The band's banjo player, Tony Ellis, is a veteran musician who played with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in the early 1960s.

In case of rain, the exhibit will be shown in Peirce Lounge, and the bluegrass band will perform in Horn Gallery.

The event, part of the College's Food for Thought program, is supported by a grant from the McGregor Fund of Detroit, Michigan.