This book celebrates the best homegrown food in and around the windy city, profiling 30 chefs who work together with local farms to bring the freshest, locally grown, sustainable foods to their menus.

“Designed to honor the seasonal arc of produce consumption that all farmers markets thrive on . . . the book also touts regional, fresh and the Midwest.” —Third Coast Review Founded in 1998 by the late culinary luminary, author, chef, and entrepreneur Abby Mandel, the Green City Market is the venerable year-round farmers market held in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. Since its inception, the Green City Market has grown into one of the most popular destinations for finding organic and sustainable produce and products throughout the Midwest’s extensive farm-to-table culinary movement. The Green City Market Cookbook is the first collection of recipes from the celebrity chefs, local farmers, loyal customers, and longtime vendors that make up the Green City Market community. Beautifully illustrated with full-color photography, the thoroughly tested recipes in this book represent a diversity of wonderful meals that can be created from the fresh, sustainable output of Midwestern family farms. Chicago’s leading chefs, as well as other market regulars, have contributed recipes simple enough for the inexperienced cook but sufficiently enticing to satisfy the most discriminating gourmet. Organized by season, The Green City Market Cookbook provides eager readers with recipes that make use of fresh fruits and vegetables that come straight from the small regional farms that are the lifeblood of the farm-to-fork movement. “This cookbook is a living breathing document to how we are connected to the land, the farmers, and each other. It will be your constant resource for the seasons, ingredients, and the most delicious ways to cook.” —Ina Pinkney, former chef/owner of The Dessert Kitchen Ltd. and cookbook author “A collection of locally driven recipes with stunning photographs.” —Zagat

The food that fuels hardworking Chicagoans needs to be hearty, portable and inexpensive. Enterprising locals transform standard fare into Chicago classics, including Spinning Salad, Flaming Saganaki, Jumpballs, Jim Shoes, Pizza Puffs and Pullman Bread. The restaurants, bakeries, taverns and pushcarts cherished from one generation to the next offer satisfying warmth in winter and sweet refreshment in summer. This timeless balancing act produced icons like the Cape Cod Room's Bookbinder Soup and the Original Rainbow Cone, as well as Andersonville Coffee Cake and Taylor Street's Italian Lemonade. Featuring select stories and recipes, author Amy Bizzarri surveys the delectable landscape of Chicago's homegrown culinary hits.

The past 25 years has seen Chicago transformed from a heartland stronghold of meat and potatoes into a major culinary center. Chicago Cooks chronicles this story through the eyes of the Chicago chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, female leaders in the food and dining world. They tell how the Chicago food scene grew and evolved, touching on landmark restaurants like Charlie Trotter's and Frontera Grill, the rise of ethnic cuisines imported from around the world, and the proliferation of shops, markets, and classes serving the ever more sophisticated home cook. The book also includes a bounty of 75 recipes for entertaining from this unique group of Chicago food authorities, gathered specially for this book.

The Chicago Food Encyclopedia is a far-ranging portrait of an American culinary paradise. Hundreds of entries deliver all of the visionary restauranteurs, Michelin superstars, beloved haunts, and food companies of today and yesterday. More than 100 sumptuous images include thirty full-color photographs that transport readers to dining rooms and food stands across the city. Throughout, a roster of writers, scholars, and industry experts pays tribute to an expansive--and still expanding--food history that not only helped build Chicago but fed a growing nation. Pizza. Alinea. Wrigley Spearmint. Soul food. Rick Bayless. Hot Dogs. Koreatown. Everest. All served up A-Z, and all part of the ultimate reference on Chicago and its food.