One Earth has teamed up with Austin Eats and its 26 local partners to invite the Austin community to Bethel New Life church Oct. 2 for a free chef showcase and movie night.
Amid the slew of exciting events the organizations have planned beginning at 5:30pm, the event has a greater purpose: educating the Austin neighborhood about food insecurity.
Early on in the event, called Austin Eats: Chef Showcase & Movie Night 2024, attendees will have the opportunity to take part in a free dinner, tours of the garden, tabling activities by community organizations and sampling of a mac and cheese cooking competition.
Executive Director of YourPassion1st Chris Thomas helped to organize this event and said that the fun-packed evening will serve to appeal to younger members of the Austin community to convey the message of the night in an enjoyable way.
“It’s hard to get a youth to understand what sustainability looks like when they’re still thinking like day to day versus down the road, three months a year, hundreds of years down the road,” Thomas said. “When you’re talking about subjects that can tend to be boring, you want to make sure that it is engaging and fun and exciting.”
Later on in the evening, there will be a screening of the film “They’re Trying to Kill Us,” co-produced by Billie Eilish and Chris Paul, as well as a panel discussion immediately following the film. The movie follows co-director John Lewis as he journeys across the United States investigating why there are disproportionately higher rates of chronic disease among Americans of color and touches on themes of food, race and government.
“It’s basically trying to bring health and wellness and knowledge about food scarcity to communities, and bringing it to low-income communities or communities that may be struggling with food insecurity, and also those particular ethnicities that struggle with health issues, diabetes, high blood pressure [and] things of that nature,” said Executive Director for GSJ Family Life Center Shelia Owens. “It’s bringing that knowledge and information directly to those individuals, so that they know what’s going on, and then they feel some level of empowerment and try to change it.”
Following the movie screening, a panel moderated by Community Organizer for Austin Coming Together Arewa Karen Winters will discuss the film and answer questions about how to “Thrive on the West Side.” Making up the panel are a variety of medical, nutritional and activism professionals.
“What I would love for [attendees] to take away from it is how we can change the way that we do things, how we see the government and the industries that make decisions for specific groups and ethnicities, how those things happen,” Owens said. “[I want] people learning that they have power to make changes in their eating, but then also being aware that the government may have its own agenda that doesn’t necessarily support ours.”
Because Austin is a food desert, the organizers behind this event are hoping that they will be able to provide valuable information about accessing healthy food for Austin residents, as well as underscore some of the flaws within the current system that exacerbate food insecurity in vulnerable communities.
“I just want people to think differently about what they eat, and the logic behind why that’s been what they and their family have been eating. It’s a system that’s put those things in front of us and enticed us,” Thomas said. “I think by seeing this movie, Austinites can come and be like, ‘Oh, well, if we bond together, then we can do something to impact that system.’”
At the conclusion of the event, the organizers will provide information about the best ways to access healthy food in the community, including the Austin Harvest Grocery Store at 423 N. Laramie Ave., the Austin Town Hall Market at 5610 W. Lake St. and the Forty Acres Fresh Market, which delivers produce to your door.
“Knowledge is power, because then you walk away with the ability to make different decisions, to read a little bit more, to learn a little bit more about what’s happening in your community and what they’re actually doing,” Owens said. “It should make you feel empowered. It should give you knowledge that you didn’t have before.”
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/austin-eats-chef-showcase-movie-night-2024-tickets-1013866551147