Category: Regional food systems

Tell William Cider at Farmhouse Chicago

Farmhouse Tavern’s Good Food Approach Sees Lake Michigan Region as Field of Plenty

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

T.J. Callahan, the founder and owner of the Farmhouse Tavern restaurants in downtown Chicago and suburban Evanston is a bit wary of the “farm to table” label, which some critics say has been overused to the point of becoming a cliche. “Farm to table, it’s such a nebulous kind of concept,” Callahan said in an interview with Good Food on Every Table. “So we’ve called ourself, from day one, a ‘Midwestern craft tavern.'”

Greg Wade of Publican Quality Bread

Top 10 Reasons to Attend the Good Food Festival!

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

We have been writing so much about FamilyFarmed’s 11th annual Good Food Festival & Conference March 19-21 that we want to make sure that the main events designed for the general public do not get lost in the shuffle. So here is our list of the top 10 reasons you should attend the Localicious food and drink tasting event and the Good Food Festival.

The boom in farmers markets

First Person: How Farmers Markets Help Producers Scale Up for Success

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

by Pat Stieren, guest contributor Pat Stieren is executive director of the Illinois Farmers Market Association (IFMA), which is presenting a conference on Saturday, March 21 at the UIC Forum on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. The event coincides with FamilyFarmed‘s Good Food Festival at the same location. To purchase tickets to attend the Read more about First Person: How Farmers Markets Help Producers Scale Up for Success[…]

Local Foods Chicago retail store

Local Foods Store is a New Retail Wrinkle — And Just Maybe the Future of Supermarkets

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The new Local Foods store being built in Chicago may turn out to be something of village square for the local Good Food movement, bringing together and helping to boost the kinds of small food businesses people used to frequent. And it could, just possibly, serve as a template for the supermarket of the future.

GMO OMG promo

Multi-Faceted Trade Day at Good Food Festival & Conference Captures Movement’s Span

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

There are so many elements to the Good Food movement that it would be hard for any one event to capture its breadth. But “Trade Day” at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival & Conference March 20 — comes as close as can be to a comprehensive overview of this sweeping effort to change the way we eat for the better.

Julia and Todd McDonald of Peasants' Plot CSA farm in Manteno, Illinois

First Person: CSA Farmers Band Together

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

by Julia McDonald, guest contributor Julia McDonald and her husband Todd McDonald own Peasants’ Plot, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Manteno, Illinois that grows produce sustainably and sells it to subscribing consumers. In her contributed column, McDonald describes the rise of the CSA concept and its still yet-to-be-tapped potential; the emergence of the Read more about First Person: CSA Farmers Band Together[…]

The Dill Pickle Co-op of Chicago.

First Person: Cooperation Underscored in Chicagoland Food Co-op Coalition

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

While there has long been robust interest in food co-ops in a number of communities across the United States, Chicago has lagged a bit behind. But change is under way. Over the past couple of years, there’s been an explosion of interest in retail food co-ops in the metro Chicago area, which in turn has spawned the Chicagoland Co-op Coalition.

Raj Karmani of Zero Percent (right) and Michael Bashaw of Whole Foods Market

Accelerator Adds Fuel to This Year’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference that kicks off FamilyFarmed’s annual three-day Good Food Festival & Conference is well established, as a dynamic event that connects food and farm entrepreneurs with investors and lenders. Businesses participating in the event have raised $11 million over the past three years.

dailyServing's functional food products

Promising Business Are Winding Up to Pitch at Chicago’s Good Food Financing Conference

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Promising businesses in the Midwest’s local and sustainable food sector have raised $11 million from investors over the past three years by participating in FamilyFarmed’s annual Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference. Not surprisingly, this year’s event — coming up on Thursday, March 19 — has another lineup of outstanding entrepreneurs.

Mark Schneider of Living Waters Farms

Illinois’ Living Water Farms Hits Accelerator to Expand Year-Round Local Growing

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The goal of creating a year-round local food culture in the nation’s northern regions is hindered by relatively short growing seasons. But the increasing number of indoor growing facilities — such as Illinois’ Living Water Farms — is helping to change that.

Good Food Business Accelerator logo

Good Food Business Accelerator Fellows Have Diverse Interests But One Goal: Success

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

There is plenty of diversity among the Fellows in FamilyFarmed’s new Good Food Business Accelerator program. But they share a drive to succeed a commitment to expand the Good Food movement.

Local Food Buyers Exchange — Midwest

Local Food Association Previews Its Nov. 6 Buyers Exchange Event in Chicago

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The Local Food Association (LFA) is the only national trade association for those in the business of local food. And it will stage its inaugural event, the LOCAL FOOD BUYERS EXCHANGE – Midwest, on Thursday, Nov. 6 at Hyatt Regency O’Hare in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont.

Enterpreneur panel at FamilyFarmed's Good Food Business Accelerator event

Good Food Business Accelerator’s Crowd-Pleasing Potential to Spur Growth

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The launch of FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator program drew a standing-room crowd to the spacious auditorium at 1871, the start-up incubator that is Chicago’s center of innovation.

Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood

Honey Butter Fried Chicken: A Fine-Feathered First Year in Chicago

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

When you write about the launch of a start-up business, it is often worthwhile checking back in to see how things are working out. It is especially rewarding to do when the enterprise has flourished — which is the case for Chicago’s Honey Butter Fried Chicken, which on Sept. 14 rounded out a smashing first year in business.

First Person: This Land Was Made for You and Wheat

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Locally grown organic wheat and other grains can be in short supply in Illinois, but Breslin Farms in the town of Ottawa helps fill that gap.

More Tips for Farmers Market Savings

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Our previous article on stretching your dollars at farmers markets drew a lot of interest. Even better, it drew several comments — shared here — that are loaded with even more great money-saving ideas.

Those tips are shared here.

How to Stretch Your Farmers Market Dollars

Posted on by bob.benenson@gmail.com

There is one factor that stands out as an inhibition for some people — the perception that shopping at farmers markets is too expensive. But I ventured out this weekend to collect evidence that it ain’t necessarily so.

Whole Foods Market in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood

Strategic Partnership with Whole Foods Puts More Local Food on Shelves

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Can you find local food on your grocery store shelves? The answer to that question is increasingly “yes” … and FamilyFarmed.org is playing an important role in making that happen — including its work to connect Whole Foods Market with local and regional growers.

The boom in farmers markets

Farmers Market Benefits Include Bargains — Tell Us Yours

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

New York Times food journalist Mark Bittman notes that there are great bargains to be had at farmers markets. Have you found some? Share them in the comments section of this post!

First Person: Everything Old is New Again at Weston’s Antique Apples

Posted on by bob.benenson@gmail.com

Interest in reviving heritage varieties of fruits and vegetables is on the rise. But for almost 80 years and for four generations, Weston’s Antique Apple Orchard has been keeping heritage apples growing in New Berlin, Wisconsin, located just 20 miles southwest of downtown Milwaukee. Genevieve Weston, whose great-grandfather established the orchard, gives her first-person account.