FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer, entrepreneur and charmer, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.
The film is great and be sure to thank Matt & McCall for making the screenings in Chicago possible!
EVENT DETAILS:
Complimentary beer will be provided! Doors open at 7pm, film starts at 7:30. $10 donation suggested to help cover the cost of the venue and film license fee.
RSVP via email: FreshMovieChicago@gmail.com as seating is limited
Location & Directions:
EP Theater
1820 s. Halsted
EP is accessible via the #8 Halsted bus, the Halsted Metra stop, or 90/94. Enter the theater through the back door, opposite the Halsted facade.
"Sustainable agriculture involves food production methods that are healthy, do not harm the environment, respect workers, are humane to animals, provide fair wages to farmers, and support farming communities. But rather than focus on the problems, Sustainable Table promotes the positive shift toward local, small-scale sustainable farming."
Visiting Heritage Prairie's (HPM) farm stand at the Green City Market, one is certain that there must be some sort of magical land behind it. There is an army of glowing glass honey bears, unique sweet and savory tarts & other kitchen creations, a spread of perfect mini greens and organic vegetables, and hand outs promoting kids camps, workshops, and farm dinners.
HPM farm founders Bron and Bob and daughters Margaret and Grace are fun to talk with- especially when it comes to hearing about all the exciting endeavors taking place on the farm.
The best part about hearing about the farm: It's an invitation.
So last Thursday we headed out for the first family style farm dinner of the season.
The entire evening felt like a mini summer vacation. We arrived early via train from Chicago on a perfectly hot sunny evening. We poked our heads in the buzzing kitchens and said hello to Portia, Pat, Alex, & Co while marveling over their creations. Then we took an insightful farm tour with Bob, talked to the goats, shopped the market, and socialized while snacking on horsd'oeurves and sipping strawberry cocktails.
We sat down to the colossal dinner table speckled with fresh bread & cheddar straws, strawberry-basil jam, honey butter, and a variety of irresistible pickles. When the salads arrived the sun was still high. We ate and ate- Orzo with feta and mint, rosemary grilled chicken & braised greens, roasted root vegetables... The perfect summer meal progressed as did the summer sun- until our mixed berry pie and ice cream were twilight.
Back at the train station we laid under the stars, listened to the crickets, and marveled over the parade of dishes, deciding which one was our favorite:
Stephanie's: Orzo, Feta, & Mint salad.
Kate's: Pickles, irresistible.
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Upcoming HPM Thursday night Farm Dinners:
July 23, Bastille Day Farm Dinner
August 20, Mid-Summer's Night Dream
September 24, Mexican Fiesta on the Farm October 22, Oktoberfest Farm Dinner
HPM farm is about 2 miles from the La Fox station on ElburnMetra line. Meet up with a ride or take your bike!
On my way to Lake Geneva, WI via Metra train to Harvard, IL Saturday- I ended up with an hour layover in Crystal Lake.
Across the street from the train station I found the perfect interlude:
Duke's Alehouse & Kitchen.
Wonderful organic and local farm menu and selection of booze.
I opted for a for a Scrumpy's Hard Cider from Flushing, Michigan and tempting as the menu items looked, I saved an appetite in favor of dinner at my final destination.
Chatting it up with restaurant manager, Aaron Andrews, I learned a bit about the restaurant's commitment to using fresh and local ingredients- and the growers they work with.
I'll definitely return soon- Prepared to eat well!
You never know what kind of magic is around the corner...
It is our pleasure to introduce Chicago’s premier local food website, dishesanddirt.com—an exciting new web space that connects businesses and consumers that are interested in supporting a local food economy. While us gals are diligently chipping away at the projects leading up to our launch, we’ve decided to begin posts to keep you in the know about what’s going on with the local food scene in and around our beautiful city. We encourage your feedback and look forward to you all visiting our site real soon!
Ciao!
Kate Gross, Founder & Photographer
Stephanie Lu Jokich, Director of Sales and Marketing
Standing in the middle of Topolobampo, tables cleared, I clutched my notebook and braced myself as“Get ready.They’re coming!” was called across the floors of Rick Bayless’s restaurants.And come they did.To taste the farm fresh produce, eggs, meat and more brought by farmers who drove in from across the Midwest to tell their stories and hand over their wares to the skilled hands of Bayless’s chefs and sous chefs.The gathering was the sixth annual benefit for the Frontera Farmer Foundation, a nonprofit that provides grants to small family farms serving the Chicago area.
For $45, guests received a veritable cacophony of foodie delights.Over fifteen tables of sustainably raised, expertly prepared, diverse food options – from coriander cured salmon to a Mediterranean wheat berry salad and goat cheese stuffed tamales.I couldn’t eat enough of the crisp meringues with lavender cream, strawberries and mint.And to be able to ingest one after the other while getting to know Jeremy McWilliams, a seventeen-year-old who started Little Farm on the Prairie in 2003 (I’ll confirm your math – he was 11!), and supplied the eggs for the dish, made those meringues taste even crispier.McWilliams was the recipient of one of over forty Frontera Farmer Foundation grants given out over its seven year history.This grant allowed him to buy an egg washer, thus increasing efficiency and growing his business, which grossed $45k last year.P.S. He’s in high school.
I also met Terry and his wife who own a cattle farm called Raising Acres which is transitioning to grass fed cows.They were attending on Sunday to represent Stewards of the Land, a group of which they are members, based in Fairbury, IL.Stewards of the Land is made up of families committed to sustainable farming and high quality products.Most of their members are families with children and thus they aim to foster an environment and an economy where those children can have the possibility of staying “on the family farm”.The group sells not only to award winning restaurants in Chicago but also to local Fairbury grocery stores.
I didn’t have a single food experience that didn’t leave me both satiated and inspired.Other standouts included the green garlic soup with scapes from City Farm, goat cheese stuffed tamales from Prairie Fruits farm and the bacon studded white corn polenta with agave syrup from Spence Farms.While eating my third polenta cake, I learned about Will’s business tapping maple syrup.Another high school student (although not the norm, I found the high number of young farm owners in the room surprising), Will was attending with his family who follow generations of farmers in their trade.Will, like Jeremy, impressed me with his entrepreneurial spirit, business acumen and sense of familial pride. Will was taught the syruping technique by his grandfather, who was featured in a 1952 newspaper article which Spence Farms had copies of on hand.
Having spent the previous morning at the Green City Market (GCM), there were similarities between buying from the farmers and chatting with them while you ate their food.I heard quite a bit more about GCM during a chef demo Rick Bayless and his test kitchen director Deb gave where they made a wilted spinach salad with an amazing Mexican chorizo dressing.During his cooking, Bayless spoke of the origins of the Frontera Farmer Foundation – where early in the restaurant’s days a number of farmers the restaurant worked with were on the verge of bankruptcy when often they only needed one piece of equipment to keep their business afloat.So the restaurants started working out a deal where they would provide a loan or purchase a piece of equipment and the farm would repay the loan in-kind.Encouraged by these experiences, the Bayless’ and their staff wanted to formalize the process of helping to promote and preserve farm communities and support keeping farmers on their land so they could do the work they wanted to do.To date, Frontera Farmer Foundation has provided almost $600,000 in capital development grants to encourage thriving farm communities that supply Frontera, Topolobampo and others. Grants are available to all farmers, not just those who supply Bayless.Grants are reviewed annually by three individuals who make up the Grant Making Committee.Selected recipients are awarded the funds at the beginning of each year, at the start of the growing season to help create an impact for that year.
Bayless shared a story about a recent day in the restaurant when the staff decided to play a game.Looking around at the ingredients in their kitchen, they counted those for which they could associate a name or a face.Impressively, 85% of the products fit into this category.Supporting local, sustainable family farmers helps us all - from an ecological, economic and gastronomical perspective.But the essence was captured by Rick who, scraping the chorizo dressing onto the spinach, noted, “you can’t have great restaurants without great agriculture.”And if I didn’t believe it before, I think that spinach salad would have helped to change my mind.
The Dishes & Dirt blog explores some of what Chicago has to offer when it comes to eating delicious sustainable food and supporting our local food economy.
The Dishes & Dirt blog explores some of what Chicago has to offer when it comes to eating delicious sustainable food and supporting our local food economy.
I am a photographer by trade- and love meeting people, hearing their stories, and connecting them to others. What's also interesting is how all these stories now create and tell a larger one. This is the foundation for establishing a sustainable food system in our country as well as building a local food economy.
I'm launching a media resource website that will tell and connect you to your local farmers!:
Ingather: Stories of Chicago Chefs' Favorite Farmers
Currently I am fundraising on Kickstarter.com- Please take a few moments to check it out-- and make a pledge!
There is also much focus on the Chicago Green City Market; I photograph some GCM events, sell for Kinninkinnik Farm in the summer, and live close by. It was also my main point of entrance to connecting with the areas most dynamic farmers, chefs, organizations, and small food businesses.
I will start updating more frequently (had to take a break to get my cards in order...) so hope that you will visit the blog often- and encourage your inquiries and feedback.
All the Best,
Kate Gross
Marketing and Events:
Stephanie Lu Jokich
Contributers:
Kyle Schott
Angela Brown
Sara Gasbarra
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