SCC students hungry to learn
I hope the students at Spokane Community College packed their appetites this year.
Along with the usual fare, SCC is serving up the school’s first campus-wide program to explore and celebrate the role of food in culture, art and society. Organizers hope the project will raise awareness about food production, technology and consumption, and promote the Inland Northwest’s regional identity as a center for culinary innovation.
“This has really been our passion for the last year and a half,” said Andrea Reid, who is co-directing the project with fellow English teacher Angela Rasmussen. “It’s a great topic to bring together people from around campus and share their expertise from different departments.”
Offered through the school’s Center for the Humanities, the program will feature weekly presentations by staff and faculty called “Naked Lunches: Stripping the Pretense off Food-Related Issues.” They’ll tackle topics such as food and art, sports nutrition, the popular diets, the geology of wine, food and revolution in history, and food and interpersonal communication.
Each of the students in the college’s English 101 classes (some 700-plus students) will be reading “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,” by Eric Schlosser. The SCC student-managed restaurant, Orlando’s, will be designing menus for the project.
There also will be monthly “Food Fight” panel discussions on controversial food topics, including food in schools and food production. Experts will talk about the power of food to affect people and society as a whole during the Bon Appetit Symposia. And there will be a five-day Foodies Film Festival starting Nov. 29, with films such as “Chocolat,” “Mostly Martha” and “Super Size Me.”
Most of the events are open to the public. Here are the details for October’s offerings; watch the Culinary Calendar inside the IN Food section for more events later in the quarter.
Naked Lunches: Stripping the Pretense off Food-related Issues
Held at 11:30 a.m. in the SCC Center for the Humanities.
Today: “Food and Art,” with SCC art instructor Marcel Arpin.
Next Wednesday: “Sports Nutrition,” with Spokane Falls Community College health fitness technician John Troppmann.
Oct. 20: “Somewhere between the Mediterranean and South Beach Diets,” with SCC hotel and restaurant manager instructor Duane Sunwold.
Oct. 27: “Geology of Wine,” with Jim Hoffman, retired Eastern Washington University professor.
Food Fight Panel Discussion
Held at 11:30 a.m. in the SCC Center for the Humanities.
Oct. 14: “What are Your Kids Eating? Food in Public Schools.”
Bon Appetit Symposia
Held at 12:30 p.m. in the SCC Center for the Humanities.
Oct. 21: “Eating in America: Cultural Identity and Food.”
Oct. 28: “Will Work for Food: Careers in the Food Industry.”
The Community Colleges of Spokane will hold a special seating wine-tasting event on Oct. 28 to benefit the SCC Center for the Humanities. It will star top selections from the Spokane Winery Association and light appetizers prepared by SCC culinary arts students. Wine Spectator contributing editor Matt Kramer will lead the tasting. Tickets are $75 per person. For tickets, call 434-5123.
There is more information online about the SCC Culinary Culture program at: http://ol.scc.spokane.edu/CulinaryCulture.