Edible Information

I'd kvell about the new issue of Edible Chicago despite the fact that the Local Beet's Melissa Graham* gets a good write-up, and despite the fact that my name gets more than a bit of play. Ann and crew put together an issue making it very clear that local food in Chicago does not hibernate come winter. I picked up my copy at Fox & Obel. Green Grocer should have it by about the time you see it, and a few other places to pick up the magazine can be found here. Get your copy now.

Fox & Obel, Green Grocer, mmmm, I guess I was doing a bit of shopping. What did I buy? Well, the day to day exploits of me and the rest of my Local Family can be found at the Local Beet. Saturday I made it to Chicago's Green City Market, I'm sure I'll have a report on Sunday's shopping up soon. For more up to date reports on the ins and outs of eating local, you can find me on Twitter here.

To help you all in your quest to eat local, the Beet highlights interesting upcoming events. We also post weekly, a column of eat local activities. When things get going by May, we won't be able to tell you of each area market. Instead, we will have the most complete, user friendly guide to area farmer’s markets. The Local Beet already has your a guide to area CSAs (and addressed some of your CSA concerns).

The Local Beet also wants to hear from you. We want your knowledge and input. A few weeks ago, a friend asked me why we did not include a certain restaurant in our (admittedly work in progress) list of local-friendly restaurants. It was no slight I assured her. Let us know any restaurants or shops that sell “our kind of food.” Please add generally to our resources. We have a forum to collect and disseminate data. If you need info, ask away.

In addition to our farmer's market guide, the Local Beet has some other great things in the works, especially in the area of food policy. Keep your eyes focused on our developments.

I am very proud to be associated with the Local Beet and Edible Chicago. I am working closely with Michael Morowitz, Melissa Graham and others to make the Beet an outstanding online resource, and I know that Ann and Rebbecca and others are working to make Edible Chicago an outstanding print resource. Eating locally in Chicago is getting better all the time.

*Melissa can also be found blogging here.