We Build This Table Together: Reflections on Reclaiming Food, Land & Power at the 21st Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit

We Build This Table Together: Reflections on Reclaiming Food, Land & Power at the 21st Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit

The 21st Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit brought our community together.It was more than a conference. This was about feeling the deep connection of place, it centered a deep connection to place

This year’s summit theme, We Build This Table Together: Reclaiming Food, Land, & Power, reiterated a truth that we know by lived experience.. We don’t need a seat at the table because through collective action we can build the table together.We've sustained our communities through food, farming, and the wisdom that continues to mold the future of Chicago's food system.

Four tracks focused on the importance of reclaiming our roots, nourishing resistance, redistributing power through policy, and recognizing migration as survival, legacy, and an Indigenous practice. These weren't just discussions, they were opportunities to reflect on how to push food justice forward.

Reclaim the Roots: Land, Legacy & Cultural Foodways

There is another power that comes up when reconnecting to the land, not as a resource but as a relational way.

This track focused on land stewardship, cultural foodways, and ancestral knowledge of Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. It challenged us to move beyond just accessibility to ownership, relationship, and accountability.

One of the workshops, Mino-bimaadiziwin: Reflections of an Urban Anishinaabe took participants on a personal journey of reconnecting to food as a ceremonial practice and means of wellness. Rather than positioning the narrative in a distant past, the session highlighted the possibilities and importance of taking small, deliberate steps toward a sustainable connection to our food systems through our cultures.

It brought us to a collective awareness that reclamation of our land and legacy is imperative for a more just food system. This process takes time, trust, and community-led approaches.

Nourishing Resistance: Community Power in Action

Had you entered this track, you would feel the energy.

This track focused on community-driven food systems, mutual aid, cooperation, youth work, and other efforts that have long kept communities in Chicago thriving. Not at some point down the road. Today.

In A Community Dialogue on Accessing Food System Funding, participants had an honest dialogue concerning what navigating funding landscapes looks like. The organizers, farmers, and other food system leaders talked openly about what has worked so far and what hasn’t, and what more is needed for future efforts.

The general thought was that although there is money, the access doesn’t always match the reality on the ground. However, the most remarkable part of this discussion was the readiness to share information, forge connections, and support each other.

This was a great illustration of how empowering a community requires making sure the support matches the efforts.

Feeding the Fight: Policy, Power & Collective Action

Policy becomes more tangible once one sees its manifestation in the real world.

This track provided an opportunity to examine the ways in which policies are being rolled out from a local level, through counties and states, and connections between these efforts and community-level work.

One session discussed the application of the Good Food Purchasing Program in Cook County institutional sites within the context of Advancing Good Food in Carceral Institutions Through Scratch Cooking. It became clear that the implementation of the policy was just one of the pieces. This collaborative effort involves multiple agencies, partners, and other experts.

What became clear is that progress doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It requires coordination, alignment, and a concerted effort to do things in a different way than they have been getting done.

Examples like these illustrate the possibilities that emerge once certain shifts have been made within a system.

Across Borders & Generations: Migration, Labor & Survival

There were other weighty conversations too, given the country's current handling of our immigrant neighbors.

This track consisted of a number of conversations centered on migration, both as an Indigenous practice and as something influenced by people's own struggle for survival and empowerment.

In the session Lessons of Urban Farming in Times of Crisis, the audience learned how organizers at La Villita Farm adapted to increasing threats caused by immigration enforcement policies. Their struggle was not just about growing healthy food, it was about ensuring community safety and well-being.

Finding ways to balance access to food and community safety was not easy, but these organizers managed to do it through perseverance and trust in their community.

From all of this, we learn that food justice is not an isolated issue.

The Community That Made This Possible

This Summit would not have been possible without the existence of a strong support network of individuals and organizations committed to moving food justice forward. We had a total of 54 vendors who attended physically and 60 vendors that attended virtually, both playing an important part in making the summit what it was, and providing resources on-site. 

This Summit would also not have been possible without the efforts and collaborative spirit of our community partners, which helped to advance the cause many thanks to Chi-Nations Youth Council, First Nations Garden, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago Grows Food, 

University of Illinois Extension, Gary Comer Youth Center, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Grow Greater Englewood, Cook County Department of Public Health, and the Chicago Department of Public Health. As well as the Summit Planning Team, which held everything together with such dedication and vision many thanks to Madison Evans, Daniella Mazzio, and Sydney Coyle. 

The work involved here requires an investment in the community and beyond. We are deeply appreciative of our  financial sponsors, as well as our in-kind sponsors, who are committed to food justice and sovereignty.