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Hoosier Hysteria for Hoosier Food

With Bloomington’s rich traditions and affections for food, we had a blast with Food for Thought programming and community partnerships while the traveling exhibit was in town. The Center on…

With Bloomington’s rich traditions and affections for food, we had a blast with Food for Thought programming and community partnerships while the traveling exhibit was in town. The Center on Aging and Community hosted us, and from the Creative Aging Festival where we shared stories about the past, to Chew on This discussion cards at the community picnic, the aging community made the Food for Thought experience far richer than we could have imagined. Additionally, visitors at the Bloomington Farmers’ Market, city hall patrons and members of the community visited the exhibit during its two-week stay in the atrium at City Hall. With author talks, a community poetry reading, lecture on chocolate and even an intergenerational picnic, there was something for everyone. Below are some of the top 10 memories, stories and tweets from the visit. There is always Hoosier Hysteria in B-town, but this time it was Hoosier Hysteria for Hoosier food!

Food For Thought in Bloomington
  1. “Indiana Humanities has helped our community discover and express its heart and soul elements, bridging the past and the future, the near and far.” -Phil Stafford, director at the Center on Aging and Community
  2. Local poets entertained visitors with rhymes, rhythms, and grooves during the Food For Thought poetry night. Sample lyric: “Tomatoes are red, blueberries are blue, poetry is better when its about food.” Check out some of the highlights here
  3. More than 50 people headed to Lake Lemon for an intergenerational picnic. The setting provided conversation that was more sweet than sour.
  4. Anya Peterson Royce, an anthropology professor at IU and former Indiana Humanities board member, delighted the crowd with her presentation “Choc Talk,” which was about chocolate. Here is a tweet from the event: “In China, people eat 1.8 oz of chocolate annually. In the U.S. people eat 11.7 lbs annually. And Switzerland? 22 lbs per person annually!”
  5. In between bites of chocolate, Kristin was able to tweet: “Cacao (plant used to make chocolate) only grows 20 degrees north & south of the equator.”
  6. The always popular Bloomington Farmers’ Market proved to be a great location for Food For Thought as over 200 people visited the exhibit after perusing some of Indiana’s finest produce.
  7. Nancy Hiller, author and cabinet maker, explained how the Hoosier cabinet was used and constructed.

    Nancy Hiller talking about the Hoosier cabinet.
  8. Tonia Matthew explained that when she was growing up in England in the 1940’s and 50’s they would celebrate Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes. Shrove Tuesday i s the day before Lent begins and is commonly referred to as Fat Tuesday in the United States. She mentions that she enjoyed squeezing lemon juice on the pancakes and drizzling them with sugar. Yum!
  9. The always popular Chew on This discussion cards were a big hit with the senior citizen centers. Their favorite question: “Do you believe in the five second rule?” The most popular answer was “No, it takes me five seconds to bend over and another five to pick it up.”
  10. Julie Hill reveals the secret to one of her favorite dishes, jalapeño pepper rice:
  • White rice
  • Cheddar cheese (shredded four cups)
  • Butter (1 stick)
  • Sour cream (1 container)
  • A little milk
  • Cup of chopped green chilies
  • Diced jalapeños
  • Cup of chopped black olives
  • Bake at 350 degrees for one hour

To see more pictures from Food For Thought in Bloomington click here.