Workshops and Demos Made the Good Food Festival the Place to Feed Your Head

There was plenty of food to eat at FamilyFarmed’s March 26 Good Food Festival, which drew thousands of attendees for the annual big public celebration of the fast-growing Good Food movement. But the program at the Festival, which included expert panels, artisan workshops and chef demonstrations, also provided plenty of food for thought. This photo essay provides a flavor of the event.

Burgeoning Businesses Met Interested Investors at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Financing Conference

Building the consumer market for Good Food by helping food and farm entrepreneurs start up and scale up is a core principle of FamilyFarmed. It is also the reason why FamilyFarmed in 2014 launched its Good Food Business Accelerator.

So it is no surprise that the competitively selected Fellows who participate in the Good Food Business Accelerator have a high profile at the Financing & Innovation Conference that makes up the first day each year at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival & Conference.

Ag Secretary Vilsack, Industry Leaders, Rising Businesses Get FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival & Conference Off to Hot Start

The morning of FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference Thursday — the first day of the three-day, 12th annual Good Food Festival & Conference — was packed with content, entrepreneurial vision, and inspiration to accelerate the growth of the fast-rising Good Food movement. This photo essay provides a glimpse of the activities that got FamilyFarmed’s big yearly event off to a running start.

And The Best Cookbook of 2016 Is… The Subject of Read It and Eat’s Article

FamilyFarmed is pleased to have Read It & Eat, Chicago’s culinary bookstore and teaching kitchen, as its bookseller at the annual Good Food Festival this Saturday in Chicago. To get us ready for the Good Food Festival’s literary side, Esther Dairiam, owner of Read It & Eat has contributed a pair of articles about the best cookbooks of 2015, following the “Piglet Award” contest staged by the Food52 website.

Our Seeds are in Need! Stand Up to Protect Seed Sharing

Seed saving and seed exchanges are playing a crucial and increasing role in ensuring continued biodiversity and a robust variety of food. But these practices have come under political pressure in recent years. This issue will be discussed by a panel of experts at the Food Policy Conference within FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Trade Show and Industry Conference this Friday at Chicago’s UIC Forum.

Good Food Business Accelerator panel

Best in Business Highlight Thursday’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference

FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference is coming up Thursday at Chicago’s UIC Forum, and it is a must-do for anyone with an interest in the business of the fast-growing Good Food movement. The event — which makes up the first day of the three-day, 12th annual Good Food Festival & Conference — has an amazing lineup of farm and food entrepreneurs, industry leaders, thought leaders and policy makers.

Paul Kahan and Other Chicago Chefs Spark Pilot Light Program for Kids’ Food Education

There are few more important avenues for ensuring continued progress toward a better U.S. food system than teaching children about healthy food produced sustainably, humanely and fairly. Pilot Light, a chef-driven nonprofit in Chicago, is one of the most promising and innovative programs addressing this priority. Paul Kahan, a co-founder of Pilot Light and FamilyFarmed’s 2016 Good Food Chef of the Year, discusses the program in this Q-and-A.

Butcher Rob Levitt’s Good Food Festival Ham Class Builds on His Customer Service Efforts

Rob Levitt of The Butcher & Larder at Local Foods, one of Chicago’s leading butcher shops, is conducting a ham-curing workshop at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival on March 26. Read here about Levitt’s love of ham, his dedication to providing the highest quality products, and his devotion to consumer education about meat.

The Best Cookbooks of 2016? Ask Read It & Eat, Our Good Food Festival Bookseller

FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival — its big public celebration of the Good Food movement — is coming up on Saturday, March 26 at Chicago’s UIC Forum. One of its many features is an authors’ table featuring great books about food, and we are pleased that Read It & Eat, Chicago’s culinary bookstore and event space, Read more about The Best Cookbooks of 2016? Ask Read It & Eat, Our Good Food Festival Bookseller[…]

Something Will Be Brewing at Authors’ Good Food Festival Kombucha Workshop

Family Farmed’s Good Food Festival on Saturday, March 26 is the big annual public celebration that will cap the three-day Good Food Festival & Conference. The Festival is all about hands-on workshops and learning. And we are excited to welcome book authors Hannah Crum and husband Alex LaGory who will be part of our Brew Your Own Kombucha workshop at 1:30 p.m. on March 26.

“A Farmer’s Road” Film About Journey From Classroom to Creamery Leads to the Good Food Festival

Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, LLC, located in Champaign, Illinois, makes artisan, farmstead goat cheeses and goat milk gelato from its herd of 80 milking goats. Owners Leslie Cooperband and Wes Jarrell also host Slow Food, farm-to-table meals and other agri-tourism events. And now they are movie stars, And now they are even movie stars, thanks to A Farmer’s Road, a new documentary about Prairie Fruits, which will be shown March 26 at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival.

James Beard Foundation’s Recipe for Change: How the Culinary Community is Creating a Sustainable Food System

FamilyFarmed’s Trade Show & Industry Conference on March 25 — the middle day of its three-day Good Food Festival & Conference — has an exciting new feature: “Recipe for Change: How the Culinary Community is Creating a Sustainable Food System” is a panel moderated by James Beard Foundation Vice President Kris Moon and featuring four of Chicago’s top chefs and Good Food champions. In this contributed column, Moon details the rising tide of chef activism and how the James Beard Foundation has responded with its Chefs Boot Camp for Policy & Change.

FamilyFarmed’s Trade Conference Adds Chefs’ Zest With James Beard Foundation Alliance

A Good Food trade show retains its traditional place as a centerpiece of FamilyFarmed’s 12th annual Good Food Festival & Conference, March 24-26 at Chicago’s UIC Forum. But the day’s programming expanded greatly over time to include panels and discussions of a wide range of Good Food business and policy issues — and this year it steps to a new level with a panel of all-star chefs presented by the James Beard Foundation (JBF).