Event focuses on how and where Americans get their food Event focuses on how and where Americans get their food

Recent research indicates 23.5 million Americans live in a food desert -- impeded financially or physically from obtaining food. With factors such as cost and convenience as primary motivators in Americans' diets, what will the grocery store of the future look like? Panelists will discuss these issues during "Eat Here! Food Deserts in the 21st Century" at 6 p.m. today (Thursday, March 28) in 210 McKnight Art Center West in the WSU School of Art and Design.

"Eat Here!" is moderated by Emily Stamey, associate curator of art at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

Panelists include Deborah Ballard-Reisch, founder of the WSU Hunger Awareness Initiative; Eugene Brown III, mobile market manager for Beans & Greens, a Kansas City nonprofit organization; and David E. Procter, director of K-State's Center for Engagement and Community Development who briefed the U.S. Senate Hunger Caucus on the loss of grocery stores in rural communities and its devastating impact on those communities.

This event is in conjunction with the exhibition "Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles," on view at the Ulrich through April 14. Museum galleries will be open until 6 p.m. and admission is free.