Good Food Festival Turns 10 This Weekend At UIC Forum

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Mar 11, 2014 3:30PM

Now in its 10th year the Good Food Festival and Conference is expected to bring over 5,000 people to the UIC Forum March 13-15. For anyone interested in learning more about local farming, the locavore movement, sustainability gardening, local environmental issues and anything else involving local food, this is the event to attend.

The festival, produced by FamilyFarmed.org, brings together farmers, chefs, food businesses, advocates for sustainable food and consumers for three days of workshops and seminars starting with a “Good Food Financing and Innovation” conference March 13 featuring Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb; Growing Power’s Erika Allen; Marc Schulman, President of Eli’s Cheesecake; MacArthur Grant Fellow Will Allen; and 1871 Chicago’s Howard Tullman.

The conference is followed March 14 by the popular “Localicious” event featuring plenty of local beer, wines, spirits and food provided by chefs such as Big Jones’ Pau Fehribach, Browntrout’s Sean Sanders, Farmhouse’s Eric Mansavage and others.

The festival turns family-friendly on March 15 with appearances by Rick Bayless, Nightwood’s Jason Vincent, Paul Virant, and others.

Tickets to the festival and a list of the daily schedules are available online.