“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 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.

Chicago began as a frontier town on the edge of white settlement and as the product of removal of culturally rich and diverse indigenous populations. The town grew into a place of speculation with the planned building of the Illinois and Michigan canal, a boomtown, and finally a mature city of immigrants from both overseas and elsewhere in the US. In this environment, cultures mixed, first at the taverns around Wolf Point, where the forks of the Chicago River join, and later at the jazz and other clubs along the “Stroll” in the black belt, and in the storefront ethnic restaurants of today. Chicago was the place where the transcontinental railroads from the West and the “trunk” roads from the East met. Many downtown restaurants catered specifically to passengers transferring from train to train between one of the five major downtown railroad stations. This also led to “destination” restaurants, where Hollywood stars and their onlookers would dine during overnight layovers between trains. At the same time, Chicago became the candy capital of the US and a leading city for national conventions, catering to the many participants looking for a great steak and atmosphere. Beyond hosting conventions and commerce, Chicagoans also simply needed to eat—safely and relatively cheaply. Chicago grew amazingly fast, becoming the second largest city in the US in 1890. Chicago itself and its immediate surrounding area was also the site of agriculture, both producing food for the city and for shipment elsewhere. Within the city, industrial food manufacturers prospered, highlighted by the meat processors at the Chicago stockyards, but also including candy makers such as Brach’s and Curtiss, and companies such as Kraft Foods. At the same time, large markets for local consumption emerged. The food biography of Chicago is a story of not just culture, economics, and innovation, but also a history of regulation and regulators, as they protected Chicago’s food supply and built Chicago into a city where people not only come to eat, but where locals rely on the availability of safe food and water. With vivid details and stories of local restaurants and food, Block and Rosing reveal Chicago to be one of the foremost eating destinations in the country.

The Chicago Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes 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. The book is organized by season and presents 100 delicious recipes. Featured chefs include Rick Bayless, Rick Gresh (Primehouse), Rob Levitt (MADO), and Mindy Segal (Hot Chocolate). Exquisite color photography illustrates the recipes and profiles.

This collection of 118 recipes captures the evocative food experiences of the Lake Michigan region, an ultimate vacation destination with hundreds of miles of shoreline and rich food traditions reflecting the bounty of the area’s farms and the lake’s daily catch. Recipes include Helen Suchy’s Apple Cake from Door County, Homemade Sheboygan-Style Bratwurst, Chicago’s HBFC Original Fried Chicken Sandwich, Beach House Cheesy Potatoes from Northwest Indiana, and The Cook’s House Crispy Skinned Lake Trout from Traverse City. Delightful photographs of cottage life and classic destinations, along with profiles of favorite food purveyors, bring the lakeshore’s flavors and charm to you year-round, wherever you are.

The Washington Post food critic’s guide to the nation’s top ten culinary capitals—plus restaurant recipes you can make in your own kitchen. Follow Tom Sietsema as he dines, drinks and browses at 271 restaurants, bars, and shops while reporting for his America’s Best Food Cities project. Along the way, he measures how each city stacks up in terms of creativity, community, tradition, ingredients, shopping, variety, and service. Sietsema offers a guidebook to his top recommendations, garnished with short descriptions of the eateries he visited, the best things he ordered in each city, and even some signature recipes from notable restaurants along his path, so that you too can make the best dishes without buying a plane ticket. Along the way he dishes out surprises and tips to satisfy the palate of every culinary adventurer. This is the ultimate guide to eating well in America’s top 10 food cities, whether you’re a resident of one of them or planning a visit. Bon appetit!

Seasonal recipes for summer dining, from cookout staples to cocktails—selected by the award-wining food writers of the Chicago Tribune. All year long, we look forward to a summertime filled with cookouts, picnics, beach trips, and dinner parties on the patio. From the first flower’s bloom to the moment the leaves begin to turn, the summer season is always an exciting dash to spend time outside with good friends and family. While the winter months are filled with hearty roasts and warm stews, recipes for summer should adapt to our on-the-go plans and impromptu outdoor parties. Summer Cooking: Kitchen-Tested Recipes for Picnics, Patios, Grilling and More is a one-of-a-kind guide for preparing delicious food that perfectly complements these warm summer days. Collected from the Chicago Tribune’s extensive database of kitchen-tested recipes, this collection of portable appetizers, quick salads, grilled entrées, creative sides, and refreshing cocktails are ideal for anywhere the summer season takes you. Featuring more than one-hundred recipes, full-color photography, and easy-to-follow directions, Summer Cooking is sure to fulfill all your summer dining needs. This book gives readers plenty of recipes that don’t need the oven, can be made outdoors or inside, and use fresh seasonal ingredients. The Chicago Tribune is one of the few newspapers that still operates its own test kitchen, and all of these recipes have been carefully curated by their award-winning staff of food writers and editors. If readers use one cookbook for this summer, it should be this well-tested collection of eclectic recipes from a trusted group of experts.