The FamilyFarmed Expo began today at UIC Forum, bringing together farmers, financiers, locavores and others who share an interest in improving and supporting Midwestern agriculture. While the complete four-day, $350 event may be too intense for most of us, Saturday’s Local Food Festival offers a taste with cooking demonstrations, seminars, tastings, shopping and more.
Tickets are [...]
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We check out all the best foodie news from Chicago restaurant chefs and others…. Chef Grant Achatz of Alinea in Lincoln Park recounts his experience judging the Bocuse d’Or culinary competition, where competitors included Jennifer Petrusky, a sous chef at Charlie Trotter’s. He ponders whether the international contest could become a reality show, like “Top Chef [...] In New Orleans, the Tuesday before Lent, this year Feb. 16, culminates a riotous season known as Mardi Gras. Here in Chicago, some celebrate Louisiana-style, but to a million or so Chicagoans, Fat Tuesday is Paczki Day (say “POONCH-key”). Well before we were married, my husband, that crafty man, established a sweet Valentine’s Day custom. Each year on Feb. 14, he gives me a heart-shaped box of chocolates. (Then he eats half of them.) It’s a tradition. As much as I might yearn for, say, diamonds or rubies, I know I can expect that [...] What it is: The national dish of Brazil, feijoada is a flavorful stew of beans, beef and pork, a perfect dish to serve in honor of the Carnival season (Carnaval in Portuguese), which begins in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, Feb. 13, and runs through Fat Tuesday, Feb. 16. These Chicagoland wine shops host weekly free wine tastings where you’re welcome to sip and sample highlighted vintages. Just Grapes, West Loop, 2–4 p.m. Saturdays. Red & White, Bucktown, 2–5 p.m. Saturdays. Schaefer’s, Skokie, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays. Taste Food and Wine, Rogers Park, 6–7:30pm Mondays and Fridays. Wine Discount Center, Clybourn Corridor, Barrington, Forest Park and Highland Park, noon–4 [...] You no longer need to be embarrassed by your puny hot dog, you can have the biggest wiener at the cookout! Need some nibbles for your New Year’s Eve party? The Great American Cheese Collection, Chicago’s top source for small-batch, artisanal and farmstead cheeses, will open its Back of the Yards warehouse for special pre-New Year’s hours from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30. They’ll also open for their regular hours from 10 a.m. to [...] Christmas is tamale time. Local food blogger Titus Ruscitti recently put together an excellent round-up of where to get these holiday favorites. The handmade, steamed-in-cornhusks, Mexican masa treats he writes about, though, have little to do with the year-round hot-dog-stand staple most Chicagoans think of as “tamales.” Chef Bruce Cost’s zippy fresh ginger ales, served at Big Bowl and Wow Bow, are now being bottled! The restaurants continue to mix fresh ginger ales to order for in-house diners, but you can now buy bottles to take home. |
 
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