By Donna Cornelius
Birmingham is home to food festivals that celebrate chili, gumbo and barbecue plus cultural creations with Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Cajun flavors.
But one of the most popular dishes in the country has been left off the menu – until now. On Aug. 6, Community Grief Support will host its first Magic City Mac N’ Cheese Festival. Restaurants, food trucks and caterers each will provide 2,500 samples of the iconic comfort food.
“We’re blocking off Second Avenue South street fair-style,” said Megan Rykaczewski, a Community Grief Support junior board member who came up with the idea for the event. “You’ll enter and exit through Avondale Brewing Co. We’ll have an area for food trucks and a tent village for other participants.”
Rykaczewski, a Tuscaloosa native and University of Alabama graduate, said she’s been involved with Community Grief Support since 2014. The organization, which serves six counties, offers free grief support groups, grief counseling and community grief education.
“When I first moved to Birmingham, I was looking for ways to get involved,” she said. “This seemed like a good fit.”
Rykaczewski lost her older brother, Craig, in June 2013. CGS’s Hope for the Holidays campaign caught her attention, she said.
“Grief is very prominent during the holiday season,” she said. “You ask yourself, will we ever have a happy Christmas again? They give you ways to cope.
“I went to a junior board meeting. Everyone there had experienced loss personally. They understood me.”
Rykaczewski said one of the most important services Community Grief Support provides is free, one-on-one grief counseling.
“Sometimes losses take you by complete surprise,” she said. “You have funeral expenses, and grief counseling can be financially prohibi- tive. CGS employs counselors. You can go to them or to support groups that are specific to age and the type of loss. For example, the loss of a spouse can present different problems for people of different ages.”
Given the organization’s mission, mac and cheese – the ultimate comfort food – was a natural fit for a fundraiser. Response to the event has been enthusiastic.
“Initially, I was asked how many people would have to come for me to consider it a success,” said Rykaczewski, a marketing professional. “I said 200. We sold that many tickets in the first week.”
Food providers, too, have gotten on board.
“We’ve had people contacting us from Huntsville and Montgomery,” she said.
Up to 3,000 tickets to the event will be sold. They’re $15 before the event and $20 at the gate. Tickets are $5 for children ages 6 to 12, and kids 5 and younger get in free. Admission includes mac and cheese samples.
“This can be a $40 afternoon of fun for a family of parents and two kids,” Rykaczewski said.
The festival will be more a celebration of what’s sometimes called the South’s favorite “vegetable” than a competition. Judges will prepare bites for a group of celebrity tasters – who will then make up their own awards.
“We’ll have fun categories like ‘Tastes Most Like My Mom’s’ and ‘Can’t Stop Eating This,’” Rykaczewski said. “Then we’ll share their tasting notes. We have a diverse group of people as tasters. There was just one requirement: Do you like mac and cheese?”
Community Grief Support staff and board members are helping with the event. Rykaczewski said Erin Slaughter, a staff member and the junior board president, has been among those working hard to make the festival a success.
“My parents also have been so helpful and supportive,” Rykaczewski said. “It’s been a good family project.”
Her mom, Jean, is executive director of the West Alabama Food Bank. Her dad, Dennis, has been a small business owner.
Most people have their own favorite version of mac and cheese, whether it’s the Kraft version in the blue box or gourmet concoctions with add-ins like lobster or truffles.
“The tie-in is comfort food,” Rykaczewski said. “Mac and cheese is diverse. It’s on the menu at the nicest steak houses and at food trucks parked outside businesses.”
The first Magic City Mac N’ Cheese Festival is from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 6 at Avondale Brewing Co., 201 41st St. S in Birmingham. Tickets are available through the event’s Facebook page.
FUN FACTS ABOUT MAC AND CHEESE
• While nobody knows exactly how the dish originated, it most likely comes from northern Europe. The earliest known written recipe appeared in 1769.
• Mac and cheese was imported to the United States by President Thomas Jefferson, who brought pasta recipes and a pasta-making machine from France. Jefferson had mac and cheese served at an 1802 state dinner.
• Mac and cheese developed mass appeal during the Great Depression, when Kraft Foods introduced its inexpensive boxed version. The company sold 8 million boxes in a year.
• McDonald’s recently added mac and cheese sandwiches to its menu – but only for restaurants in Hong Kong.
RESTAURANTS, FOOD TRUCKS AND CATERERS
At press time the following were scheduled to participate in
the inaugural Magic City Mac N’ Cheese Festival I Love Bacon, Inc., Urban Cookhouse, Doctor BBQ, The Southern – Kitchen and Bar, Newk’s Eatery, Gator Tears Hot Sauce, The Cheesecake Empori-Yum!, Swamp Monster BBQ, The Produce Wagon, Miss Dots, Encore Rouge, Coming In Hot Food Trailer & Catering, Kingdom Kreations, John’s City Diner, Nothing But Noodles, DeeJonCatering, Cashio’s Meatball Market and The J. Clyde.
