Athens Science Café to Spotlight Nutrition and Childhood Obesity

ATHENS, GA – University of Georgia foods and nutrition professor Caree Cotwright will speak about nutrition and childhood obesity at the October meeting of the Athens Science Café on Oct. 22 at Chase Street Elementary School. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and the event will start at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Science cafes are informal meetings commonly held in coffee shops, pubs or community centers where people have an opportunity to learn from and interact with a scientist. Unlike traditional lectures, science cafes involve more open discussion and debate among the audience.

For this event, organizers of the Athens Science Café decided to branch out from their traditional downtown venues. “While we typically hold our cafes at bars and coffeehouses, we welcome the occasional opportunity to develop community partnerships," said ASC representative Stephanie Pearl. “ASC is excited about partnering with the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and the Clarke County School District for this edition of the cafe.”

On Sep. 26 the Russell Library, a political archives at the University of Georgia, will open the new exhibition, “Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch” examining the complicated history of the National School Lunch Program. “We approached the organizers of Athens Science Café about developing an event connected to the issues explored in this exhibit,” said lead curator Jan Levinson. “It seemed only fitting that a discussion about childhood nutrition should take place in one of our local schools.”

The event will take place in the cafeteria of Chase Street Elementary School. Cotwright will give a short introductory talk before leading an informal discussion among participants about nutrition and innovative interventions to combat the problem of childhood obesity. Healthy snacks will be generously provided by Heirloom Café and Fresh Market.

For more information about this event visit the Athens Science Café website at http://athenssciencecafe.wordpress.com or follow @AthScieCafe on Twitter. For more information about the new exhibit “Food, Power, and Politics: The Story of School Lunch” visit the Russell Library’s website at http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell or follow @RussellLibrary on Twitter.