Nothing But Sunshine at Our Green City Market Walk

The natural products CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry is the primary focus of Naturally Chicago’s work. But it all begins with farmers.

To pay tribute to them, we produced a tour of Chicago’s Green City Market, a trailblazer in the region’s farmers market community since 1999, which took place on the beautiful, sunny morning of August 13.

The tour, a collaboration with the market and the Local Food Forum publication, featured (from left in the above photo) Jim Slama, Naturally Chicago’s managing director; Chef Sebastian White; Bob Benenson, our communications consultant and publisher of Local Food Forum; Chef Jason Hammel; and Letisha “Tish” Steele, Green City Market’s executive director.

Steele has made an instant impact since starting her Green City role in June.

In introductory remarks, she explained how her belief in healthy food for all were shaped by her upbringing in an impoverished coal mining region of West Virginia and her past career as a chef in Denver.

She became a full-time advocate as head of the Denver Food Rescue non-profit, and she related how her interest in moving to Chicago to lead Green City Market was in part inspired by the non-profit's dedication to increasing access to healthy, locally produced food for those facing food insecurity.

Slama noted that he was an early Green City Market Board member. After his marketing company Sustain ran a successful "Keep Organic Organic" campaign to block proposed rules that would have allowed harmful practices under the USDA organic certification process, Slama started and headed the FamilyFarmed non-profit. Naturally Chicago was part of that organization from its founding in 2019 until 2021, when he took it independent.

Benenson shared about share his lifelong passion for food, how it led him to transition from a 30-year career as a political journalist to a second career in Good Food advocacy, and how Green City Market is practically a second home for him in Chicago.

The tour was also graced by the presence of two chefs known for their amazing culinary skills and their contributions to the reputation for generosity enjoyed by our chef community.

Hammel opened his now-legendary Lula Cafe in 1999 in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, just a few months after Green City Market launched, and he has bought ingredients for his highly seasonal menus from its vendor ever since.

The winner of the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Hospitality in 2024, Hammel also joined with fellow chefs — including Paul Kahan of One Off Hospitality Group and Matthias Merges of Folkart Restaurant Management — in 2010 to start Pilot Light: The non-profit works with schools in Chicago and across the nation to help teachers integrate learnings about food into their curriculums.

White, a self-taught culinary artist, has also become well-acquainted with Green City Market through his work as founder of The Evolved Network. A clinical psychologist who formerly counseled at-risk youths to divert them from gangs, White works with Chicago schools to provide food education, cooking lessons and life skills for underprivileged students.

Our market walk ensued with the first stop at the stand of Nichols Farm and Orchard, the largest diversified produce farm in the Chicago region. Steve Freeman (right in the above photo) has worked for Nichols over the past 21 years and has earned the nickname of "Steve the Market Guy."

Steve related how the farm in Marengo, Illinois, started in 1979, is now employing its third generation of family members. This prompted a discussion about how important multi-generational farms are in keeping precious farmland in cultivation and out of commercial development.

Two of our other formal stops — at the stands of Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan) and Mick Klug Farms (St. Joseph, Michigan) — also paid tribute to multi-generational farms.

With the engaging presentations, fortunate weather, and the opportunity to shop for delicious, healthy, sustainably produced food, we're calling the market visit a big success. Thanks so much to the participants and all the attendees for helping make that happen.