Dinner in the Desert Kitchen V: Forage Ahead

Our 5th University of Dayton Student-organized art auction, can drive, dinner experience and art exhibition took place on December 10th from 6-9pm at The Hub in the newly re-opened, historic Dayton Arcade. An array of soups were served for our Empty Bowls initiative, new student photographic works were available for purchase, and small editioned prints were gifted to those who donated a non-perishable food item to the Dayton Foodbank. We also debuted a new double-issue of the student publication Desert Dispatch, featuring stories of local residents and organizations striving for food justice. 

For this year’s event, students from multiple majors partnered with both the Gem City Market and their wellness partner Expressions of Life to investigate a broad range of themes around community resiliency, sustainability, and social justice. We took our inspiration from the term forage, meaning “to search widely for food or provisions.” We reference communities who seek out natural sustenance in their local forests and woodlands, a practice that has become increasingly popular during the global pandemic. However, we also apply the term more broadly to include an array of student projects, proposals, objects, and inquiries that confront current environmental and social issues and seek to dismantle existing systems towards the aim of imagining a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

Photos by UD students Allison Matis and Natalie Yersavich, whose project in The HUB’s Studio013 celebrated moments of togetherness while questioning our problematic food system and its relationship to plastic consumption.