The Good Food Festival is this weekend!

FamilyFarmed invites you to a family-friendly day of inspiring speakers, DIY workshops on the Organic Valley Good Food Commons, chef demos from Rick Bayless and Paul Kahan, a special ham curing session to celebrate Easter with Rob Levitt of the Butcher & Larder, plus the interactive Purple Asparagus Kids’ Corner.

Urban Farm Bus Tour.

 They’ll also offer the super popular Urban Farm Bus Tour which visits four cutting-edge urban farms and sells out every year. (True to form, it's already sold out.)

This year there will be over 150 exhibitors at the Good Food Marketplace, where you can shop, meet CSA farmers, learn about local foods and enjoy a great meal! Click here to see the list of exhibitors.

Here's a video produced by FamilyFarmed all about the festival and how important it is in terms of building community.


 I went last year and had such a great time talking food and local growing with all of the vendors.  There's everybody from Locally Laid Eggs to artisanal whiskey makers.  (Last year, I thought that Locally Laid Eggs won for best name of a company.  Wonder who will win this year?)

If you are growing your own food, the Peterson Garden Project Seed Swap in the Good Food Concourse allows you to pick up seeds, swap yours and get a few gardening tips.

There's also a Good Food Court, where some of Chicago's best (and most homegrown) eateries serve up their delicious wares.

To get the full schedule, visit this page, which includes the following:
• a series of lecture/demos about how to keep bees, quails, goats, ducks, and other farm animals in the city.
• cooking demos with chefs like Rick Bayless
•discussions about important topics like food as medicine, transforming school food, and the true cost of good meet.
• demos on home activities like making sauerkraut, preserving herbs,  and composting.

There's a whole other part of the conference, happening on Thursday and Friday, aimed at farmers, producers, legislators, and investors.  You can find out more about that on the website as well.

The whole event is sponsored by FamilyFarmed, a non-profit organization "committed to expanding the production, marketing and distribution of locally grown and responsibly produced food, in order to enhance the social, economic, and environmental health of our communities." (from their mission statement)

If this sounds like fun, purchase your tickets online.

You can also download/view the full conference directory here:
GOOD FOOD FESTIVAL

True Nature Foods to leave Edgewater, join Heartland Cafe

Great article from a few days ago in the Chicago Tribune about our neighborhood organic grocer True Nature Foods joining forces with the Heartland Cafe.  They are pulling up their roots and transplanting them 1.5 miles to the North.  This movement is brought about almost entirely by the upcoming opening of Whole Foods.

While I am sorry to see them ago, I can't say I blame them.  Whole Foods is a juggernaut, and from a competitive standpoint has organic stuff cheaper and better displayed.  It's hard to argue with that.

When we first moved to the neighborhood in September I was excited to see the store.  I stopped in and  asked the owner Paula (quoted in the article) how they were going to deal with Whole Foods impending doom.  She said she thought they could co-exist.  I thought it might be possible, because True Nature is very much a community, and will still be a community when all is said and done.  But that community will be shopping at Whole Foods also.  I was afraid it would be too rough a road for them.

Their move to the Heartland is a good fit, and will serve both as a locus for organic/vegetarian community and as a service to an under-grocered community.  I think it could really work well.

As it says, there will be a hole in the area.  I'm hoping a bike shop moves in.

Let's hope that Whole Foods doesn't want to expand into Rogers Park next (they are not so far away in Evanston, but just far enough)

Here's a great quote from the story:

"If the spirits call me to another place," she told herself, "I'll know." 

It was the depths of winter when Tom Rosenfeld called. Companio had known Rosenfeld for a decade, since she started stocking apples from his organic orchard, Earth First Farms. In 2012, he bought the legendary Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park and has since worked to spruce it up while staying true to its hippie roots. 

On the day he phoned, he asked Companio to come to dinner there, saying only that he had a crazy idea. 

She went, thinking he wanted to talk about apple butter. What he proposed instead was that she move her entire operation—stock, staff, co-ops, everything—into the Heartland, as a partner in the business. 

She didn't hesitate. Deal.

Giving Up Diet Coke

Today marks the 15nth day since I've had a Diet Soda.

Now, this may not seem like a big deal to you, but I've been drinking diet coke (or coke zero, or tab, or diet pepsi, or pretty much any low calorie soda) since college pretty steadily.  I don't drink coffee, and it was my caffeine of choice for a very long time.  And there were days where I'd easily drink 4 or 5 cans, or a couple of 32 oz glasses.  I had a pretty serious habit.

I didn't give it up for Lent, or for political reasons, or for financial reasons.  I didn't even give it up for health reasons (well, not entirely.  I've known that diet coke was not a mystery superfood for quite some time.)

I've been reading a book by Mark Bittman(NY Times Food writer) called VB6-- in which he elaborates on a scheme he came up with when he was 57 to lose weight, feel better, and not die.

The plan, such as it is, is to eat lots of whole foods mostly vegetables, make meat a treat not a staple,, not eat lots of prepared items, and before 6 pm, eat a strict vegan diet-- after 6, you can go crazy within reason.  He's a food critic, and since he mostly eats crazy food at night, it made sense for him for that 6 pm deadline.  He says in the book that 6 is an arbitrary number that worked for him, and if you want to eat your meat for breakfast go ahead.  He also says he's not a doctor, that it worked for him, and that his work as a food critic showed him that the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) is in fact sad.

I highly recommend the books.  To find out more about VB6-- look at the books at Amazon below-- you can browse through them and pick up a couple of recipes for free.




I've been following this advice for the last  month or so, and I've lost about 15 lbs (although on a big person like me, that could easily be water weight)  And 15 lbs is literally a drop in the bucket of what I need to lose.  (I'd like to lose about 65 more lbs.  And even if I did, the American Medical Association would still consider me on the borderline of obese! Thanks Obama!)


What appeals to me about VB6 is that it's not about counting, and it's relatively strict, but gives a little leeway EVERYDAY. Before this I was having some success by counting all of my calories using Lose It, and following a low carb diet recommended by the 4 Hour Work Week guy.

 When I started following the diet, I continued to drink diet soda.  I decided to quit for a couple of reasons.

A) to see if I can.
B) to reduce the amount of chemicals I'm putting in my body, which can't be good.
C) to drink more water, which EVERY diet recommends.

I've got a full 12 pack of soda in the fridge, and although I've been tempted to break the seal, and I've had a couple of caffein headaches, so far, so great.  I've been drinking almost entirely water, and a couple of times I've had tea.

Since I've decided to quit, I have been reading a lot more about how addictive diet soda is, and how damaging it can be (And you can probably hear my wife saying "I told you so" in the background!)

I might have diet coke in the future, but I'm not sure that I'm good at regulating my usage-- I may be an aspartame-a-holic.  (Is there a 12 step program?)

Here's a couple of the articles  I've been reading.

http://www.workoutaustralia.com.au/news/why-diet-soda-and-fat-free-foods-make-you-fat

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/diet-soda-health-risks_n_3581842.html

http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/myth-diet-soda
(from which the infographic was taken)


What's your relationship with Diet Soda?