Suffolk island to host food event

Published 10:22 pm Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Harper Bradshaw of Harper’s Table will be one of several Virginia chefs featured at a Southern Foodways Alliance event in Suffolk in May. He and others will offer traditional Southern cooking, incorporating local ingredients and agriculture.

Harper Bradshaw of Harper’s Table will be one of several Virginia chefs featured at a Southern Foodways Alliance event in Suffolk in May. He and others will offer traditional Southern cooking, incorporating local ingredients and agriculture.

An island soiree in Suffolk on May 18 will serve as a fundraiser for the Southern Foodways Alliance and dish up some tasty dishes celebrating Virginia cuisine.

Chefs from across Virginia, including Harper Bradshaw of Suffolk’s Harper’s Table, will offer special flavors of the Old Dominion. Virginia farmers, oystermen and brewers will serve their delicacies. John T. Edge, a Southern food writer and executive director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, will be the special guest.

The organization documents, studies and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South.

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“They celebrate Southern culture and cuisine in a very kind of open-minded way,” Bradshaw said. “It celebrates every part of the South. I think it’s a really great organization.”

Pig and lamb will roast on site at Oak Island, accessed off Elizabeth Street, from 3 to 7 p.m. that day. Each chef is preparing a course, though Bradshaw hasn’t yet decided what his offering will be.

“I’m going to see what the other chefs have and fill in the gap,” he said.

The other chefs include Aaron Deal of River and Rail in Roanoke, Rodney Einhorn of Terrapin in Virginia Beach, Lee Gregory of The Roosevelt in Richmond and Craig Rogers of Border Springs Farms in Patrick.

Adam Musick of Musickland Farms in Wytheville will provide the music. Oystermen Chris Ludford, Tommy O’Connor and H.M. Terry will serve up the bivalves, and O’Connor will have a decoy display as well.

Virginia beers and wines will be the featured beverages.

“It’s really just going to be a big party,” Bradshaw said.

Tickets to the event are limited. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www. big-mustache-productions.ticketleap.com/celebration-of-virginia-foodways.