On the 15th Anniversary of Our Arrival — Thank You, Chicago

My Mid-Life Plans to Become a Good Food Advocate Took Root and Blossomed

July 2011 photo by Bob Benenson

Today is the 15th anniversary of the day — June 29, 2011 — that Barb and I arrived in Chicago to start our lives over. I am taking the occasion to give my thanks to this city and its people and especially the local food community for enabling me to transition from a 30-year sojourn as a political journalist to a latter-life second career as an advocate for and writer about a better-for-people-and-the-planet food system.

The move was the 2nd best decision I've ever made. The best was marrying Barb, who grew up on a farm about 40 miles south of downtown Chicago.

These two bests are very much connected.

I was born in New York City and grew up with the common belief that it was, in fact, the center of the universe. I really had no good mental perception of Chicago when we set out on our first trip in 1982. Knowing of the city's industrial heritage, I was expecting a gritty place, maybe a bit of Rust Belt.

But as we drove up from the south, we got on Lake Shore Drive, and the vista opened up to Lake Michigan sparkling on the right, Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park and the skyline to my left.

It was love at first sight. While my career in Washington, D.C., flourished, we made so many trips to Chicago that before long I came to regard it as my second hometown.

The turning point came after the company I had loved for almost three decades was sold in 2009 and the situation turned toxic for me. My specialty as an elections analyst was super-niche, the Great Recession was on, and after multiple attempts I found no soft landing. So Barb, who had major family responsibilities, and I decided it was time for a new adventure in a familiar place.

We stumbled on this 30th floor apartment in a 40-story building in Lakeview, overlooking Belmont Harbor. We've been here ever since and have no intention to leave.

Although I'd always had an interest in photography, the breathtaking view prompted me to buy my first good digital camera. The photo above of what I call the Lake Shore View was taken on July 30, 2011, the day I brought that camera home.

I have been passionate about food my whole life, I became an avid home cook, and I like to joke that I was shopping at farmers markets and Whole Foods stores before it was cool. When I got here, I knew that 30 years of dealing with politicians was enough, that I wanted to write about people who were working at the grass roots level to help people, and that food had to be part of it.

I knew about five people in Chicago and none of them had anything to do with food. But I quickly learned — from my visits to Green City Market located near our apartment and my engagement with a non-profit called Family Farmed — how open and welcoming the Chicago food community is. My timing, not always my strongest suit, was spot on, as the farmers market and local farming communities were expanding, consumer demand for better food was growing, and farm-to-table became a common theme among many of the region's best chefs.

Over our first decade here, I came to recognize that there were so many people doing amazing things to advance the better-food cause, but to a great extent they were working in their own silos. I also realized that there was no publication dedicated to this community.

So 2021 became another pivotal year. That April, I launched Local Food Forum to provide coverage, as best I can, to all aspects of our region's local food community. That August, I also became a communications consultant to the newly independent Naturally Chicago — the association for the natural products consumer packaged goods industry — which I had helped launch in 2019 as a FamilyFarmed program.

So on our 15th anniversary as Chicagoans, I express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has helped me on my long and winding road to what amounts to my dream job. I am a very hard-working senior citizen, but I have to say that if I'd been financially fortunate enough to be "retired," I would still be just as engaged in the work I'm doing on behalf of my community.

Nonetheless...

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