Our 2020 Project: Aunt Hettie’s Red Okra →
Slow Food Asheville began the Heritage Food Project in 2015 with the idea that we (all) ought be celebrating and paying close attention to the heirloom varieties and traditional foodways of our Appalachian region. We want to bring more awareness to the fact that genetic biodiversity is one cornerstone of a resilient food system. The more diversity we can collectively maintain, the more resilient and sovereign our food supply will be. Also with more diversity comes a wider range of flavors, nutritional value, and hopefully more abundant harvests.
We serve this ideal by facilitating learning, growing, eating, saving, and sharing of heirloom plants and seeds in our mountain communities.
Learn more about biodiversity.
Learn more about food sovereignty.
2020: Aunt Hettie’s Red Okra
2018: North Georgia Candy Roaster Squash
2017: Cherokee Purple Tomato
How the Cherokee Purple Tomato Got its Name
Slow Food Ark of Taste: Cherokee Purple
2016: Cherokee Trail of Tears Pole Bean
Bean Seed Distribution
Bean Celebration
Slow Food Ark of Taste: Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean
2015: Nancy Hall Sweet Potato
Seed-to-Market: Nancy Hall
Sweet Potato Celebration
Slow Food Ark of Taste: Nancy Hall
