Feasting for FEAST: Thursday, September 4th at The Pillar!

LaZoom hosts night of fun and food supporting FEAST, a program of Slow Food Asheville

Asheville’s local celebrities Augusta Wind and Earlene Hooch know exactly what FEAST stands for: Fresh, Easy, Affordable, Sustainable, and Tasty cooking classes and gardening education for kids, empowering them to make healthy eating choices. The two LaZoom divas will host the upcoming Feasting for FEAST Fundraiser on September 4th at The Pillar downtown, and they invite you to join them for an evening of fun, food, entertainment, and a raffle supporting FEAST, a program of Slow Food Asheville. “The LaZoom people love to eat food, especially all that there fresh, easy and affordable mess and sustainable is just fun to say! Get yer healthy on y’all!”  Says Augusta Wind

Tickets for the all inclusive night are $35 per advance ($45 at the door), and include local food, Biltmore wine, a FEAST beer brewed specifically for the event by Oyster House Brewing Company and Riverbend Malt House, as well as entertainment by Ms. Wind and Ms. Hooch.  “It’s a great way to try out a lot of our top chefs in one place, while supporting a good cause,” emphasizes FEAST Executive Director Kate Justen. “All Souls Pizza, Earth Fare, French Broad Chocolate Lounge, HomeGrown, Isis, King Daddy’s Chicken & Waffle, King James Public House, Laughing Seed Cafe, Renaissance, Rhubarb, Sunny Point Cafe, The Junction, The Local Taco, Eden Out and West End Bakery will be generously donating food for the event!”

Sponsorship opportunities are also available, and include tickets to the event and other recognition in return for your donation. Kate Justen explains: “A donation of $300 allows us to prepare a FEAST school garden with hands on activities for the upcoming school year and a $1500 donation provides 15 students with weekly FEAST classes in an after school program.” This years sponsors include Mosaic Realty, Navitat, Goldenwood Financial, Lizarralde Insurance Agency and Curate.

All food served at the event will be prepared following the FEAST philosophy (Fresh Easy Affordable Sustainable and Tasty). FEAST uses locally grown fruits and vegetables to teach healthy eating to children and young adults with hands­on cooking classes, since it’s been proven that kids are more likely to choose healthy food when they help prepare it.

Founded in 2009, FEAST is a non­profit program that has been locally grown itself. With the support of the Asheville community, FEAST serves now more than 1,000 annually students within Asheville and Buncombe County, showing them how to include fresh produce in their meals. At the same time, FEAST classes teach kids essential life skills like problem solving and teamwork, while FEAST instructors also incorporate math, science, health and nutrition in their cooking classes. “’With the money we raise at this fundraiser we are going to expand FEAST programming so that we can have a deeper impact on the students we are working with. Sometimes you need to try a new vegetable 5 different ways before you really like it and add it to your plate on a regular basis.  Our goal for the upcoming school year is to incorporate our new garden partnerships more fully into FEAST programming so that kids see the connection between healthy food and how it is grown.” Justen explains.