Foodways Symposium Coming April 10 and 15

Do you like food? Then the Kalamazoo Valley Foodways Symposium is for you. Every April, Kalamazoo Valley Community College invites you, the community, to its free event that celebrates the history and heritage of food and food systems in Southwest Michigan. It is scheduled for April 10 and April 15 this year, where the theme is "Food and Media."

Festivities open with a virtual keynote address, "Food Media: Forging Past, Present & Future Connections," on Monday, April 10, from 6 - 8 p.m., delivered by food media authority Emily Contois, Ph.D. She is the Assistant Professor of Media Studies at The University of Tulsa, where she is Faculty in Residence, as well. Contois is a scholar, writer and teacher whose research explores the links between food, the body, health and identities in contemporary U.S. media and popular culture.

The Foodways Symposium will culminate with an outdoor festival on April 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., in downtown Kalamazoo at Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Food Innovation Center on the Bronson Healthy Living Campus, located at 224 E. Crosstown Parkway. It features food vendors, art, music, youth workshops, cooking demonstrations, a special foraging session by Gabrielle Cerberville, a.k.a. @Chaoticforager and more. The Foodways Symposium is a collaboration between Kalamazoo Valley Community College and the college's Kalamazoo Valley Museum, with support from the KVCC Foundation.

The first hour of Emily Contois' two-hour virtual keynote address will be moderated by Western Michigan University Presidential Innovation Professor in Communication Sue Ellen Christian, Ph.D., creator of the "Wonder Media" news literacy exhibit at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Contois is the author of "Diners, Dudes and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture" and co-editor of "Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation."

Contois has written for such major media outlets as NBC News and Jezebel online women's magazine; been on podcasts like "Gastropod," BBC "The Food Chain" and "Food Psych"; and appeared on CBS "This Morning," "BBC Ideas" and on "Ugly Delicious" with chef David Chang on Netflix. She holds doctoral and master's degrees in American Studies from Brown University, as well as a Master of Liberal Arts in gastronomy from Boston University and a Master in Public Health in Public Health Nutrition from University of California, Berkeley.

The Foodways Symposium provides historical, cultural and practical insights into the region's food and food systems, and equally important, serves as a yearly convening point for students, practitioners and the community to come together to ensure our local food system remains strong and vibrant.

Visit kalamazoofoodways.org to preregister for the live virtual keynote address and for a full listing of activities, including times.