Chicago Green Festival 2009

The Emerald city of organic food and vegan dream boys

By Kirsten Kilponen & Alysse Dalessandro
Published: May 26th, 2009 | 1:30pm

The Green Festival calls itself the “two day party with a purpose,” and with festivals in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., and this year’s newest addition, Denver, the whole country can party it up green-style. Who says eco-conscious people can’t get down? The two-day event, hosted at Navy Pier, packed in speakers and boasts an extensive showroom with everything from eco-clothing and art to green investing and renewable energy.

The fest’s mission was to “build the green economy by connecting green businesses with green consumers,” says the Green Business Executive Assistant for Green America, Mischa Deborah Clive. So with that in mind, the first thing we did at Green Fest was run straight to the food. We were two non-meat eaters in vegan heaven, and all it took was the slightest stomach rumble for us to feverishly launch ourselves at the flax crackers and organic veggie burger samples. There was fair-trade, dairy-free, and gluten-free food galore.

Despite the fact that we were on the verge of puking from gobbling every free sample in sight, we just couldn’t resist a plate of vegan macaroni, greens, cornbread, and “ribs” from the ultimate, 100% vegan comfort food restaurant, Soul Vegetarian. And what better way to top off soul food than with vegan ice cream from the Temptation booth? We drooled over the creamy, waffle-coned concoctions at the booth and the skinny, bearded, vegan boys surrounding it.

We decided to give the food a rest, and give the rest of the showroom floor a chance. The “reduce, reuse, recycle” tenants of eco-life were in full effect at the Green Festival. Perhaps one of the most innovative reuses was Mr. Ellie Pooh’s paper products made from elephant poo. It sounds gross, but the elephant’s all vegetarian diet basically creates raw cellulose, which is then cleaned and processed until it becomes paper. Products include stationary, journals, and even business cards.

The beloved Working Bikes Cooperative also had a booth at the fest. You can donate a bike that’s past its prime to the organization, and they’ll happily fix it up and donate it to bike projects in poorer countries like Guatemala, Peru, Ghana, Cuba, and Kenya, where bicycles are used for more than a joy ride or exercise. Recipients from disenfranchised countries utilize these bikes not only for transportation, but also for farming and even as emergency vehicles.

While we were digesting, we decided to check out a few of the speakers. In the session “Superfoods for Superior Raw Foodism,” Viktoras Kulvinskas somehow managed to work his life story into his talk on eating raw. Throughout the 70-year old health guru’s talk, we learned that he had put his grandmother into not one, but two comas with his own trial and error holistic medicine. He also called himself a “retard” because he didn’t speak until 17, but don’t worry, he became “an advanced individual.” Last but not least, we learned that eating blue-green algae might make you live forever.

In conclusion, we were saddened to see Chicago Green Fest 2009 come to an end. As we exited the fest, elephant poo cards and three bags of organic rice from the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan in hand, we faced the harsh reality of the non-green world around us. There was dairy ice cream to the right of us, sweatshop souvenirs to the left of us, and navy recruiters scattered about. But thanks to the wisdom of Viktoras Kulvinskas, some new knowledge on local farming, and a couple of coupons for any flavor of Sunshine burgers, we are more ready than ever to keep the fest’s mission alive.