'Food For Thought'
This year’s Spirit & Place Festival is a foodie’s dream come true: 40 events in 10 days, all focused on the theme of “Food for Thought.”
The festival will welcome a host of culinary celebrities, such as author Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”), chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill Restaurant in New York and “Bizarre Foods” host Andrew Zimmern. The Vegetable Orchestra will perform at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Irvington Skill Share “Feastival” will offer lessons in skills like canning and composting.
This year’s theme is intentionally more focused and accessible than previous themes, such as “Moving and Staying.”
“It’s still broad enough that the three disciplines of art, religion and the humanities can share a viewpoint, but it’s tangible,” said Jennifer Gilles, program coordinator.
The annual festival, now in its 15th year, seeks to inspire community conversation. It is coordinated by the Polis Center, but participating organizations — this year, there are more than 100 — develop their own events to address the theme.
Here, we take a closer look at 10 people involved in this year’s festival. The list includes everyone from farmers and chefs to vegetable musicians and TV hosts, but they all have close ties to, and big ideas about, the food we eat. -- Ashley Petry, special to Metromix
