Slow Food North Louisiana, a Shreveport-based nonprofit, will partner with Cultural Crossroads of Minden to host “Hand Them Down to Lift Them Up: An Heirloom Food Forum” at The Farm at Cultural Crossroads of Minden, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 15. The Farm is located at 419 East Union Street in Minden, about a 30-minute drive from Shreveport. Tickets to the event, which will include a special, Edna Lewis-inspired lunch prepared by Chef Hardette Harris, are $40 each for general admission or $35 each for current Slow Food members. Tickets may be purchased in advance at slowfoodnorthla.org/events. Ticket sales will close on Friday, Nov. 14.

The event’s conference-like morning sessions will spotlight efforts of the North Louisiana Seed Preservation Program to track down and bring back to life regional foods believed to be extinct due to the impacts of industrial food production and budget cuts. In particular, attendees will hear the story of how the North Louisiana-born Red-N-Sweet watermelon was rediscovered and returned to grocery stores thanks to seed-saving efforts. Attendees will also learn how to acquire and save heirloom seeds in North Louisiana. Following lunch by Chef Hardette Harris there will be a screening of the 55-minute PBS documentary film Finding Edna Lewis and an in-person conversation with the film’s executive producer and host, Deb Freeman.