Slow Food North Louisiana, in collaboration with other partners, is hosting a Reconciliation Dinner Aug. 27 at the Petroleum Club.

This dinner is based on a famous historical event that happened in Charleston, S.C., at the close of the Civil War. In spring 1865, a freed slave and famed Charleston chef, Nat Fuller, hosted a Reconciliation Dinner at his restaurant. He invited Charleston’s elite, white and black, to sit down together in peace. The spirit embodied in that historic dinner helped invigorate the desire for social justice in post- Civil War America during a unique culinary experience that still calls to us to gather around a dinner table today.

The Shreveport Reconciliation Dinner will be an invitation-only gathering of 80-100 residents, each of whom has made a difference in the areas of social justice, culinary outreach or creative endeavors. An effort will be made to re-create the original dinner but using local foods specific to North Louisiana. For more information or to nominate someone, visit www. reconciliationshreveport.com. Deadline for nominations is June 18. In addition, there will be an emerging leader essay contest for those who may not have yet had time to build a significant body of work in the social justice arena but have made strides toward improving this community and are under 40 years of age. Essays must be submitted to essays@ReconciliationShreveport.com no later than June 18.