A
S COVID-19 upended the world, Feast
Down East found new success by
strategically pivoting to curating
agriculture boxes, which helped grow-ers
distribute their crops. As nationwide grocers
struggled with supply chains, the boxes with fresh
vegetables filled a large, local gap and improved the
organization’s visibility within the Wilmington
community.
“It’s not a traditional CSA box, as you usually
buy into months of products and support a farm
directly so they can grow and plan for their season,”
Stretch says. “This is more of a reactive program
to COVID. Wholesale has been hard because
restaurants are not at full capacity and UNCW is
not feeding the whole student population right now.
The CSA has helped keep the farmers in business
and, honestly, us as well. COVID has actually
given us the opportunity to work more collabora-tively.
It has shown that the big food system doesn’t
work, and it really failed us during the pandemic.
The local small farmers here were really able to step
up and provide the products that were missing in
the chain grocery stores.”
In the coming months, Feast Down East aims to
reach even more people in vulnerable communities
that lack access to fresh food by offering discounted
produce and a dollar-for-dollar match on EBT and
SNAP cards, as well as nutrition programs featur-ing
cooking classes and healthy eating coaches.
Top: Food Hub manager Zach LaVere talks to a farmer outside of cold
storage in Burgaw. Bottom: Feast Down East works with community
partners to bring fresh local food to vulnerable communities via the
Local Motive Mobile Farmers Market.
LOCAL FOOD
CONFERENCE
76 february 2021
WBM
Chef, author and restaurateur Vivian
Howard will be the keynote speaker
for Feast Down East’s 11th annual
Local Food Conference, being
held virtually this year on the
weekend of March 5. The event,
which includes workshops and panel discussions, aims to strengthen relationships
between groups that are involved in supporting and growing the food system in
Southeastern North Carolina. Workshop topics will cover how COVID-19 impacted
the local food system, racial equity as it relates to food access, nutrition education,
cooking demonstrations, and farming topics such as livestock, pest control and
business planning. The conference is open to the public and will appeal to anyone
interested in food, seafood, farming, gardening and restaurants, and how they
all work together. For updates on registration, visit Feast Down East’s website or
follow on social media.
COURTESY FEAST DOWN EAST ALLISON POTTER