ST. LUCIE COUNTY – In a combined nod to both our nation’s 250th anniversary and to the history of food in Florida and along the Treasure Coast, a cookbook author fittingly shared stories in one of St. Lucie County’s historically designated schools.
“Telling Florida Food Stories,” with guest speaker Dalia Colón, was recently held at the St. Lucie School, located on Old Dixie Highway in Fort Pierce.
Colón, author of the Florida Vegetarian Cookbook, was the guest speaker at the event. “Historian Andrew Batten said Florida is the birthplace of fusion cuisine,” she said.
She went on to explain that people moving to Florida in the 1800s, including the Spanish and French, followed by enslaved people from the Carolina’s and Georgia, all brought their food traditions to the St. Augustine area. The mingling of different types of foods and recipes created the first fusion cuisine.
Colón is an Emmy Award-winning multimedia journalist and executive producer and host of The Zest podcast from WUSF Public Media and the NPR Network, and associate producer and cohost of WEDU Arts Plus on Tampa Bay’s PBS station.
The school, which is owned by the town of St. Lucie Village, is currently housing the Red, White & Food exhibit, an event created by the Florida Remembered Society (FRS).
Anne Sinnott, one of the directors for the society, said the exhibit is at the school temporarily while they move forward with building their own facility in Fellsmere.
“We needed a temporary location, so that we could have an exhibition celebrating our nation’s 250th anniversary. Every program that you see, all of these exhibits, are all related to food history,” Sinnott said.
The items, including photographs, old cooking utensils, books, and kitchen, gardening and farming tools, were either purchased by the society or donated. Telling Florida Food Stories is a part of the Florida Humanities’ Florida Talks program.
Sinnott said the FRS is a newly formed non-profit organization. The facility in Fellsmere, when completed, will be called the Headwaters Heritage and Cultural Center.
The exhibition will be on display at the school until Dec. 6. Admission is free although donations are requested. Call 772-267-4873 to schedule a visit or to book a tour.