Food Week is bringing together Case Western Reserve University’s food-centric clubs for the second year in a row, in a collaborative effort between Kids Against Hunger, Slow Food, Food Recovery Network, Student Sustainability Council, the Office of Sustainability, Labre and Greek Life. Furthermore, funding was provided by the Division of Student Affairs and the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. The focus of this delicious and educational week is to showcase the work that these clubs have done on campus and to bring them together to further educate our campus on the issues surrounding food- health, quality, sustainability and accessibility, among other issues.

The events run from Monday, April 10th to Saturday, April 15th and include food markets, interactive games, discussions with major players in the food industry and opportunities for community service. The week was hugely successful last year and organizer Shadi Ahmadmehrabi passed the torch on to students Naveen Rehman, Madeline Garb and Paul Halliday along with Professor and SAGES Fellow Narcisz Fejes this year to ensure that the week will be even better. I had the chance to speak with one of the organizers, Slow Food Secretary Paul Halliday about the organization, their mission and Food Week as a whole.

As the name suggests, Slow Food promotes, “Good, clean and fair food, meaning that our food should be good for us, not use harmful chemicals, respect the environment, and be grown responsibly with fairly paid workers,” said Halliday.

The CWRU chapter of Slow Food is part of an international food movement that works to promote these ideals on campus and in the Cleveland community.

“All of the events are new from last year. We have more clubs involved, new speakers and even more excitement for this year’s Food Week,” said Halliday about this year’s events.

Last year’s event had some delicious food options from local eateries including Bombay Chaat, Old City Soda and Simply Greek. This year these options are expanded to include Bombay Chaat, The Grocery, Mason’s Creamery, Simply Greek and a Greek Life-sponsored dinner banquet on Saturday.

Kicking things off on Monday is a Local Food Market in Thwing Center. For a one-dollar donation to the Cleveland Food Bank, grab food from Bombay Chaat, The Grocery and Mason’s Creamery. Leutner and Fribley will also be offering a greater number of vegetarian options for Less Meat Monday.

On Tuesday, head back to Thwing for a Food Recovery Network sponsored Thwing Tuesday or to Tinkham Veale University Center for a Food Pyramid Puzzle put on by the Student Sustainability Council.

On Wednesday, Simply Greek will donate 20 percent of earnings for the day to the Cleveland Food Bank. Head to a talk on composting in TVUC or hear Ben Bebenroth of Spice Kitchen speak on Slow Food.

Thursday offers the most events for the week with an incredible panel speaking on “Movers and Growers: Local Food Entrepreneurship.” Speakers include Brandon Chrostowski from Edwin’s Leadership and Restaurant Institute, Karen Small from Flying Fig, Kelly Clark from the School at Kelly’s Working Well Farm, Warren Taylor from Snowville Creamery and Randy De Mers, regional vice president of BAMCO. Thursday night will feature a keynote address titled “The New American Food System” from Warren Taylor, the engineer, entrepreneur and owner of Snowville Creamery.

On Friday, pack meals for the hungry in Thwing. The week concludes on Saturday with the Greek Life Hunger Banquet.

“If you’re looking for delicious food, you have to stop in Thwing on Monday for lunch, it will be such a nice break from the usual college food,” said Halliday. “Aside from that, the panel discussion on Thursday has an amazing group of people. It will combine entrepreneurs, chefs, engineers, and businesspeople all in one room to tackle some of today’s most pressing food topics.”