Good Food Fest 1013

Posted on March 23, 2013 Updated on January 12, 2014

We had a great time at the Good Food Festival last weekend. This was our second year covering the event and my sisters, Grace Kozlowski and Luza Tatgenhorst joined us this time. Grace came for info on growing her own food. Luza went back to eating vegetarian so she was curious about recipes and things. Diana and I were thrilled that they made the long trek out to the UIC Forum because it’s proof that there’s a food revolution happening in our family… or they just wanted to see this guy.

We were all excited to see Rick Bayless and had to scheme to try his spinach salad with mushrooms and chorizo. It was delicious but Luza couldn’t try it cause of the chorizo.

We ran into some friends there. Jeff Spitz was doing outreach for Food Patriots. The chicken lady from Mary Horan’s documentary brought one of her hens. A former CTVN instructor, Nathan, had samples of his North Coast Organics products and our new acquaintance, Chad Rubel, talked to folks for his food blog. It felt good to see so many people working toward sustainability in their own ways. There were a lot more people than last year, lines at most of the vendors and much less room to walk. There were also rotating presentations in the hallways with entertaining information on a variety of topics, including fermentation and compost.

This year we spent most of our time in the trade show. We brought home some ancient heirloom popcorn and pine nut pesto that we both enjoyed last year. Luza found some hot pepper jelly, salsa and who knows what else. Grace made a bunch of new friends and potential collaborators. Diana also got a sample of NCO’s Minty Vegan Lip Balm. She’s likes it because it’s a little grainier than other lip glosses and it stays on for a long time.

There was some worry last year that the drought would discourage farmers, gardeners and other Good Food Revolutionaries but that wasn’t the case. Caring about food and nutrition is now mainstream. Rahm Emmanuel is even using food initiatives to cover up the fact that he’s gutting public schools. The idea is taking root. A new economy is emerging from the rumble of our last financial collapse. Solutions are all around us and they’re taking hold. I’ll leave you with this video about the future that is at our fingertips.