Culinary delights abound at Appalachian Food Summit; organizers promote culinary tourism

Food lovers gathered in Eastern Kentucky's Knott County on Sunday to celebrate Central Appalachia's diverse array of dishes and promote tourism through good food and good times. What started as a Facebook page where people talked about their love of the area's food turned into the inaugural Appalachian Food Summit, which drew in visitors "from several states to explore the possibility of culinary tourism," WYMT-TV of Hazard reports. (WYMT photo: sorghum and blackberry jam)

Lora Smith, one of the organizers, told WYMT: "The great turnout that we've had today is really showing an appetite people have both for local foods and for building local food infrastructure for supporting things like sustainable agriculture. Some people like to do culinary tourism. They like to travel around and try different food places. We're seeing that today. We have people here from every state in the central Appalachian region." (Read more)