LINCOLN PARK — Farm-to-table cooking was on display Wednesday morning at the Green City Market for Chicago Ideas Week.
The seasonal and local cooking lab was led by Erick Williams, executive chef at Chicago’s MK Restaurant, who explained cooking techniques and the fundamental ideas behind cooking with and eating locally grown produce.
Williams said the idea of Wednesday morning’s lab was to show people how to return to the basics of cooking: heading to a local market, buying the freshest in-season ingredients, and building a meal from those ingredients.
The city asked MK Restaurant to host the Ideas Week lab. About 15 people learned the benefits of using market produce. Later the group was brought to MK’s kitchen for a cooking demonstration.
“We thought it was a cool thing to be a part of,” Williams said.
Dan McDonnell, an educational consultant who is working with the Chicago Public Schools Office of Turnaround, took the morning off work to attend the event at the farmers market at the south end of Lincoln Park.
“I like food, I like to cook, I like new things,” he said.
McDonnell attended an Idea’s Week talk Monday night that featured Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other mayors and was so impressed he sought out a second Idea’s Week event.
“It’s about people getting together,” he said.
Chicago Ideas Week features more than 80 sessions across the city with speakers from around the world aiming to share big ideas and “make big things happen.” Events continue through Sunday night.
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