Farm Dinners

See What Really Happens On a Farm Dinner in Ottawa, Illinois

Farm dinner at LaPryor Farm, Ottawa, Ill.
Farm dinner at LaPryor Farm, Ottawa, Ill. Photo: courtesy Anthony Todd/Chicagoist.

You see things about farm dinners, and they sound appealing, but then you wonder, do I really want to spend a whole day with strangers doing this? Am I going to wind up being forced labor for my dinner at some farm, or worse yet, have to listen to locavores going on and on? Anthony Todd at Chicagoist answers all of these questions and more. He went on last weekend’s farm dinner organized by City Provisions’ Cleetus Friedman at La Pryor farms in Ottawa, Illinois, and comes back with a full report plus a couple of dozen pictures. Todd comes back with a better appreciation for how someone like Friedman is reconnecting the bonds that the industrial food system has cut:

“When people order a ham sandwich at the shop,” explained Friedman, “and give us nasty reviews on Yelp saying I can’t believe a sandwich cost $11, I want to introduce them to Mark and Kristin [the farmers]. I want to explain how we butchered the pig, made the mayo from scratch, bought the tomatoes from local farmers. When we run out of ham, we don’t call a Sysco truck to bring more.”

Check the whole story out, from beer on the bus to live music by the campfire at the end, here. The Local Beet includes many upcoming farm dinners on their calendar here.

See What Really Happens On a Farm Dinner in Ottawa, Illinois