Food

There are dozens of bubble tea bars in the Chicago area, but Gathers Tea Bar stands out for its high-quality ingredients and handcrafted drinks, many of which are brewed with precise specification to order. 

The 2024 farmers market season is now under way, with more than two dozen neighborhood markets across Chicago offering fresh produce and a variety of other goods. Explore our list and a map to find one near you.

“Everyone should have access to locally grown, sustainably produced food,” says the executive director of Green City Market, which has changed Chicago's food scene since its inception 25 years ago.

“I didn’t get into cooking because I wanted to cook,” says the chef and owner behind a new Taiwanese restaurant. “I got into cooking because I wanted to introduce Taiwanese food.”

The sun is shining in Chicago again, and another bustling summer full of food festivals has arrived. 

In a digital exclusive video from his latest special, Chicago Mysteries, Geoffrey Baer took a very tentative sip of Malört, the infamous Swedish wormwood liqueur that Chicagoans love to hate. We asked our readers how they would describe the bitter beverage.

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana in Illinois in 2020 brought broader cultural acceptance, stricter guardrails, and $1.6 billion in sales in 2023 alone, the bar has gotten higher on cannabis-infused food and drinks, from cake mix to drinks to gummies to hot sauce.

Try a recipe for a passion fruit-flavored take on lemon tart from the grande dame of British cookery. It's perfect for a sunny spring gathering. 

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims who are able fast during daylight, then break a fast at sundown with iftar, a meal that is often used to feed those in need as well. 

The new series America the Bountiful goes beyond food scenes in cities to explore the culinary traditions of America's heartland via individual ingredients linked to specific places, like wild rice in Minnesota.

Del Sur Bakery, which has recently been in residence at Side Practice Coffee, will offer creations such as longanisa croissants and calamansi hojicha buns in its own brick and mortar space next to the Damen Brown Line stop. 

The 2024 nominees for the James Beard Awards, the American food industry's biggest honors, have been announced. Four Chicago restaurants and chefs are among them.

Kevin Hickey opened The Duck Inn on the residential street in Bridgeport where he grew up, and has since contributed to revitalizing the neighborhood, including through his involvement in the resurrection of the historic Ramova Theatre.

The Ikaria Way: 100 Delicious Plant-Based Recipes Inspired by My Homeland, the Greek Island of Longevity by Diane Kochilas harnesses the lessons of one of the world's long-lived "blue zones" for recipes like a chickpea stew with roasted vegetables.

Independent Lens' Greener Pastures follows four Midwestern farmers as they face challenges outside their control that are inherent to their profession.  "There’s so much of a stigma out there that you can’t have a bad day," says one.