There’s a saying in agriculture that “food doesn’t come from the grocery store.” That reality will be on full display next week as the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce hosts Foodie Week to highlight agriculture and restaurants in Wayne County.
The chamber has spent the past several weeks documenting on its social media pages the vital work that occurs every day on farms around Wayne County. That critical labor will be displayed through Foodie Week as a number of Wayne County restaurants are given a deserving spotlight.
Foodie Week originated as an idea of the Wayne County Small Business Committee and then grew through the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, as a concept to capture the process food goes through from the local farm, through the production plant, and ultimately to the local restaurant.
“I think it was kind of a brainchild if you will of the small business committee and ways to bring a spotlight to restaurants in Wayne County,” said Wayne County Chamber of Commerce Director of Marketing Stacey Johnson. “After that, it kind of continued to grow through (chamber employees Will Collins and Scott Satterfield), and just some other staff, just really wanting to show the whole story. So, starting at your farm, going through your manufacturing or your production, and then to the restaurant, and how you can receive all of that in Wayne County.”
Every day next week, a Wayne County restaurant will be highlighted at lunch with a different establishment being in the spotlight at dinner. The chamber will conduct a private AG tour at lunch on Tuesday with plenty of content to follow on social media.
For the full Foodie Week schedule click here.
The week will conclude with Foodie Friday at 6 p.m. at The Hub in downtown Goldsboro.
Food Friday will feature an open-air dinner with a locally sourced meal and a live auction with profits being donated to the Wayne County Livestock Development Association for ag scholarships awarded to local students attending Wayne Community College and the University of Mount Olive.
Foodie Friday will also include a viewing of the Foodie Friday documentary filmed by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and the County of Wayne.
To purchase tickets for Foodie Friday visit the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce website.
“Each day we’ll have a lunch and a dinner highlight, and so those are ways, you can support the restaurant portion of it,” Johnson said. “To support the manufacturing and the farm side of it, we are doing our Foodie Friday event which is Friday, May 3rd. It is a ticketed event, so you would have to go to our website to purchase those tickets, and you will come and enjoy a locally sourced meal. So, it will be local ingredients from places like Mt. Olive Pickles, Nahunta Pork Center, and there’s some Cheshire Pork. It will be great local food coming together to make this amazing meal, and with that meal, then you will get to also view our Foodie Week documentary. Also, we will be having a live auction that night as well, and all the profits from the evening will be donated to the Wayne County Livestock Development Association Foundation, which is new, and that is going to give scholarships to ag students that are going to attend Wayne Community College or the University of Mount Olive.”
With the population of Wayne County comprising a unique mix of residents from the area, those who are transplants, individuals familiar with agriculture, and those who are not, Johnson hopes Foodie Week will be an informative experience for everyone involved.
“I am hoping that it will show just how local your food is, and how important our farmers are,” Johnson said. “We’ve kind of had a tagline through the week that if food is in our future, then our future is farms. It’s really important to showcase that we have those people right here in Wayne County, and it’s a career, it is extremely important. It has been so neat, growing up on a farm myself, to see how connected everything is, it’s a full circle.”
