Learn from local food system experts at Foodie Fridays!
Foodie Fridays, organized by Montgomery Parks Community Garden Program, is a monthly speaker series from June – October focused on highlighting food-related topics in Montgomery County. Events feature farmers, educators, community organizers, food lovers, and changemakers. Attendees have a chance to engage with local food system experts and community members over light food and refreshments.
2024 Events
This year’s Foodie Friday speaker series will focus on the senses – how can we connect with the food system through feeling, smelling, tasting, hearing, and seeing? Speakers will discuss the connections between food and mental health, the role of pollinators in agriculture, forest agriculture and foraging, the historical foodways of Montgomery County and the future of farming in the County.
Events will begin at 6:30pm and end at 8:30pm. Attendees can check-in and enjoy refreshments from 6:30-6:50pm. Speaker(s) will begin promptly at 7:00pm and a Q&A will follow the presentation.
Feed the Soul: Food & Mental Health
June 28, 2024
You’ve probably heard the phrase “you are what you eat” and know about the relationships between food and physical health, but what about the links between food, nutrition, eating behaviors and mental health? Join us to learn about food and mental wellbeing with neuropsychologist Dr. Nicole Salman from Snapdragon Wellness!
Dr. Nicole Salman is a neuropsychologist specializing in food and nutrition and how it impacts our bodies and brains. Her goal is to help individuals develop a happy and healthy lifestyle that supports overall wellness by working with individuals to understand their relationship with food. Whether Dr. Salman is identifying challenging eating patterns or developing a nutrition plan to assist individuals, she helps clients begin to build healthy eating practices. She provides opportunities for hands-on cooking lessons, sleep hygiene education, neurocognitive evaluations to understand one’s strengths and difficulties, and so much more.
Smell the Flowers: Pollinators & Agriculture
July 26, 2024
Channel your inner pollinator and “stop and smell the roses” with researcher Michael Roswell. Learn about the important role of pollinators in agriculture and local food systems while identifying insects and exploring pollination biology during this hands-on lecture.
Michael Roswell grew up outside of Baltimore, Maryland, then studied biology and linguistics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and later received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Between college and graduate school, he worked as a science educator in the Northeast US and in Southern California. In his postdoc at the University of Maryland, he conducted preliminary work on the pollination biology of soybeans, worked with 4H to develop teaching materials, and developed a prioritization tool for regional species conservation. He is interested in the ecology and conservation of plant-pollinator interactions, robust methods for biodiversity estimation, and developing quantitative tools in ecology. Michael loves sharing what he’s learning about bees, other pollinators, pollination ecology, and infectious diseases.
Taste the Land: Forest Agriculture & Foraging
August 23, 2024
When you think about where your food comes from, a farm or grocery store might be one of the first thing you think of, but food is all around us – if we know where to look! Learn about foraging, food forests, and more at this event with teacher and forest gardener, Bodhi Vasilopoulos.
Hear the Past: Historical Foodways in Montgomery County
September 27, 2024
How has Montgomery County’s history shaped the food system we see today? Listen to historian, author, and explorer of the American past – Tony Cohen – talk about historical foodways, with a focus on the Museum Garden at Button Farm Living History Center and the heirloom varieties being grown there.
Anthony Cohen is a historian, author, and explorer of the American past. Tony launched his career in 1996, walking two months from Maryland to Canada, along the Underground Railroad. Tony is the Founder and President of The Menare Foundation, a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Underground Railroad. Tony is also a founding member of the Montgomery County Lynching Memorial Project, and has served as a consultant to the National Parks Conservation Association, Maryland Public Television, NASA and trained Oprah Winfrey for her role in the 1998 motion picture Beloved. Tony operates the Button Farm Living History Center, a 40-acre farm depicting 1850s plantation life in Maryland. To bring this history to life Button Farm recreates sensory experiences of the past, integrating the tastes, touch, smell, sights and sounds of the 1850s into the daily operations of the farm.
See the Future: Young Farmers in Montgomery County
October 25, 2024
Envision the future of agriculture in Montgomery County with a panel of young farmers who are reimagining the food system.
DC native Falani Spivey, is an educator, land steward, filmmaker and community activist. Falani’s work is rooted in serving her community and her city, especially having lived through the changes of a vibrant and once predominantly Black city that has witnessed the ups and downs of economic and social upheaval, displacement and gentrification. With roots in North Carolina, Falani comes from a tradition of African-centered education that focuses on each generation supporting one another. Those values are woven into her company, Byrd’s Nest Box, a fresh produce company specializing in curated farm boxes with homegrown and artisanal products. Falani has held numerous community workshops across the city and taught farming cultivation, sustainable farming practices and food preparation in schools and parks and recreational programs throughout the DC and Maryland area.
Past Events
- Cultivating Traditions – Food is deeply rooted in history and place – past events and traditions have shaped what we eat and where we can find it. Two local growers (Tanya Doka-Spandhla and Nia Nyamweya) discussed how and why history, ancestral and traditional knowledge, and culturally important foods influence their farming practices.
- The Bee’s Knees – This event featured Phil Frank, a member of the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association. The talk focused on honey bees’ role in food production, the kinds of foods we’d miss out on without honey bees, and exactly what it is morphologically and behaviorally that makes bee pollination irreplaceable.
- The People’s Medicine – Attendees explored the intersection between traditional and holistic wellness practices, land stewardship, and home herbalism with speaker Rhiannon Smith, founder of Takoma Park-based herbal apothecary Kiyoshi Botanicals.
- Saving Seeds & Stories – Every seed tells a story. With every seed planted, the genetic story of the plant is passed onto the next generation, just as the stories, memories, and feelings associated with specific foods are passed down among our families. Niraj Ray, founder of Cultivate the City, shared how to save seeds as well as the value of saving seeds from culturally important crops.
- Food is Freedom – In the US, food and farming have a long history of being tied to freedom – and enslavement. For the final Foodie Fridays of 2023, speakers discussed the power rooted in food and farming. Susan Cook shared the story of her fourth great aunt, Alethia Tanner, and how growing food was her pathway from enslavement to freedom. Gardener and edible activist Vanessa Pierre discussed her advocacy work and how gardening continues to empower communities.
The first Foodie Friday events were held in 2019. No events were held from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.