Tennessee Local Food Summit

The 11th annual Tennessee Local Food Summit, held in partnership with The Nashville Food Project and other local food advocates, is slated for January 24-29, 2022. This year’s conference lays the groundwork for nuanced conversations about food production in the coming years. Experts are invited to talk about the state’s agricultural history as well as the food traditions carried on from its melting pot of ancestors. With the aid of social media, video, and in-person components, this year’s conference will be more accessible than ever to attendees.

The event schedule is as follows:

Monday, January 24 – Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Kicking off the Summit virtually, The Tennessee TN Local Food Summit will host conversations throughout the week with local food advocates, discussing their passions and initiatives via @tnlocalfood’s Facebook and Instagram social media channels. We will hear and learn from organizations including (but not limited to!) Nashville Foodscapes, the Community Garden Coalition, Tennessee Women in Green, and a group of beer brewers using local ingredients.

Monday, January 24 – Wednesday, January 26, 2022

We’ve partnered with the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission to bring you three videos on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings at 7pm. They are focused on equity in Nashville’s food service industry and are hosted by Louisa Shafia, the Culinary Liaison for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and a passionate advocate for Iranian cuisine.

The videos focus on racial inequities in the food service industry, immigrant farm workers, and immigrants in the food service industry.

Just Conversations is an initiative of the Metro Human Relations Commission that is designed to make discussions of equity, justice, and inclusion available to anyone who wants to engage and learn more. Episodes are created by and for community members.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

A panel of organizations and individuals taking creative approaches to access land will speak about their work. Hear from The Agrarian Trust, The Nashville Food Project, and others as they detail their successes and difficulties in their unconventional approaches to finding land for food production.

Friday, January 28, 2022

The Summit will gather virtually and in person at Harding House Brewing Co. to screen a video symposium featuring community members who hold knowledge of local agricultural history and a progressive vision for the local food system. Movers and shakers such as Alice Randall, Charlie Hatcher, Gowa, Sandor Katz, and Jeff Poppen will share their wisdom in this documentary-style video.

Saturday, January 29, 2022

The Nashville Food Project (TNFP) will co-host the Summit’s final day at their Community Farm at Mill Ridge Park. Stories of the Land: Community Farm at Mill Ridge is a workshop and walking tour that guides participants through an interactive learning and visioning experience on land The Nashville Food Project has the privilege to steward. The workshop takes us through periods of time the land and people have shared, centering stories that are often excluded and inviting participants to re/connect with land as more than property. Stories of the Land pushes participants to recognize the stark similarities in the way land and people are treated, as well as the thread of resistance and resilience that runs through them both. This work is inspired by all who grow on this land now, have grown on it before, as well as the many community members that have spent years preserving these stories.

We hope this experience will call us into conversations about what land justice work might look like and how we can cultivate spaces to create a just and sustainable food system for all.

A content warning: This tour will be a space for processing our nation’s hard histories. Please reach out to Lathram Berry at lathram@thenashvillefoodproject.org if you have specific questions concerning the content of the tour. More information will be shared as we get closer to the date, including contextual resources to help us engage in difficult conversations.

Accessibility information: Please note that the location of the tour is an evolving farm site, so some areas of uneven earth may be difficult to manage for folks with mobility limitations. Additionally, portable bathroom facilities are available at this farm site, but they are not accessible for wheelchair users. Please contact Lathram Berry if you have any questions or need accommodation to partake.

Stay tuned for an announcement about an after-party location where we will catch up, eat, drink, and be merry.