Mardi

Just a Taste: A rendering of SoFab's new home

This weekend’s annual Hungry in the South symposium proves that the Southern Food and Beverage Museum cares just as much about advancing the future of Southern food as it cares about preserving the past.

The theme of this year’s event, “Science and Technology:  Past, Present, and Future,” underscores the museum’s commitment to staying abreast of changes and trends that affect those who produce, consume, and care about Southern food. In addition to Saturday’s symposium, other events include a food-focused film festival and a “Hard Hat Gala” to show off SoFAB’s future home on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard.

“We think that things are really changing very quickly in the food world, and a lot of those changes are based in science technology,” said SoFAB President and Director Elizabeth Williams about this year’s theme. “There are changes being wrought by technology all over the place, and it seemed like a good thing to explore.”

Saturday’s lineup of speakers, presenters, and panel discussions addresses a number of topics relevant to the theme of science and technology, including everything from issues of social media and online food writing to genetically modified foods. Guests from around the country will be on hand to share their expertise and experience at sessions like “Cookbooks and Technology: From the Hearth to the Heavens,” “Brave New World: Writing and Reading about Food in the Internet Age,” “GMO Seeds,” and “How Social Media Is Changing the Way We Eat.”

While some might be surprised by the museum’s forward-thinking agenda, Williams says it’s a natural fit. “We do preserve,” said Williams, “and that’s why we have collections, but we also document because everything that you’re documenting that’s happening today is going to be history tomorrow.”

“I think that it’s a very narrow view of history,” she adds, “if you only look at the past and don’t explore the present.”

The importance of documenting food culture is what led to the addition of a film festival to this year’s schedule of events. “Film Feast” starts Thursday night and continues throughout the weekend at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center. Of the eight films showing, two of them are world premieres, which Williams says is pretty impressive for a first time festival.

The world premieres are Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of Our Lives, which explores the consequences of genetically modified food, and The Man Who Ate New Orleans, which follows Presbyterian minister Ray Cannata’s quest to eat at every restaurant in the city. Other screenings include social documentaries about a number of food issues, like the decline of oyster reefs and the politics of the banana industry. On Saturday night, Zeitgeist will show the foodie-favorite Big Night, the 1996 feature film starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as brothers who co-own a struggling Italian restaurant.

In addition to examining the future of food, the future of the museum itself will also be unveiled at SoFAB’s Hard Hat Gala on Friday night. The museum, which currently resides in the Riverwalk mall, will be moving to their new digs at 1504 O. C. Haley Boulevard next spring. There’s still plenty of work to be done to the old Dryades Street Market building, but the gala will give people a chance to see the space and view drawings and models of the planned renovations.

“It’s not anywhere near ready,” said Williams, “so it’s definitely a hard hat type of party.”

The plan for the museum includes a depiction of the regional highway system painted on the floor, which visitors can follow from state to state to see exhibitions about local food and local food culture. Each state will be represented with a sign painted by New Orleans artist Dr. Bob, and those paintings will be on display at Friday night’s gala.

Hungry in the South wraps up on Sunday with a cookbook fair at the French Market, featuring a cookbook swap, book signings, rare and used cookbooks, and demonstrations.

For more details, visitors can go to the SoFAB website to purchase tickets and see a full schedule of events, including the symposium, the film fest, the Hard Hat Gala, and the cookbook fair.