Participants
2017 Summer Foodways Symposium
Charlotte, North Carolina
Majid Amoorpour has cheffed in renowned kitchens in Sweden, Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Charlotte.
Victoria Bouloubasis is a Durham-based journalist and food writer.
Hally Chirinos grew up working the register at her parents’ (Henry and Delmi) restaurant, El Pulgarcito.
Caroline Coke co-owns Island Grocery & Grill in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Dalton Espaillat is the restaurateur behind Three Amigos and the fast-growing chain Sabor.
Joseph ‘Piko’ Ewoodzie is a professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Davidson College.
Jerusalem native Izzat Freitekh opened La Shish Kabob in Charlotte in 2008.
First serving out of a food truck, Laura González Pérez opened Tamalería Laurita in early 2016.
Before moving to Charlotte, Charlotte Magazine editor Michael Graff edited Our State magazine.
Illinois native Tom Hanchett is a public historian based in Charlotte. And an evangelist for his adopted home!
Eric Hoenes del Pinal teaches Religious Studies at UNC Charlotte. He also crafts a solid cocktail.
Mixologist Colleen Hughes leads bar programs at four Charlotte restaurants.
Joe and Katy Kindred, of Davidson’s Kindred restaurant, soon open Hello, Sailor on Lake Norman.
Filmmaker Ava Lowrey is SFA’s Pihakis Foodways Documentary Fellow.
Pacino Mancillas connects Charlotte businesses to Latino consumers at AC&M Group multicultural marketing agency.
A former television production designer, Eunice Marcano now owns and operates Arepas Grill.
Mimosa Grill executive chef Thomas Marlow studied at Johnson and Wales University before joining Harper’s Restaurant Group in 2009.
Zhenia Martínez carries on her parents’ good work at Las Delicias Bakery.
Oliver Merino is the Latino New South Coordinator at the Levine Museum of the New South.
Bruce Moffett is the owner of Moffett Restaurant Group and executive chef of Barrington’s Restaurant.
Jim Noble is the force behind Rooster’s restaurant and the not-for-profit King’s Kitchen & Bakery.
Kathleen Purvis chronicles Charlotte’s changing foodways as food and drink editor of The Charlotte Observer.
Misael Reyes owns Copán Restaurant in Charlotte.
Juan Sánchez González and his wife Rosario Vásquez Reyes opened the first of three Carnitas Guanajuato locations in 2008.
Víctor Santiago and his family serve Oaxaca-inspired fare at Tacos El Nevado.
Tom Sasser is president and owner of Charlotte-based Harper’s Restaurant Group.
Ben Smith follows in his father Howdy’s footsteps as owner of Twin Tops Fish Camp in Gastonia.
Artivist Rosalia Torres-Weiner uses her work to document social conditions and issues that affect immigrant communities.
Paul Verica is the chef and owner of Heritage Food & Drink in Waxhaw, North Carolina.
Historian Julie Weise, a professor at the University of Oregon, studies citizenship and migration in hemispheric and global contexts.