rick bayless
It’s That Time Again
The 10th Annual Good Food Festival & Conference is March 13-15. Local farmers, artisanal food producers, wholesale buyers, food economy investors, national thought leaders and policy experts, chefs, DIY workshop specialists, and health & values-oriented consumers will all converge on UIC Forum at 725 W. Roosevelt Road in Chicago. Some of the big shots that will be in attendance are Rick Bayless, Paul Virant, Erling Wu-Bower and Jason Vincent.
If you’re already involved in the Good Food Economy, you may want to check out the Financing & Innovation Conference that takes place on Thursday. Listen in on panels with food industry experts and information for the trade, food policy sessions and networking, and advancing healthier foods for our schools. Featuring Deborah Kane, Director of the USDA Farm-to-School Initiative; MacArthur Genius and urban farmer, Will Allen; and Zingerman’s co-founder Paul Saginaw.
We’ve always enjoyed their Friday night event, Localicious, which unites Chicago’s premier chefs such as Paul Fehribach (Big Jones), Marc Bernard (Big Bowl), Sean Sanders (Browntrout), Eric Mansavage (Farmhouse), Joseph Heppe (Untitled), among others, for an evening of delicious food, the best of local wines, beers and spirits, and a live Bluegrass band. Saturday is a great day to check out the tradeshow and enjoy a family-friendly day, featuring a host of inspiring speakers, DIY workshops, chef demos by Rick Bayless, Paul Virant, Erling Wu-Bower and Jason Vincent, an interactive Kids Corner, Good Food Court, and exhibitor floor, all designed to grow the Good Food Movement.
Tickets:
$10 Saturday Festival
$80 Localicious
$95 Thursday Financing & Innovation Conference
$45 Friday Trade Day $220
3-day all-access pass
*other ticketing options available;
full ticket info here
Good Food Fest 1013
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.
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