Food To Fork Kicks Off in Roanoke

Roanoke County's Doug Chittum talks with Carawba Sustainability Center's Christy Gabbard.^

Susan Short of Virginia Tech's Outreach Program Development and Ms. Gabbard chat.^

Vendor set up with local goodies to sample.^

Culinary Institute students deliver freshly-cooked local food.^

Food producers set up their display.^

Producers and retailers talk during the show.^

The local foods movement in the Roanoke Valley continues to expand and today there is a symposium at the Claude Moore Complex and Dumas Center that puts producers, retailers and consumers at the same table.

Field to Fork opened at 3 p.m. and finishes this evening with dinner that is being prepared at the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western in the Moore Complex. That dinner will feature local foods.

Doug Chittum of the Roanoke County Department of Economic Development and one of the planners of the event says,“The purchase and consumption of locally grown foods contributes to the environmental, economic, and health of our region. By providing a space where local growers and buyers can meet and network, organizers hope to help cultivate relationships that will ultimately ignite and sustain a local foods movement in the greater Roanoke Valley.”

Among those sponsoring the event are VT EarthWorks, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Jamisons’ Orchard, Runner-bean.com, Roanoke Natural Foods Cooperative, various economic development offices Virginia Tech and local businesses.