Witty puns, literary themes and lots of delicious food were showcased at the Edible Book Festival in the Knight Library Browsing Room on April Fool’s Day.
Modeled after the International Edible Book Festival, the festival was the first of its kind at the University and demonstrated the wit and baking skills of the University’s Libraries staff through edible concoctions.
The rules stated that some components of the entry must be edible and reflect the concept of “the book” in the use of text, form or literary inspiration. These rules gave creative freedom to people submitting their work.
“There are a lot of creative people at the University,” said Elizabeth Duell, a member of the Program Committee of the Library Staff Association.
Tiffany Thornton, another member of the committee, submitted her own work that used Morse code to spell out the bar code of the book title “The Codebreakers.” Thornton helped organize the event and worked on publicity.
“This event is a way to do something creative. It engages the mind, but it’s also light-hearted. It’s for fun, and to get people engaged,” Thornton said.
One of the exhibits, based on “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer, used an aluminum can, a tea bag, a strawberry and fish tails to spell out the book’s title.
Several submissions were based on John Steinbeck’s often loathed novel “Tortilla Flat.”
Duell submitted an entry based on the book. “It’s one of my least favorite books of all time,” she said.
One of the other entries was a pair of shoes made out of tortillas, placed neatly in a shoebox. This submission by Katy Lenn won the award for best title-specific entry.
Another entry used tortillas as the pages of a book that viewers could flip to look at the book’s cover pictures.
Other submissions were inspired by popular books such as “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens, which had two cats made out of German chocolate cake, titled “Tail of Two Kitties.”
Some of the displays were based on more obscure literary works, such as “Alice in (Winter) Wonderland” and “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,” a rare book that is only available through the Summit library catalog. An elaborate cake entry by Miriam Rigby won the award for tastiest looking.
Other winners include “The Appeal” by Mandi Garcia for best pun and “Roma and Julienne” by UO Libraries’ Interactive Media Group for best use of materials. Each winner was awarded a gift certificate to The Duck Store.
About 170 people turned out for the free event Thursday afternoon. Guests included University faculty, staff, students and graduate teaching fellows. GTF Mary Erickson was just walking through the library when she decided to stroll in. “It’s a pretty cool idea,” she said.
Marilyn Reaves, who works in the Knight Library’s special collections, said she might submit something of her own next year.
The event was sponsored by the University Libraries and Library Staff Association and was part of the Year of the Book celebration hosted on campus this year.
The first-ever Edible Book Festival took place in 1999 and was inspired by French food connoisseur Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who was born on April 1.
The program committee said it plans to expand the event next year to include University students and non-library staff.
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Library book festival declared a tasty treat
Daily Emerald
April 1, 2010
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