Big Red Eats Green: IU food festival features local vendors, extended hours
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Office of Sustainability will host the sixth annual Big Red Eats Green Festival on Wednesday, Sept. 14. The festival will feature new activities and extended hours.
The fall food festival and farmers market will take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the lawn of the IU Eskenazi Museum of Art on the Bloomington campus. The market will feature local growers and restaurants that are committed to sustainable practices, as well as campus and community organizations that work toward improving the food system. Entertainment will be provided by local musicians and artists.
This year’s theme is “What does local mean to you?”
"The definition of local is pretty ambiguous,” said Carissa Marks, event organizer and a food working group intern with the Office of Sustainability. “If you ask multiple people what local food means to them, chances are you will receive differing answers. So this year we are focusing on what local food means to different people. By supporting local growers and vendors, we directly support and strengthen our community."
New to the festival this year are two foraging walks, at 1 and 3 p.m., which will teach participants about wild edibles on campus.
Also new is Big Red Eats Global, an international food festival showcasing international dishes, accompanied by a tasting. The event will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Students and chefs will prepare and plate their food, explain why they chose to share a specific recipe, offer some cultural insight into the importance of the dish and then allow the audience to taste it.
Following Big Red Eats Global will be a screening of the documentary “Food Fight,” which explores the development of America's agricultural policy and food culture. The screening will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. inside the art museum.
All events will take place on the art museum lawn, except for the film screening, which will be inside. They are free and open to the public.
"Big Red Eats Green has always been about increasing awareness of the benefits of eating local, emphasizing the availability of local food, especially for students at IU, and supporting the local food community,” Marks said. “I want everyone to feel represented. This includes international students, those who may be food insecure, etc. I want people to know that there are many affordable and often free options for obtaining local produce."
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Media Contacts
Makayla Bonney
Project coordinator
- IU Office of Sustainability
- Office 812-855-3730
- mjbonney@indiana.edu