Foodways Texas currently holds four annual events: our symposium, two barbecue camps, and Camp Vino. We also stage smaller events in communities throughout the state, so watch for announcements in your area.
Foodways Texas Annual Symposium
At our annual symposium — our family reunion — we look deeply at specific themes in Texas’s food cultures and histories. The event typically begins with a Thursday evening welcome dinner and culminates with a final meal on Saturday night. Throughout the event speakers, chefs, and artisans add their own interpretations, stories, and creations to the discussion in the form of lectures, panels, multimedia presentation, food, and drink. Guests join in the discussion and then gather around a common table to enjoy meals prepared with the year’s theme in mind.
We’ve tackled subjects ranging from agriculture to barbecue since we held our first event in 2011. Each year presents a new and interesting Texas foodways discussion. We hope you will take a seat at the table and join in some of these future conversations with us — meals that celebrate our communities and cultures and that expand our understanding of how Texans eat.
Barbecue Camps
Our Annual Barbecue Camps are held in College Station in conjunction with the Meat Science Section of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University are filled with hands-on education, cultural immersion, panel discussions, academic presentations, and lots of wonderful food. Camp Brisket is held annually in January while Barbecue Summer Camp takes place in early June.
Camp Vino
Camp Vino brings together experts from around the state for this two-day deep dive into Texas wines, wineries, and vineyards. Attendees will hear from professors of Horticulture at Texas A&M, as well as from Texas viticulturists, enologists, industry experts and leading chefs on all aspects of our state’s wine. Texas terroir, food pairings, characteristics of Texas wine, a history of the wine industry in Texas, and much more will be covered.