Category: Food and health

Good Food Vendor Kitchfix Wants You To See Right Through Its Ingredient List

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

by Bob Benenson, FamilyFarmed Kitchfix, a Chicago-based company, grew out of Chef Josh Katt’s previous career preparing highly nutritious and functional meals for customers who were fighting cancer. He maintained those health-first principles as he grew his home meal delivery service and a packaged goods division centered on Paleo, grain-free granola in a variety of flavors. Read more about Good Food Vendor Kitchfix Wants You To See Right Through Its Ingredient List[…]

Butcher Rob Levitt: Eating More Good Meat Is Not A Stretch

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

This is national Meat Week. We at FamilyFarmed advocate for foods, including meat, that are produced as locally as possible using sustainable, humane and fair practices. So who better to help us inform readers about why this is important than Chicago’s Rob Levitt, whose store The Butcher & Larder embeds those principles in how they source and sell their beef, pork, lamb and poultry.

Tea Squares: Energy Snack Business Gives Caffeine Boost to Chicago’s South Side

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The promise of healthier snack food alone would have made Chicago’s Tea Squares an excellent candidate for FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator. But Tea Squares’ social mission — which includes creating jobs and stimulating economic growth in its challenged South Side community — was a clincher.

The Zen of Slow Cooking and the Spice of a Busy Life

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The spice mixes and recipes developed by the zen of slow cooking help busy people make easy slow cooker meals that enable them and their families to have delicious dinners waiting for them when they get home. And owners Meg Barnhart and Jane McKay continue their mission to provide employment and cooking lessons for developmentally challenged adults.

Weekly Link Roundup – November 11

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food Trial run tests train travel for Chicago-bound farm products, Illinois Farmer Today Chatham Entrepreneur Just Got ‘Tea Squares’ In 6th Whole Foods, DNAInfo How a Mexican American Farmer Is Making Organic Food More Accessible, Takepart Ten Questions with Harry Rhodes, Executive Director Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – November 11[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – November 4

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The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food Turning Detroit’s Abandoned Homes Into Greenhouses, The Atlantic Milwaukee County To Be Home To Largest Urban Organic Fruit Orchard In US, Wisconsin Public Radio National Good Food Conversation Why Washington’s First Lady is Growing Her Own Grains, Civil Eat A Sustainable Food Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – November 4[…]

Food Access for Kids, Families Gets $500,000 Boost in Food to Market Challenge

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

“Team Leverage,” a collaboration of three major Good Food entities in the Chicago region, faced serious competition from four other strong finalists in the Food to Market Challenge. The team won the $500,000 award because of a strong social purpose — bringing healthy, nutritious, affordable food to more school children and their families — plus a distribution model with strong potential to be expanded in Chicago and replicated elsewhere.

Weekly Link Roundup – October 7

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food City of the big food companies once more?, Crain’s Here’s How Scraps Can Help Grow The Food Of The Future, HuffPost Meet the Fruit: Aronia, a “Superfood” Native to the American Midwest, Modern Farmer Real Good Juice Co. Expands To Lakeview, Coming Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – October 7[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – September 30

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The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food Rooftop wheat fields elevate Chicago’s urban farming scene to exciting new heights, Inhabitat In Englewood, Whole Foods opens to cheers, high hopes, Chicago Tribune Here Are 14 Local Products At The New Englewood Whole Foods, DNAInfo Will selling to ConAgra affect Bayless’ Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – September 30[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – September 23

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food How is it possible that bacon sausages didn’t exist until he invented them?, Crain’s Rumi Spice Founders Among ‘Most Innovative’ Women, Fortune Magazine Says, DNAInfo Kellogg Students Plant Edible Learning Garden, DNAInfo Urban farms bring free, local produce to area food deserts, Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – September 23[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – September 16

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The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    FamilyFarmed in the News Kendall College Launches a Business Incubator for Food Entrepreneurs, ChicagoInno Midwest Good Food Can Whole Foods Lift Up New Englewood Plaza? Business Owners Have Faith, DNAInfo Midwest Farmers Brew Up Hops For Local Craft Beer, Earth Eats New Fulton Market Harvest Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – September 16[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – September 9

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The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:  Midwest Good Food Chicago awarded $1M USDA urban farming grant, Chicago Tribune National Geographic Gives Nod To Lula Cafe’s Royale Breakfast Sandwich, DNAInfo Lula chef Jason Hammel to lead 3rd annual Taste Talks Chicago, Chicago Tribune Growing Pains for Detroit’s Urban Farms, CityLab How Lady Buggs Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – September 9[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – September 2

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food Chefs offer their take on perfect picnic sandwiches for Labor Day, SunTimes Illinois death tax hits family farms where it hurts, Chicago Tribune Young farmers are freshening the face of Wisconsin agriculture, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel National Good Food Conversation Why Farm-to-Institution Sourcing Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – September 2[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – August 26

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food To open first Chicago restaurant, Sweetgreen had to first find the farms, (FamilyFarmed connected Sweetgreen with Prairie Fruits Farm, plus GFBA alum are also providers) Chicago Tribune Farm-to-table hotspots for the whole family, Chicago Parent The chefs at Honey Butter Fried Chicken Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – August 26[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – August 19

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The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    Midwest Good Food Depending on the wilds to pollinate – (profile on Good Food Business Accelerator Alum), AgriView Innovation, Sustainability Key to Future of Farming in Illinois, WTTW Revival Food Hall To Open Thursday: Here’s Everything You Need To Know, DNAInfo Wheat Grown On Studio Gang’s Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – August 19[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – August 12

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The best Good Food news we’ve read this week:    FamilyFarmed A Start-Up Turns to Saffron to Help Afghanistan Regrow, New York Times Midwest Good Food Goodbye, Orange Julius, hello, Furious Spoon (about the recent popularity of food halls), Crain’s They Might be Giant: Rob Levitt talks to Jason Vincent and Ben Lustbader, Fooditor This Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – August 12[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – July 15

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Here’s the best Good Food news we’ve read this week. Happy reading!   Midwest Good Food The Publican Names New Executive Chef As Brand Faces Expansions, Chicago Eater O’Hare Upgrade: Publican Tavern Arriving July 26 At Airport, Chicago Eater Feast At the Farm: A Farmer, a Baker, a Brewer and a Chef, Forbes Bow Truss’ Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – July 15[…]

Weekly Link Roundup – July 8

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Here’s the best Good Food news we’ve read this week. Enjoy!   Midwest Good Food To meet booming tofu demand, Edgewater-based Phoenix Bean plans $1.7 million expansion (Phoenix Bean is a graduate of FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator), Chicago Tribune A Tale of Ten Acres – UNFI’s Agrarian Journey of Soil health, UNFI City Farm Chicago Aspires Read more about Weekly Link Roundup – July 8[…]

Chicago’s Phoenix Tofu Rising Farther With Expansion, Media Attention

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Jenny Yang and her Phoenix Tofu company in Chicago are shining examples of how FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator helps food and farm entrepreneurs build their businesses. Yang is launching a major expansion in response to fast-rising demand, which was the subject of a recent profile in the Chicago Tribune. We have republished an article we wrote about her and Phoenix Tofu last year, with a link to the Tribune story.

Uncommon Ground: 25 Years as a Chicago Farm to Table Leader

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

There are few people in the restaurant business who have kept farm to table real better — or longer — than Chicago’s Helen and Mike Cameron. They opened Uncommon Ground in 1991 and ever since have been blazing trails in providing diners with locally and sustainable produced food. Read about their ahead-of-the-curve experiences and their 25th anniversary events in the latest installment of our “Farm to Table: Keeping It Real” series.