Eat the World.
Feed the World.

The first time we walked through the old Chicago Tribune printing plant space, which is a massive empty building right on the Chicago River, we said, “What are we going to do with all of this space?” With over 100,000 square feet, how could we create something at this scale? While one long room — dubbed the “Cathedral” — would be set aside for the main stage, we ultimately decided that the largest room would become a massive global food festival, which was loosely inspired by Slow Food Nation, an event I had attended in 2008, and other street festivals. It was designed to immerse attendees in the theme of the 2019 event: “Eat the World. Feed the World,” focusing on experiencing other cultures through food while also understanding and solving for issues like hunger and sustainability.

When all was said and done there were over 30 different stations featuring over 100 different challenges and well over 1,000 different types of food from around the world to try in the Global Culinary Theater. There was a Global Spice Market where you could create your own spice blends. An Icy Igloo with options like taiyaki, bingsoo, kulfi, and paletas. There were three different tea tents where you could experience a Japanese or Chinese tea ceremony or make your own tea blend. You could snack on chips and beers from around the world and play games in the Backyard Hangout, cut open unique global tropical fruits in the Tropical Fruit Jungle, and eat some algae chocolate in the Sustainable Farm of the Future.

At the Eat Africa station you could meet Chef Pierre Thiam and try options like fonio and baobab juice; at the Global Bakery you could try items from Mexico, the Middle East, and a Korean-French bakery; and the Backyard BBQ showed off butchers’ cuts from around the world. At Refreshment Row you could try the infamous kopi luwak “civet poop” coffee, Vietnamese egg coffee, and rich Kurdish coffee made from terabinth fruits. Need something harder? Head to the Spirits of the 7 Continents and try liquors from every continent, from poitin to badenhorst to Iceland’s “black death” liqueur. There was a Stinky Cheese Challenge where you could try progressively stinkier cheeses, a Hot Pepper Challenge that had guests sweating, and the No Limits Lounge challenged guests to try options like malort, surstromming, and balut and think about the concept of disgust across cultures (in some other cultures root beer and Doritos are considered disgusting).

One side of the space was completely draped off to become the Global Night Market, where chefs from across Chicago made options like hand-pulled noodles, Indian appam, and jianbing. Or you could try unique wines from around the world, including orange and blue wine; gauge your cider palate and experience an absinthe ceremony; or try unique global cocktails like Spain’s panther milk cocktail. In the center of it all was the Come Together Table, a massive table that stretched from end to end where meals were served and the world record for the World’s Largest Charcuterie Board was broken. It was an event for the ages. As one attendee said:

“Foodscape 3 was a game changer. Datassential you guys killed it! Content, concept, food came to life via the culinary theater…all of it, just completely game changing to this industry. I feel lucky to have been there.”

Photos & Videos by Mike Cotton & Sara VanderBaan