Mitchell Hall
675 S Church St, West Chester, PA 19383
USA
In the current era of large corporations creating and satisfying (meeting) consumer demand through mono-culture and “big ag” technology, there is a revolution, of sorts, to eat local and organic, protect the diversity of foods, identify and avoid the harmful chemicals built into the process, and enjoy preparing and eating food at the same time. And what does the future hold for Pennsylvania as we transition to a climate similar to that of Georgia today?
Join West Chester University Office of Sustainability, Sierra Club, and Chester County Citizens for Climate Protection (4CP) for a spring program of lectures, film, demonstration and discussion about today’s food challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities.
First established by the late H. Ralph Weaver in 1932 the Roughwood Seed Archive is the oldest private seed collection in Pennsylvania and the only collection to have received African-American accessions from American folk artist Horace Pippin. The thrust of the collection is cultural and educational (as opposed to agricultural): seeds are cultural artifacts representing our shared culinary heritage. Our emphasis on seeds to table represents the basic connectedness between source of food and a healthy lifestyle: what pioneering French chef Alain Passard calls traceability.
Within this framework, Dr. William Woys Weaver will outline how the Roughwood Seed Archive is working with chefs and growers to emphasize those heirloom food plants that grow best in our region and how traditional foodways have become a culinary road map into the future. This movement back to the land is taking place all across Europe, and since Pennsylvania is the third largest agricultural state in the country – with five distinct culinary regions – our unique region is poised to take a lead in the renewal of American cuisine.