The Naturally Chicago Community Came Alive Again for Our Dia de los Muertos Celebration
Naturally Chicago’s Dia de los Muertos Celebration featured a traditional Mexican remembrance altar. Photo by Bob Benenson.
We said Naturally Chicago’s Dia de los Muertos Celebration would be a blast — and we weren’t lying.
Our tribute to Mexico’s traditional Day of the Dead, with a traditional Mexican remembrance altar as its centerpiece, was held the evening of November 1 at Uncommon Ground in the Lakeview neighborhood.
It drew a crowd that packed two rooms and the restaurant’s Greenstar Organic Brewery. And the attendees enjoyed delicious treats from our community’s innovative Good Food producers; refreshing margaritas, Greenstar beer and tepache; and each other’s company.
Photo by Bob Benenson.
Photo by Bob Benenson.
It was an opportunity for our members to show old acquaintances that they were not forgotten and to start some new beautiful friendships. Were seeds planted for new business relationships and product ideas? Time will tell, but we’d bet that there were.
Thanks so much to our friends at Uncommon Ground for being such excellent hosts to our Dia de los Muertos celebrations this year and last, and to these partners who generously provided food and beverages so no one left hungry or thirsty:
Nuts to Cheese provided this beautiful board of its plant-based cheeses. Photo by Bob Benenson.
The margarita bar. Photo by Bob Benenson.
· PRĒ Beef Sliders
· Fillo's Walking Tamales
· Wicked Kitchen plant-based Wicked Meaty pizza (with a Mexican twist!)
· Nuts for Cheese "Cheese" Board with Simple Mills Crackers
· Jenny's Tofu Mapo Tofu and Tofu Dip
· Siempre Soups
· Theo's Plant-Based Beet Jerky
· GoNanas Banana Bread
· Greenstar Brewing
· Beam Suntory Margaritas and Ritual Zero Proof Margaritas, featuring Twisted Alchemy juice mixers
· De La Carre Tepache (a fruit-flavored, low-sugar, organic soft drink from Mexico)
And a special shoutout to these members of our Board of Directors who joined in the fun and helped show the Naturally Chicago flag: Kelly Behr, Dan Caballero, Jean-Pierre Comte, Dave Donnan, Lin Jiang, Jay Lovelace, Rahul Pasarnikar, Jennifer Paulson, Karuna Rawal, Jennifer Amdur Spitz, Alison Velázquez and Milt Zimmerman.
This was the second straight year in which we presented an exciting Dia de los Muertos Celebration. Will there be a three-peat? We haven’t set the schedule that far in advance, but we would advise you to block out the evening of November 1 on your 2023 calendar.
Enjoy the slideslow.
