Food is more than sustenance—it is history, identity, and cultural memory. In this conversation, Edgar “Dook” Chase and John Currence reflect on what it means to inherit, steward, and protect culinary traditions in a rapidly changing world. From Creole cuisine rooted in family, community, and civil rights history to the broader Southern foodways shaped by migration, adaptation, and reinvention, the panel explores why culinary heritage matters—and what’s at stake when it’s lost, diluted, or commodified. Together, they examine the responsibilities of chefs, restaurants, and cultural institutions in honoring the past while feeding the future.

What if fiction tells us more about ourselves than the story itself? John Kenney, author of I See You've Called in Dead: A Novel, and Wally Lamb, author of The River Is Waiting, join in conversation to explore how novels can illuminate purpose, meaning, and depth in our own lives.