Eat Local Week, Transition Sarasota’s popular annual celebration of local food, will return for the eleventh year Oct. 21-28, with a mix of local food tastings, tours of local gardens, and educational events covering a range of topics, from urban gardening and cooking demos to aquaculture research.This year’s theme is Locally Sourced-Globally Connected. The week-long festival gets rolling on Friday, Oct. 21, with a keynote presentation by Kaytlin Dangaran, at the Sarasota Art Museum. Chef Kaytin is a Tampa native who is inspired by farm-to-table ingredients. Her love of local fresh ingredients is showcased in the menu at the Bistro, which is located at the museum site. She is followed by Detwiler’s Farm Market botanist, Aaron Moffatt. Chef Kaytlin’s kickoff presentation is followed the next day by a drip irrigation class presented by UF/IFAS Extension and a tour of Orange Blossom Community Garden. Some of the Eat Local Week events scheduled so far include plant walks and horticultural classes, a tour of the Mote Aquaculture Research Park, a Cooking with Scraps class with local chef Alyson Zildjian of Zildjian Catering followed by a composting lesson with Sunshine Community Compost, an edible and medicinal plant walk with Bob Linde, and an event at Boys & Girls Club to showcase their student culinary program. Now in its eleventh year, Eat Local Week celebrates the rich local food environment of Sarasota and Manatee Counties, with a growing roster of business and nonprofit partners and a diverse selection of independently organized events. The festival routinely draws many attendees with its unique mix of fun food tastings, inspiring and informative presentations, and behind-the-scenes tours of some of the region’s most exciting local food ventures. Mark your calendars! Event registration is open now!