Slow Food at Indie Grits: Celebrate local and seasonal flavors at chefs’ showcase

This is not your mama’s potluck.

In its fifth year, the Slow Food at Indie Grits Sustainable Chefs Showcase and Potluck on Sunday, April, 19, is a step up from casseroles and potato salads, with a focus on eco-conscious local foods. The event offers home cooks and local professional chefs alike a chance to share tastes of their favorite recipes.

Slow Food Columbia is a local chapter of Slow Food USA, which works to promote “good, clean and fair foodways.” The Indie Grits potluck is one of several workshops, potlucks and other events held throughout the year to celebrate local and seasonal flavors.

In its ninth year, Indie Grits began as a film festival, but has grown to include all facets of Columbia’s cultural life, offering both professional and novice artists of all mediums a chance to showcase their creations. The festival is hosted by the nonprofit art cinema The Nickelodeon theater.

At the potluck at the Market Building at 711 Whaley, amateur chefs will compete for prizes, while 18 restaurant and catering chefs will participate in a low-pressure, noncompetitive atmosphere (where event attendees will reap the benefits of their recipes). To be invited, local chefs must regularly buy from sustainable producers, said event organizer Tracie Broom.

The Local Palate magazine’s test kitchen chef Christina Oxford will judge the home cooks’ dishes and award prizes for the best potluck dish and the most innovative potluck dish. Winners will receive a Le Creuset cocotte baking dish with lid and a one-year subscription to The Local Palate, the Charleston-based publication focused on food in the Southeast. Broom stresses that the competition shouldn’t scare off any home chefs. The atmosphere of the event will be laid-back and low-pressure, she said.

Home cooks who wish to participate in the competition should prepare roughly 20 2- to 4-ounce portions of a dish made with at least one sustainable, local ingredient. The professional chefs also will offer complimentary hors d’oeuvres featuring at least one local, sustainably produced main ingredient.

Live music will be performed by The Greater Columbia Society for the Preservation of Soul, and The Whig’s cash bar will feature wines by AdVintage and S.C. -brewed beers.

The Sustainable Chefs Showcase and Potluck will be held Sunday from 3-6 p.m. at the Market Building at 711 Whaley (next door to 701 Whaley). Tickets are available online at indiegrits.com/events/slow-food/. They are $25 for general admission and $20 for Slow Food or Nickelodeon members. For those who bring a potluck item, tickets are $10. And volunteers can attend the event for free (register at slowfood2015.eventbrite.com).

Bridget Winston, Special to The State

This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Slow Food at Indie Grits: Celebrate local and seasonal flavors at chefs’ showcase."