COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- A University of Missouri research farm hosts its annual chestnut roast this weekend in the Howard County town of New Franklin.

The seventh annual Missouri Chestnut Roast on Saturday celebrates a food item that was once a staple of American diets. Domestic growers now rely on a disease-resistant Chinese variety after an Asian blight devastated most of this country's crops a century ago.

The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the university's Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center. Among the planned activities is the dedication of the restored Thomas Hickman House built in 1819.