Slow Food Chicago

01/05/2026

Slow Food Chicago is growing 🌱 and we’re looking for passionate community members to join our 2026 Board.

If you care about good, clean, and fair food—and want to help shape the future of our local food system—we’d love to hear from you.

Apply or nominate someone you admire—link in LinkTree.

04/21/2025

Slow Food Chicago book club, spring edition! 📚🌱

Join us on Sunday, May 18th from 2-3pm at the Merlo Branch Library as we dive into The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This short but revolutionary essay explores reciprocity, abundance, and the gift economy within our food and economic system—and we can’t wait to unpack it with our slow food community.

🗓️ Sunday, May 18th from 2-3pm
📍 Merlo Branch Library (644 W Belmont) in the large meeting room
✨ Expect cozy vibes, thoughtful conversation, and a chance to connect over local food. Potluck snacks optional!

Need a copy? Check your local library or support an indie book shop on Independent Bookstore Day, this Saturday April 26!

Grab your (free) tickets soon before they sell out! See you there 🐌

10/14/2024

Some facts about Chicago's indigenous food ⬇️

1. Chicago has the third largest urban population of self-identified indigenous people in the United States. Despite this, there are no brick and mortar restaurants in the city serving the local indigenous cuisine. HOWEVER, you can still support native businesses like - a pop up kitchen and catering business focused on indigenous dishes.

2) The word "Chicago" is a French mispronunciation of the Miami-Illinois word for ramps. Several tribes use this type of onion in their traditional meals, cold remedies, and other cures.

Over-harvesting of wild ramps has earned this plant an unwanted spot on the protected species list in many states. Tennessee even considers them to be "commercially exploited". While delicious, it is important we stop threatening our namesake plant.

3) There cannot be good, clean, and fair food for all without food sovereignty!

10/04/2024

I spy, with my little eye, Slow Food at work 👀 ➡️

The Ark of Taste is a living catalog of delicious, local foods facing extinction. Now, you can pick up a copy at !

Whether you want to learn about biodiversity or add a gorgeous coffee table book to your collection, the Ark of Taste is for you. 🌱

Go check it out at Jainie's Mill. Bonus, you could also buy some quality stone-ground flour while you're there.

09/26/2024

09/25/2024

09/13/2024

Chocolate isn't always so sweet 🍫
 
The world is connected by chocolate. Literally. The global demand for the sweet treat has lead to a rocky history. 
 
In honor of this international holiday, take a moment to reflect and respect the ways chocolate ends up on your plate. Then, let's keep working towards a slower (and sweeter) food system.

09/04/2024

Our hard work is paying off 💪
 
As we approach harvest season, we just want to take a moment to thank all our of PreSERVE Garden volunteers and supporters. Thanks to y'all we saw real growth (literally!) 

See you at the garden 💚💚💚

08/16/2024

Slow Food does BIG things! 🐌🌍💪🏻

The 2023 Slow Food Annual Report just dropped. Across the world, our communities have worked hard to bring good, clean, and fair food to all.

There is still so much to do but, for now, take a moment to reflect on all the positive ways our food systems are changing.

Want to join the good fight? Go to the link in our bio to become a Slow Food member.

06/19/2024

If you don't know, read below 👇🏽
 
 Here are some American food system facts to think about this Juneteenth:
 
🔴American cuisine was directly shaped by African foods. For instance, "gumbo" comes from a West African word for "okra."
 
🟡 Immediately after Juneteenth, over 900,000 Black farmers owned farmland. Today, that number is only 18,000.
 
🟢 Some African women braided dry seeds into their hair to ensure the seeds' survival and protect their culture. This act of seed-saving helped preserve many modern day staple American crops that would have otherwise been lost.
 
🔴 Global food systems still heavily rely on slavery today—even within the United States. One study by Centro de los Derechos del Migrante found that 43% of all migrant workers were not paid promised wages.
 
🟡 Much of the agricultural innovation in this country—from farming equipment to refrigeration trucks—comes from Black inventors who were freed from slavery on Juneteenth.

🟢 Anti-foraging laws came from the Jim Crow era to limit how people could live off of the land. These laws are still in place across the country and disproportionately impact BIPOC communities. If lifted, new ways of exploring Slow Food could develop in the US. 
 
 
All of these facts remind us that Slow Food is not an isolated social issue. As they say, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

06/14/2024

It's picnic season. What's in your basket? 🧺❤️🐻
 
Slow Food is more than just organic produce and expensive farm-to-table dinners. True sustainable eating means taking time to "slow down" your meals every day. Picnics are a great way to do this! 

Here's why:

🐜 Eating outside reminds us where our food really comes from.

🐜Lots of classic picnic recipes use up what you already have in the fridge. Put greens in a pesto or celery in a pasta salad!

🐜Picnics are best done with a friend or two. They build community and that's what Slow Food is really all about.

🐜Most traditional picnic dishes make use of seasonal summer foods. Get familiar with what's fresh!

What do you pack in your picnic basket? Let us know in the comments 🧺

06/03/2024

What's better than pie and friends? 🥧Get Your Tickets Today🥧
 
We're teaming up with organizations across Chicago to feed our community, raise money for AIDS support, and (of course) eat delicious pie. You won't want to miss this!
 
The top-notch bakers at and are lending their talents to a delicious pie event at . 
 
🥧All baked pies from this event will go to
 
🥧All ticket sales will benefit
 
🥧All the delicious treats to try will go to YOU! 
 
 That's what we call a win-win-win situation. So what are you waiting for? Space is limited and tickets are selling FAST! 

Head to the link in our bio to get your tickets TODAY!
 
GLEN HAD A DREAM.

He had always wanted to write a book called Pies Across America. Oh how he loved those small town diners and their homemade PIES. What a better way to honor his dream (besides us writing the book…hmmm 😉) than to put the PIES in his charity!

Update: is no longer able to participate in the event day of but they will be donating pies to this amazing event