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Julia puts on an earth-friendly pound (or ten) at the FamilyFarmed.org EXPO2007.

Tuesday Mar 27, 2007.     By Julia Steinberger

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My boss affectionately termed me a "sustainability freak" last Friday. My co-workers regularly roll their eyes at my weird homemade lunches and insistence on rinsing and re-using my plastic water cup. And let's not go into how many times I've heard, "Uh, why don't you just pick the restaurant, since I have no idea what you eat anymore." There was a time when most of my friends were more-granola-than-thou, but things have changed quite a bit since my days in the co-op. Lately, being the resident evangelist in most of my social circles leaves me feeling less eco-chic than eco-dork.

So it was refreshing to show up at the Cultural Center last Friday, when day one of Sustain USA's FamilyFarmed.org EXPO culminated in a wine-and-cheese soiree for sustainable foodies. It turns out we're quite a mob, and we do enjoy a good party. Chicago chefs worked one-on-one with local farmers to turn fresh-from-the-farm ingredients into signature bite-size delights. While munching, guests sipped microbrew beers, organic wines and cocktails and a vanilla-scented elixir from Butterfly Social Club featuring kava extract so intense it numbed our tongues.

Fellow Centerstagers Jessica and Dana and I gorged ourselves guilt-free, not because the raw-milk cheese cubes, mini veggie burgers and organic pear tarts were low-cal, but because this food chain operates with the planet's future in mind. When I saw that Michael Altenberg, driving force behind the much-anticipated Crust (to open mid-April at 2056 W. Division Street) was presenting flatbreads topped with locally-raised lamb, I shocked my partymates by putting my strict-till-now vegetarianism on hold for a few bites…and vowed that should I ever go back to buying meat, sustainable cuts are the only ones worth springing for.

I barely had time to sleep off my food coma before returning the following morning, this time with my mom, for the all-day fair and farmers market. Coincidentally, "flexitarian" was the first vocab word I learned from speaker Laura Bruzas of Healthy Dining Chicago in a session called "Organic Eating on a Dime." Turns out there's a word for vegetarians who make exceptions, so I guess I've got company there as well. While we took notes on freezing produce and street smarts for grocery shoppers, other lecture rooms drew crowds to learn about agritourism and sustainable seafood. Down the hall, rock-star restauranteurs like Rick Bayless and Karyn Calabrese gave live demos to standing-room-only audiences.

We headed to the show's farmers market, where I shook hands with the family behind The Juice Garden in Indiana, who made a fan of me months ago with their otherworldly ginger cookies in my Fresh Picks order. For the second time, I plowed my way through samples of flat-out amazing fare, from artisanal cheeses to homemade raspberry kefir to Pink Lady apples and fair-trade chocolates.

After taking in a lecture from chef Greg Christian of the Organic School Project, we made the rounds of a second-floor show, where I returned to the meatless path with some vegan beef jerky from Alice & Friends' Vegetarian Cafe, fake bacon (made with eggplant!) from Cousins' Incredible Vitality and the most delicious carrot cake I have ever tasted from Maude's (whose mostly-organic goodies are sold at Newleaf Natural Grocery, Bulldog Bakery, Goddess & Grocer and Bagel Art in Evanston).

In sum: Locally produced, organic food is more plentiful in Chicago than even I knew. It seems like what was once seriously alternative can no longer be called off-the-grid, since it's drawing enough interest to have the Cultural Center brimming with people eager to spend their Saturday indoors learning what it means to hug the person responsible for their meal. I raise a glass to Sustain, to the farmers, to the attendees…and to the day when eco-dorks run the USDA.

Didn't make it to the EXPO? You'll have another chance to party with the green crowd April 20-22, when The Green Festival hits the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place. There will be more to come on that front as I prep you for this awesome eco gathering, so stay tuned.

After four greener-than-average college years as a co-op dweller-turned-aspiring-permaculturist, Julia Steinberger finds it hard not to feel guilty about her one-bedroom apartment, daily commute and indulgence in the occasional dollar burger. She'd like to dream that she could live in a tent/treehouse/rabbit hole, but the truth is, she'd rather stay in the city while doing her best to leave a lighter footprint on the earth. You can contact her here.