What does a “food utopia” look like?

A workshop this week at Kansas University will explore the answer by focusing on diverse, interdisciplinary insights about an imagined ideal food system.

Farmers, chefs, activists, food service workers and other interested members of the public are invited to attend events from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Commons at Spooner Hall, 1340 Jayhawk Blvd. Discussion will be followed by a community feast at Ecumenical Campus Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.

Convened by Paul Stock, assistant professor of sociology and environmental studies, the team leading this workshop aims to create interdisciplinary agricultural- and food-related research projects. The discussion will include insight from a range of disciplines about an imagined ideal food system.

In addition to local specialists, the workshop features guests Fred Kirschenmann, professor of religion and philosophy at Iowa State University and Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and Lyman Sargent, emeritus professor of political science at University of Missouri-St. Louis and one of the foremost scholars on utopian studies.

In conjunction with this workshop, the Spencer Museum of Art will exhibit works from its permanent collection related to idyllic or dystopic representations of foodstuffs, foodways and food systems. These works will be on view through Sunday in the Spencer’s Teaching Gallery, 1301 Mississippi St.