Savoring Chicago: Food festival is a window into the city's diverse palate

CHICAGO — Utah's got lots of food-heavy festivities.

Salt Lake City's beloved Greek Festival, the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple's Japanese Obon Festival and Snowbird's Oktoberfest come quickly to mind, as do the food-rich Living Traditions festival, the Utah Arts Festival, the downtown Farmers Market and numerous local fairs and parties that showcase our state's love of green Jell-O, Dutch ovens, home baking and the like.

And every one of them owes homage to the granddaddy of all food fests, Taste of Chicago. This annual bash of good eats, relaxation and entertainment captures everything great about this most quintessentially American of cities.

Visiting Chicago is like going to your hometown, only about 1,000 times bigger. It's cleaner than most big cities (if not cheaper), has a wonderfully walkable downtown and a no-nonsense, sensibly Midwestern approach to food. Though the city has its share of world-class gourmet eateries, it's most famous for perfecting the kinds of food regular folks eat.

Nearly everything the typical tourist would want to see or do in Chicago (besides catching a Cubs game) is corralled in a cheerfully crowded downtown that borders Lake Michigan and also is home to Taste of Chicago.

First held in a three-block section of Michigan Avenue's Magnificent Mile, Taste of Chicago started in 1980 as a one-day event held on the Fourth of July.

But after enthusiastic response, organizers moved the next year's event to the more spacious environs of Grant Park, with its spectacular views of the city, Lake Michigan, the museum district and the park's own Buckingham Fountain, one of the largest water features in the world.

Since then, Taste, as the locals call it, has grown to 10 days with more than 70 food vendors; a "gourmet" tent; cooking demonstrations; classes on everything from gardening to home decor and fitness; free movies; celebrity appearances; a July 3 fireworks display rightly counted among the nation's best; and so much more that it's amazing they fit it all into just 10 days.

Talk about your Midwestern efficiency.

But at its heart, Taste of Chicago remains centered on food — the kind of hearty, blue-collar food Chicago has made famous — with, of course, a few upscale flourishes.

Now's the time to plan a visit to the 2008 Taste of Chicago, which is scheduled to run June 27 to July 6 (see www.tasteofchicago.us). Hotel rooms in Chicago's downtown are scarce as hen's teeth during the festival, so booking well in advance will pay off.