To interview for food documentary?

I'm running a summer program for low-income Chicago
teens. We're making a documentary on food, focusing on urban gardens,
producing a cooking show, organic vs. non-organic, and various subject
offshoots such as gentrification, grocery stores, self-sufficiancy,
ethnic differences, community empowerment, and environment/health
issues. The teens do the pre-production, shooting, interviewing, and
editing.

I am wondering if you have suggestions for Chicago people/organizations
to contact about the above subjects, like restaurant/grocery store
owners who lean organically, urban farming experts, etc etc. Ideally, we'd like to interview these people on camera.

Also looking for places we can tour, like restaurants, grocery stores, urban gardens, etc.

Thanks!

I assume you know of/have dealt with these people:

http://www.growingpower.org/

aprildentist wrote:I am wondering if you have suggestions for Chicago people/organizations to contact about the above subjects

I'd suggest contacting both Melissa Graham at Purple Asparagus <info@purpleasparagus.com> and City Farm

Enjoy,
Gary

Last summer David Hammond and MAG posted about the honey produced in North Lawndale by Sweet Beginnings, a group for former prisoners. It sounds like they would be ideal for inclusion in your project.

Here are links to last summer's threads:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=5835#5835
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=6402#6402

Sweet Beginnings
3726 West Flournoy Street
Chicago, IL 60624
773-638-1806

You might try contacting RadioArte and Yoyocali, youth art programs of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. The first is a youth radio station, the second has a fine arts focus. They have worked on issues of gentrification, ethnic difference, etc. with UIC, in ways that may connect with what you're doing and might have some insights.

You might also want to consider contacting Charlie Trotter (or his people). He does a lot of work with lower-income children in his restaurant. Most of this happens through an established program of his, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a tour.

Best,
Michael / EC