Tonight, a “100-Mile Dinner” will take place in the Faculty House (the log cabin by Cherry Hall) from 6 until 8:30 p.m.

The buffet-style dinner will be composed of food located within 100 miles of Bowling Green. O’Daniel farms and local businesses such as Mercadito Hispano will be supplying the ingredients.

Local chef of Home Café & Marketplace Josh Polling, 27, of Bowling Green, will be helping members of WKU AID, Green Toppers and the Office of Sustainability cook the meal.

“For so many people, food in Bowling Green is home-cooking like Cracker Barrel,” said Polling. “The local food is no longer mom’s pot roast in a crock pot.”

Polling said the dinner will incorporate Thai and Mexican influences twisted into popular American dishes to represent Bowling Green as a whole.

This dinner will kick off the Farm to Campus Convergence event on Saturday in the Faculty House from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Workshops will be discussing local and sustainable food along with tips on how to make it possible in Bowling Green. There will also be leftovers.

Louisville junior Molly Kaviar is a member of WKU AID and has been planning the event since last semester.

“The main goal of it is that we’ve invited students from around Kentucky, and they’re coming to talk about how to get local and sustainable food on college campuses,” Kaviar said.

Louisville sophomore, Kelly Del Grosso, 19, is a member of WKU Greentoppers and is also helping with the “100-Mile Dinner” and Farm to Campus Convergence.

“I hope to bring more awareness to sustainable food and getting more local food on campus as well as make campus more environmentally friendly and bring more business to local business,” she said.

Preparation of the dinner began last night at Home Café with students and Polling.

“It’s important for young people to recognize how important local food is,” Polling said.

Both the dinner and the seminars the next day are free and open to the public. For more information, find the “Farm to Campus Convergence” event page on Facebook.