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Victor Maccharoli- “The Book of Seaweed” is one of 30 entries expected in Santa Barbara City College’s first Edible Book Festival. Valerie Campos, an employee at the school’s Luria Library, made her entry from seaweed and what appears to be alphabet soup letters.

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A hungry student's dream debuts at City College

By COLBY FRAZIER — March 25, 2009

In the mass of inky words and pulp pages that is a book, an infinite number of people, places and ideas wait to be lifted from the page by a human eye.

Once this occurs, anything can happen. The reader is free to write a paper about the book, tell a friend about it, or better yet, make some food, as 30 Santa Barbara City College students and faculty members have done for the school’s first Edible Book Festival scheduled from 2-4 p.m. today inside the Luria Library.

“The idea is to celebrate our love of books and our attachment to food,” said Elizabeth Bowman, a campus librarian who organized the festival.

City College’s festival is loosely based on The International Edible Book Festival, which was founded in 2000 to celebrate the birthday of French author and gastronome, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

The festival’s rulebook is short: everything made has to be edible and based on a book.

While few of the contestants had completed their projects yesterday, Valerie Campos, a library employee, had finished her food-based rendering of a little-known title called “The Book of Seaweed.”

Campos used several pieces of seaweed for the pages and what appeared to be hardened alphabet soup letters for the title on the front cover. She even imitated the artwork on the book’s cover — a piece of seaweed — with a seemingly different variety of seaweed from the rest of the book.

“That was a case of someone just being inspired by one of our library books,” Bowman said.

Like a book itself, the possibilities of such a pursuit are endless, and Bowman feels it’s a quirky and fun way to get people engaged with books.

Think “Green Eggs and Ham,” “Tortilla Flat,” or “Wuthering Heights,” changed to “Wuthering Bites,” as Bowman said one person is doing.

In the case of John Steinbeck’s “Tortilla Flat,” Bowman said a year ago, when she first told library staff about the festival, Campos took the idea to heart and returned to work the next day with a pair of sandals made from tortillas.

Bowman said many of the students who signed up to participate in the festival are part of the school’s culinary arts program. A number of the participants are English students.

The entries will be judged in five categories: most like a book, most tasty, most funny, most like the content and best in show.

Bowman is entering two pieces, one based on the book “Life of Pi,” which was written in three parts. She said it will feature the ingredients of a pie next to a pie, which will sit next to a plate with crumbs and utensils.

“From the beginning to its death,” she said.

Bowman’s second project is based on the “Book of Kells,” a 9th century manuscript from Ireland that she said is known for its ornate designs. Bowman is decorating a cake to look like one of the pages from the book.

All of the edible creations will be placed in an online photo gallery that features creations from similar festivals around the world.

The goal of the festival, Bowman said, is to “draw people who may not have been to the library and to draw some different parts of the college that don’t necessarily get together.”

That includes the public. Bowman said anyone interested in stopping by the library to check out the festival is welcome.

It will be a “really fun afternoon surrounded by creativity and celebrating books,” she said.

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City my College : 3/25/2009

By Tharon Chandler, www.tharonchandler.com The concept of 'City College' is a very good thought to me, even while I like to live in the woods. I attended at Memphis 'State' University (BA 94), in the heart of the old city (a public and urban school setting). I had due success and made many freinds, even while old forces of exploitation and bigotry tried to ruin the result. Good Art, like the city school, can help bring us all together for the better. I would like to have an apartment in the city (perhaps near the SB city college), even though I yet enjoy residing in the woods.

Tharon Chandler

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Edible Books : 4/5/2009

What a great idea, and such a creative way to involve student in the library! Congratulation to Elizabeth Bowman for a terrific project.

KKG

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