Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday for food. On the fourth Thursday of November, people across the country sit down at the “good dining table” (or the broken folding table for the kids) and eat the same thing — copious amounts of turkey. Vegans and vegetarians may find this holiday to be a more difficult one. What can a person on a plant-based diet eat on Thanksgiving without missing out on the holiday fun?

Food technology entrepreneur James Gratzek will serve as the next director of the Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center on the University of Georgia Griffin campus, according to the Department of Food Science and Technology at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Hart Dairy won the grand prize at the 2022 Flavor of Georgia food contest for their Pasture Raised & Grass Fed 365 Days Per Year Chocolate Whole Milk. Hart Dairy is an ethically driven dairy company based in Waynesboro, Georgia, led by Tim Connell and Richard Watson. Their cows are pasture raised, never confined and grass fed 365 days a year.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will host the second annual Georgia Precision Poultry Farming Conference via Zoom May 3. The $40 registration fee is waived for students, but registration — open until May 1 — is required for all participants.

Blueberry barbecue sauce. Gunpowder finishing salt. Fig bourbon jam. Pecan-peanut butter. These are a few of the unique flavors from every corner of Georgia that have vied for top prizes in past Flavor of Georgia contests. Now registration is open to hopeful contestants for the 2022 Flavor of Georgia contest to be held April 21 in Athens.

Located in the historic Five Points neighborhood of Athens, Georgia, Condor Chocolates produces bean-to-bar chocolates, confections, gelato and beverages. Brothers and co-owners Peter Dale, who graduated from the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1999 and Nicholas Dale, who graduated from UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2004, opened the city’s first specialty chocolate shop in 2014 as a homage to the world-class cacao of Ecuador. Visitors can witness chocolate production while indulging in handcrafted desserts. In honor of World Chocolate Day (July 7), the UGA Alumni Association sat down with Peter Dale to learn more about this alumni-owned chocolate shop.

Athens, Georgia, is known for three things — University of Georgia football, music, and food. Food is as much a part of the Athenian identity as the Bulldogs. Every weekend, football or not, restaurants around Athens are filled with both locals and students enjoying the communal environment a good local dish or beverage can offer.

Passion, a loaded tractor and a little guidance is all it took for 11-year-old Wesley Cleveland to begin following in his father and namesake Wes Cleveland’s footsteps, becoming a reliable workhand on the family farm. Most notably described as ‘the future of agriculture’ by many in Early County, the younger Cleveland is contributing to Georgia’s nation-leading peanut crop production — and he’s doing most of it on his own.

The University of Georgia Department of Food Science and Technology’s Kevin Mis Solval and his team of researchers have secured a nearly half-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to aid in creating safe food ingredients from cannonball jellyfish.