The event: Chicago flexed its renowned cooking chops once again Oct. 2-4 when the highly-anticipated Taste Talks festival and conference came back to town, taking over the imaginations of more than 2,000 foodies. Throughout the weekend—which was filled with cooking panels, throw-downs, gastropub pop-ups, barbecues and fancy dinners—gourmands of every ilk filled their bellies while ruminating on the future of cuisine.
Cause célebre: “We’re into serious food, sustainable food and we’re in it for real,” said Darin Latime, self-titled “direttore” and floor manager of Local Foods in Chicago.
Local Foods, the combination wholesale distribution company/retail store/public market/butcher shop/café was duly transformed into a posh dining room for Taste Talks’ “Mother of Pearl” dinner on opening night, which offered endless raw oysters as a prelude to a gourmet 5-course meal.
“This is essentially the proving ground for everything that Taste Talks talks about,” said Dave Rand, erstwhile farmer turned Local Foods co-founder.
Decisions to partner with producers like Local Foods who are focused on sustainable, local producers and cuisines are the core of Taste Talks, explained Daniel Stedman, Taste Talks co-founder.
“We put culinary leaders together with cultural leaders to explore themes around eating well and living well,” Stedman said.
The three-day festival concentrated on discovering the future of food through panels like: “The evolution of food media in Chicago,” “The intersection of food & craft,” and “Saving time in a bottle,” with experts discussing preservation, fermentation and pickling processes and benefits.
“Taste Talks is all about the future of taste and I think Chicago is the most exciting food city in the country,” Stedman confessed. “New York is bigger…but pound for pound Chicago is an incredible city with incredible chefs. These guys are giants in the world of food.”