Chicagoland Food Activities for the Whole Family

Introducing Purple Asparagus

A new organization all about food, for the whole family

Food is fun. So is Purple Asparagus!

Our first big event will be all summer long-- we will present the Sprouts program at the Green City Market, one of Chicago's top farmer's markets, in Lincoln Park every Saturday from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, June 18 to August 6. The whole family will enjoy kid-oriented crafts, chef demonstrations, fruit and vegetable tastings and more. So come to the Green City Market, have some fun with us, and go home with some wonderful tasting things you never see in stores!

For adults, Feast of the Senses - Food, Wine and Art will be held on Thursday July 14 in 18 art galleries in the River North neighborhood where you can stroll from gallery to gallery, sampling a variety of foods, wine and beer, while viewing some of the city’s best art. The proceeds from the event will be donated to Purple Asparagus and to Slow Food Chicago and Common Threads.

We're also planning a Sunday lunch at which children and families can sample organic and sustainable products prepared by one of Chicago’s most renowned chefs, a visit to an organic farm near Chicago, and many more activities. For more information visit: http://www.purpleasparagus.com or simply watch for future Purple Asparagus emails.

About Purple Asparagus

Purple Asparagus is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to bringing families back to the table. We plan and promote activities that enable the entire family to learn about, and enjoy, every aspect of local and global food culture.

There are plenty of opportunities for adults and older kids to volunteer at our events-- or even plan entirely new ones! We're eager to hear from both our fellow parents and food fans, and from farmers, bakers, chefs etc. who would like to participate. If you want to help out, please send an email to bread@purpleasparagus.com

If you would like to be placed on our mailing list, please send an email with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to info@purpleasparagus.com. Our mailing list is 100% spam free, never sold, and we try to keep mailings to the most useful minimum.

MAG--if this is your new venture you need to be less modest about it--at least among your LTH fan club! It looks great. Tell us more.

Yes, this has been one of my major projects since "retirement". Though there's no way that I can claim full credit for it, as it is has been the collaborative effort of several board regulars (thank Mike G for the lovely website design) and of the former co-leader of Slow Food Chicago, Portia Belloc Lowndes.

Simply put, the idea behind our group is to give families an opportunity to learn about food and enjoy food together. There are several organizations that are dealing with similiar issues, i.e. educating children about food. Typically, however, they have events for kids and then events for adults - we intend to bridge that gap. By doing so believe that we can reach the non food obsessed folks who still really care about what their kids eat, essentially, the people who believe that having children means ending their dining out days.

Still, the group is for everyone who cares about children and families, not just parents with children, which is why we define family so broadly. And if anyone is interested in helping out, please let me know, we're always happy to have more volunteers - it certainly opens us to expanding our roster of events.

More about my other venture at a later date . . .