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It’s almost impossible to replicate the connections people experience around a dinner table—a place for breaking down barriers and breaking bread. Conversations flow from seat to seat, with only momentary pauses to absorb bright, nostalgic flavors. Food has the power to teach us about our ancestors, while also showing the value of cracking open old cookbooks and reinventing recipes lost by time.

Indiana Humanities started Food for Thought to invite Hoosiers to consider the spices on their spoons and the stories swirled into their stew. Indiana’s dinner table features a diverse menu of dishes from many cultural backgrounds, but if we neglect to tell the stories of how recipes find their way onto our plates, it’s easy to enjoy food without giving it another thought. 

Food for Thought Films

Film

Milkweed

This film is part of Indiana Humanities' four-part film series, Food for Thought, which considers what folks across Indiana are doing to preserve their foodways.

Dani Tippman, a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, is working to preserve the tribe's food and way of life. Tippmann, who lives just outside of Fort Wayne, prepared a dish of traditional common milkweed.

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Film

Kartoffelsalat

This film is part of Indiana Humanities' four-part film series, Food for Thought, which considers what folks across Indiana are doing to preserve their foodways.

The Indianapolis Liederkranz organization is a German choral group that works to preserve German culture. For the video, member Elke Lorenzen cooked an authentic German potato salad.

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Film

Sabuti

Once a month, members of a group called Winding Wednesday meet to make an authentic Chin meal and weave together. On this Wednesday, they made sabuti, a corn soup. It's served with delicious fried beef, a slice of lime, and spicy chili salad.

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Film

Maple Syrup

This film is part of Indiana Humanities' four-part film series, Food for Thought, which considers what folks across Indiana are doing to preserve their foodways.

Arthur and Becky Harris have been harvesting maple sap and making syrup at their sugar camp near Greencastle for decades. At one time, Indiana used to be one of the largest maple syrup producers in the country, and the Harris family is trying to keep those traditions alive.

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Highlighted Events

Event

Fairbanks Symposium

The Fairbanks symposium took place in March.

Five Things We Learned during the 2024 Fairbanks Symposium: Seed to Sustenance 

Partners and Funders

Indiana Family of Farmers

Questions?

Marisol Gouveia
mgouveia@indianahumanities.org | 317.616.9112

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