500 Years of Eating in Florida: A History of Florida Foodways with Gary Mormino

More than a century ago, epicure Jean Brillat-Savarin famously observed, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” “Florida Foodways” explores the most significant event in the history of modern food production and consumption. In the “Columbian exchange,” animals, plants, culture, ideas, and even diseases were carried to the America’s by the Spanish. Hear the story of how Iberico pigs, Castillian cattle, Andalusian chickens, Valencia oranges, and Canary Island sugarcane arrived in Florida, and how, in return, the Americans sent tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers back to Spain. Gary Mormino, former director of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida, is an award-winning author, and was named a “Florida Icon” by Florida Trend Magazine. His latest book, “Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams,” was made into a PBS documentary, “The Florida Dream.” Members free; non-members $5. Florida-related hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. Call to register.