Illinois foods event - done already?

An organization I work with is thinking of doing a benefit dinner that would feature food and wine grown and produced in Illinois. But this sounds vaguely familiar to me - like someone already produces such an event. Is there such an event that exists already? If so, should we still go ahead with the idea (it would probably be in November?). If not, does it sound like a good idea? Any opinions and wisdom would be much appreciated.

Have you fully developed the idea? More specifics would be helpful. I don't think that I've ever heard of an Illlinois-themed event. I can't say that I find it too enticing, but maybe there are some really interesting things that I haven't thought of. I like having a theme, but I would prefer a southern theme, a California theme, or an East Coast/seafood theme over the Illinois idea. I also think a fall theme would be interesting. For weddings, fall dates and themes have become really popular. It would be easy to "steal" ideas if that interested you at all.

There have been a number of Midwest/Heartland events, but I'm not aware of any Illinois-only themes. And if there were, that's no reason you couldn't do it as well.

As Kithat indicates, you might have a selling job with such a theme, but I think it a fine idea. There are lots of terrific products made and grown in this state.

Moreover, you could probably get some additional support from various Illinois booster groups, such as downstate tourism and agricultural organizations.

I believe in either this week or last week's Time Out Chicago, there was a listing of a FREE trip to an Illinois winery - not exactly sure where. Nonetheless, that might be something to check out. I do know that there are a few wineries out near Galena. BF and I ddn't have enough time to check them out when we were in the area last summer but it was definitely recommended by locals.

As for food, perhaps a trip to the local farmer's markets in and around Chicagoland can spark some inspirational dishes in celebration of Illinois' agriculture. (With this, assuming you were steering away from the Chicago hot dog, deep dish, italian beef fare....)


HTH!

Here's a good place to start:

http://www.thelandconnection.org/

The event is still in the vague idea stage. The reason we are thinking Illinois is that we are a state wide organization. We are planning a year long series to engage Illinois communities in conversations on genetics and the questions raised by the genetics revolution. One program on the series will focus on genetically modified foods (we're not an advocacy organization so we don't take pro/con positions - we'll just be raising interesting questions). We thought donig a fundraising dinner around that program featuring Illinois foods and wines, chefs, etc. might be interesting (one of the programs needs to be tied to a fundraiser of some sort. The others are all free public programs).

Thank you so much for the ideas and especially the link VI. Everyone is alwasy so helpful. Please continue sending any more excellent ideas!

I am actually going to Carbondale next week for work and staying over the weekend to hike and play. I plan to do the "Shawnee Wine Trail" as it is called. There are at least a dozen wineries in southern Illinois I believe.

Hellodali wrote:I am actually going to Carbondale next week for work and staying over the weekend to hike and play. I plan to do the "Shawnee Wine Trail" as it is called. There are at least a dozen wineries in southern Illinois I believe.

I'd love if you could report back on this. I've tried a number of Illinois wines, on a few occasions, and I'm curious to hear some other feedback.

Aaron

Hi,

FYI - Here is an upcoming dinner focussed on Wines of Illinois with ChicaGourmets.

Some years ago, Culinary Historians had an Illinois wine tasting meeting. If you need it, I could find out who we worked with on that occasion. It was the only time I came out of their meetings a bit tipsy. Prior to prohibition, Illinois was a major wine producer especially downstate. If you google <illinois wine> there are a number of websites to review.

It is a pity your dinner is in November rather than September, when the harvest and breadth of local vegetables are at their peak. Not only are they cheap, they are fully ripened and delicious.

I don't see why you need to mix genetically modified foods issue into your fundraising dinner. I would strictly go by Illinois products period, which will be an education to many who attend without introducing the polarizing GMO issue into it. Of course the meat to feature is pork. While you cannot feel it in the Chicago area, when you go beyond our area pork is king.

Regards,

Aaron Deacon wrote:

Hellodali wrote:I am actually going to Carbondale next week for work and staying over the weekend to hike and play. I plan to do the "Shawnee Wine Trail" as it is called. There are at least a dozen wineries in southern Illinois I believe.

I'd love if you could report back on this. I've tried a number of Illinois wines, on a few occasions, and I'm curious to hear some other feedback.

Aaron

I will gladly report back but you should know my palate is far, far from sophisticated in any way. If you put a cabernet and a zinfandel in front of me, sadly, I'm not sure I could tell you which was which. And although I know a lot of the vocubulary, I'm not sure I could use it accurately. My responses when tasting wine generally are along the lines of: "Eh." or "Oh, that's nice." or "Oh, that is so good I want to wear it." Basically I try a lot of wine, then I buy and drink more of what I like. And keep trying wines I've never tried. But I do think I can distinguish plonk. So if you don't mind a very simplistic report, I'll gladly write one. And hopefully with photos.

Cathy2 wrote:I don't see why you need to mix genetically modified foods issue into your fundraising dinner. I would strictly go by Illinois products period, which will be an education to many who attend without introducing the polarizing GMO issue into it. Of course the meat to feature is pork. While you cannot feel it in the Chicago area, when you go beyond our area pork is king.

Cathy, thanks so much for your observation and I do share your concern about the controversial nature of the issue. It's not so much that I want to mix the genetically modified foods issue into the fundraiser. It's maybe a bit of the other way around. We are doing a year-long series on the issues raised by advances in genetics. All of the programs are generally free and open to the public. One of the 12 programs has to be a fundraising opportunity for us. It just seemed to me the one around food was the easiest around which to build a fundraiser. (The other programs will focus on race, who owns genetic information, the ethics of genetic testing, genetics and geneology, etc.) I couldn't figure a fundraising opportunity for those. topics. And we would not have presentations at the dinner on genetically modified foods. Most likely we would host an open to the public panel, then an exclusive dinner for donors. Again, it's only in the idea stage, so any observations or feedback you have are very much appreciated.

Hellodali wrote:I do think I can distinguish plonk. So if you don't mind a very simplistic report, I'll gladly write one. And hopefully with photos.

I think this sounds excellent, and I look forward to reading it.