Alaska Flour Co. owners to discuss and demonstrate local food options
February 25, 2014
907-474-5042
2/25/14
Alaska Flour Co.'s owners will offer lectures and a workshop March 5-6 at the invitation of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor's Student Food Committee, which is promoting use of Alaska-grown food on the Fairbanks campus.
Bryce Wrigley, owner of the flour company and a 1,700-acre farm in Delta Junction, will share his experiences, stories, lessons learned and challenges in two free lectures on Wednesday, March 5. He and his wife, Jan, will conduct a cooking workshop on Thursday, March 6, which will be followed by a luncheon.
"We wanted to invite Bryce to Fairbanks because he can share and show, from his own successful experience, that a robust local food system in Alaska is not only possible, but also delicious and healthy," said Azara Mohammadi, who leads the student committee. The group is committed to using the purchasing power of UAF to improve food security in Alaska. The committee's motto is "20 percent by 2020" — it wants the university to ensure that 20 percent of the food on students' plates is local within six years.
The Sunshine Barley the Wrigleys grow was developed by Alaska Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researchers. The Wrigley mill is the first commercial one in Alaska in decades.
Wrigley is president of the Alaska Farm Bureau and an outspoken proponent of Alaska's need to increase food production.
“What will we do if the planes, trucks and barges don’t make it? We need a mechanism to fall back on," Wrigley said at the 8th Circumpolar Agricultural Conference held in Girdwood in 2013. “We’ve got to develop policies and raise awareness of the process. Burying your head in the sand is not a solution. Let’s build something and solve problems.”
Symposium details:
- On March 5, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wrigley will discuss "Alaskans Feeding Alaska: How Do We Move the Concept from the Discussion State?" at the International Arctic Research Center, Room 501, on the Fairbanks campus. The presentation is part of the UAF Resilience and Adaptation Program lecture series.
- At 7 p.m., Wrigley will give a second presentation, titled "What Would You Try if You Knew You Could Not Fail?", at Hartung Hall in Ester, at Main Street and Ester Loop.
- On Thursday, March 6, the Wrigleys will conduct a free workshop on cooking with barley and barley flour from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Fairbanks Community Food Bank, 725 26th Ave. No. 101.
- The workshop will be followed at 1 p.m. by a lunch featuring locally sourced foods prepared by Chef Joshua Broda at Wolf Run Restaurant, at the corner of University Avenue and Johansen Expressway. The lunch is $30.
- Space in the workshop and lunch is limited. To register or buy a ticket for either, contact: aenglert@alaska.edu.
For more information, contact Mohammadi at apmohammadi@alaska.edu or visit the Chancellor's Student Food Committee's Facebook page.
NT/2-25-14/215-14