From chocolate roaches to an electric sheep made of cake, the Edible Book Festival turned literature into tasty treats.
On Saturday, the University Library sponsored the 20th annual Edible Book Festival hosted at Common Ground Food Co-op, a grocery store committed to supporting local farmers and producers.
The festival also served as a fundraiser for the Wesley Food Pantry, which aims to help alleviate food insecurity in Champaign-Urbana by providing community members with food, employment and education services.
At the festival, book lovers, foodies and artists gathered to relish their favorite books in edible form, showcasing their creativity and baking skills. Each contestant chose a book and baked a creation that brought its elements to life.
One creation was inspired by “Dune,” featuring a Sour Patch Kid assembled on top of a chocolate-covered Shai-Hulud. Another was modeled after the book “Duck & Goose: Find a Pumpkin,” where the duck, goose and pumpkin shown on the cover were each made of cake and covered in fondant.
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From 10:30-11:30 a.m., contestants lined up their edible book creations outside of Common Ground Food Co-op. While some conversed and admired the other works of art, others added finishing touches to their own.
At 11:30 a.m., judging promptly began. The three judges carefully examined each contestant’s work for 30 minutes. One of the judges, Michael Ujcich, said that they are looking for the contestant’s interpretation of the book when evaluating the creations.
“We looked for the creativity, the names of the books, how it was represented in an edible form, the color, texture and the humor in some of the pieces,” Ujcich said.
While the judges were making their decisions, people were given the chance to vote on their two favorite pieces by placing stickers next to them.
Before the judges announced the winners, the audience was reminded of the event’s purpose. Emily Barnick, marketing manager of Common Ground Food Co-op, said the event raises awareness about the University Library, Wesley Food Pantry and Common Ground Food Co-op.
“I think the purpose of this event is to highlight the University Library and also bring folks together with food and their love of books,” Barnick said. “It’s community building, but it also shares resources. There were a lot of people who came up to the University Library table that grabbed some pamphlets and didn’t know that they were able to borrow books from the library.”
After the announcement, the judges declared the winners of each category.
Isabelle Gawedzki, a contestant and graduate student studying food science and human nutrition, said this was her first year at the festival.
“I had never made a super complex bake, not even so much of a cake before, so I wanted to push myself,” Gawedzki said. “I wasn’t expecting to win anything, but I’m very happy about that.”
While some contestants joined the festival for the first time this year, others are more familiar with it.
Evelyne Tardy, a contestant and instructor at Cunningham Children’s Home, said this is her fourth year at the festival and keeps returning because she loves the ingenuity and delight of it.
“I love art, and I like the creativity of it,” Tardy said. “I think it brings a lot of people together in a positive way because it lifts spirits. You see a lot of smiles and a lot of laughter — something we really need right now.”
The sense of connection was visible throughout the event. One group of friends collaborated to create Rocky, a character from “Project Hail Mary,” out of cake and fondant after being inspired by the book and movie adaptation.
Maura Maguire, a contestant with the “Project Hail Mary” team and graduate student studying library and information science, said the festival allowed her and her friends to create something together. She also saw how it cultivated a community.
“This isn’t something we would’ve done on our own without the prompting,” Maguire said. “So, doing something like this, being creative and then coming together as a community to see the other creative works that people have been able to do with their groups or by themselves has been really inspiring.”
An event like this is an example of how the University connects with the community.
Raymond Krueger, a contestant with the “Project Hail Mary” team and graduate student studying library and information science, said that as an undergraduate student at the University, he felt a bit disconnected from students and community members.
“I feel like a lot of times our campus is a bubble, and it’s really hard to break out of that,” Krueger said. “So, I think community events like this really help break out of that. I’ve interacted with a lot of people that I’ve never met before who aren’t students at the University at this event, and I think that’s a really powerful experience as well, especially when it’s for a fundraiser like this.”
Before the festival was over, attendees shared one last moment of gathering. They ate — not the edible books, but instead, cookies courtesy of Common Ground Food Co-op.
