Fresh off winning a James Beard Foundation Award for his popular restaurant Chai Pani, chef Meherwan Irani spoke to attendees at a recent Chow Chow culinary series event held in Asheville, North Carolina. Referencing the diversity of background and origin of the chefs featured during the event’s Diaspora dinner, he gestured to them before saying emphatically: “This is the all in y’all.”
In that one statement, Irani, a founding member of Chow Chow, summed up the purpose of the twenty-five events held this year from June to September. As a 501c3 educational nonprofit, Chow Chow: A Culinary Event Series initially followed a food festival format with larger events. Since its inaugural year in 2019, however, it has shifted to intimate events with a committed educational purpose, said board member Elizabeth Sims.
“Chow Chow is an engaging series of culinary weekends filled with creative food and drink, as well as a celebration of our corner of Southern Appalachia—our rich agricultural heritage, our creative spirit as a community, and the important and talented voices that make up our city,” says Chow Chow Executive Director Rebecca Lynch. “We embrace our community’s diversity of foodways and cultures as well as our region’s diversity of thought. The gatherings are joyful and thoughtful, filled with discussions and conversations, workshops, and inspiring stories offering food for the mind to go along with amazing food at our collective tables. We are only an hour’s drive from Greenville, so it’s an easy trip. We hope people from across the region will participate in our Summer of Chow Chow series.”
This year’s series brings together more than one hundred chefs, farmers, beverage producers, and thought leaders to celebrate the unique foodways of Southern Appalachia and foster dialogue about community issues, including racial justice, climate change, and food justice. Events include Food As Medicine, Cherokee Fry Bread Workshop, Sowing the Seeds of Equity, and Entrepreneurs of Color, among others. “The greatest barrier breaker is passing food,” said chef John Fleer, owner of Rhubarb, The Rhu, and Benne on Eagle, and member of the Chow Chow board.
As part of its educational initiative, each session opens with a land recognition by acknowledging that the events occur on land originally belonging to the Cherokee people. Many sessions include panel discussions about food and hospitality issues facing minority communities. In such an inclusive environment, panelists often feel comfortable issuing a call to those attending to become active participants in social and political work.
This year’s series also includes the new family-friendly Sunday Supper Series. The series is free of charge, allowing even more people to participate in the events. Each gathering hosts tableside discussions by community leaders working to address food insecurity, housing, and water justice.
“In this age of demagoguery and polarization, the only elixir that can possibly give us hope is eating together,” Reverend Brian Combs of Haywood Street Congregation said during the June Sunday Supper event.
Workshops, dinners, demonstrations, thought-provoking discussions, and more continue Aug. 4-7 and Sept. 8-11. See the entire lineup: https://www.exploreasheville.com/chow-chow-culinary-festival/2022-schedule/
Recommended events:
Aug. 4-7: Sowing the Seeds of Equity, Cooking with Scraps, Corn: A Cross-Culture Celebration,
Sept. 8-11: Dynamic Women, From Our Hearth to Yours, The Mystery of Malinda Russell
Photography by Stephen Pruitt.
