Everything that went down at the Ole Miss Food Festival
Free samples ftw
Ole Miss had a food festival and it was a great way to introduce fresh, healthy goods to college students and help fight off the freshman 15. On Thursday October 6th, the festival was held in front of the student union in the center of campus. Local Businesses and Ole Miss student organizations filled the area with exciting things to taste and purchase.
The festival had students dancing and exploring the world of fresh produce and connected with the community.
What you see:
The Food festival happens at the beginning of fall in order to introduce the fall farmers market. There were many booths from locals and Ole Miss itself.
The table run by the nutrition and hospitality management department were the Student Dietitian Association (SDA), Rebel Well and Ole Miss Ambassadors for Southern Hospitality (OMASH). Ole Miss also had booths for “Green Campus” and Ole Miss Sustainability Awareness.
Jessica Rogers, 22, Hospitality major said: “This is a great way to get students involved with the community. The free samples were a plus too!”
A representative from Southern Foodways Alliance was on a mission to educate students about healthy options:
“Southern Foodways Alliance is an organization that helps people understand the culture of the south and how food options can be healthy here”.
Local farmers and merchants came to the Ole Miss Union to sell their goods and inform people about what they’re doing to help the community and the environment. Everything was sold was either grown or made in Mississippi. There were also cultural tables such as the Mediterranean and Egyptian booth with exotic food.
Many students came to learn about local products and get some snacks on their way to their class. There were many healthy options and things that could be used in everyday life such as honey and jelly.
There were booths to raise food awareness in the community as well. The Ole Miss Food Bank, Southern Foodways Alliance, the UM Garden Club, and Sustainability at Ole Miss were the ones in attendance. Learning about these programs really inspired me to want to get involved with more food based organizations in the area. There are so many ways to get involved in Oxford to really help the community.
All in all, there is a lot to learn from the food festival: culture, socializing with local farmers, seeing the things that can be done with fresh food and learning about being healthy.
Even off campus knowing how to make healthy food fast is great for busy schedules. Knowing there are student organizations willing to make progress and show how easy it is to be healthy, truly brings health and the environment into a new light.