Suggestions for Food Forum activities

1) Field trips to local producers and suppliers. We could get lessons on how to select, store and prepare their products. Good choices might be The West Side Market, North Union Farmer's Market, Coit Ave Market, or various local farms. After the lesson we could eat the visual aids.

2) Comparison tastings. Good choices might include hot chocolate, bacon, hot dogs, potato chips. Ketchup? Mustard? These could be mail ordered and tested in one location. Or we could caravan to local restaurants and taste test hamburgers, pizza, etc...

Resources for these events could include: Rosengarten Report,
Chowhound's Massive Potato Chip Rundown .

Good mailorder sources: The Grateful Palate
Zingerman's.

In some cases where it would be difficult to sample all of the candidates a sytem may be necessary to insure even distribution. Testers could predict how many samples they expect to taste and choose samples that they're specifically interested in trying. Remaining room for samples could be filled in randomly.

3) A continuation, or intensification, of the various restaurant events: C&Y, Lola's, etc... Any chef in the city would be happy to have a party of 30+ each willing to pay for a special, and specially priced, tasting menu. In addition to Chef Symon, it seems that Chef Brandt and Chef Bennett have an existing relationship with the forum. These would be natural choices but certainly not the only ones. There are plenty of restaurants outside of the continental/contemporary category. I hear magical tales of extravagant feasts at Bo Loong and Siam Cafe for wedding receptions. If they're really hung up on the marriage thing I am fully prepared to wear a veil and marry a pork bun. I'd be keen to try this at a sushi restaurant. For a large party of adventurous eaters the chef would be happy to reach beyond the range of traditional midwest sushi offerings.