As the planet continues to warm due to climate change, farmers are faced with new challenges. Crops that once flourished in one region are no longer viable. Varietals that used to perform well are now plagued by pests or disease that have come with new conditions.
The Utopian Seed Project, based in Asheville, NC is offering one path forward that may help farmers adapt. Where most seed breeding focuses on isolating for just one or a handful of traits, farmer and executive director Chris Smith takes the opposite approach: In his Ultracross project, he cross-pollinated more than 100 different varieties of okra from all over the world, and selected seeds based on regional climate adaptability. The seeds are now available through Ujaama Seeds and Experimental Farm Network. We've been growing this unique okra at the farm as part of our Chef’s Capsule Collection, and we're excited to welcome Chris to speak on this fascinating project.
To put these okra pods to the test, Adé Carrena from Dounou Cuisine will be preparing some of the Ultracross okra we've grown in two different fashions, highlighting the variability within the harvest to the advantage of her creative expression (and our taste buds). Adé' s relationship with okra runs deep - born and raised until she was 10 in Bénin in West Africa, okra was a staple of her familial foodways. Now, rooted in North Carolina, where okra's presence bears the scars of the violent history of slavery, she sees okra through a more complicated filter.
Join us for an evening of exploration - how one plant, informed by a variety of influences, can tell a story about a place through an ecological, cultural, and historic lens.
Registration required for all participants. Must be 18+ to attend. Suggested $50 donation per person to Haven House Services.
About Chris Smith and the Utopian Seed Project: Chris Smith is executive director of the Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing nonprofit working to celebrate food and farming. Within this work, Chris collaborates on The Heirloom Collard Project, hosts a seasonal Trial to Table event series, and publishes Crop Stories, a crop-specific multimedia project. His book, The Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020, and he is the co-host of The Okra Pod Cast. In 2023 Chris received the Organic Educator Award from The Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun.
Read about the Utopian Seed Project in Civil Eats.
About Adé Carrena and Dounou Cuisine: Adé is a Chef and storyteller who specializes in Neo-West African cuisine. Her mission is to bridge cultural gaps, reimagine West African food and create safe spaces for an important conversation that inspire healing across the diaspora. Through her business Donou Cuisine, Adé has spent the last 5 years curating culinary experiences to highlight Black Foodways, exchange culture and support local Black Farmers.
She is the founder and owner of iLéWA Foods, an innovative CPG Brand that is creating economic opportunity and empowering women producers in West Africa. They source their ingredients from women entrepreneurs and small holder farmers across West Africa in hopes of building a more equitable future for us all by creating a socioeconomic exchange between powerful women and global markets.
When she isn't hosting farm to table dinners, you can find her on her food truck, Dounou, serving up authentic Beninese street food in Raleigh, NC.