European chefs are trained to know the source of the food they use. They would never dare include vegetables in a salad without knowing where on the continent their greens originated. This is where American chefs traditionally lag behind, as they usually order from mega wholesalers with little connection to place and palette.

Here in Chicago the food we eat too often comes from the west coast or south of the border, and the chef preparing it, or the consumer buying it, has little idea how the food was harvested and ended up on Midwestern shelves.

Enter Growing Power, a leader in urban agriculture based in Milwaukee but now active in Chicago too. The organization was founded by a former professional basketball player named Will Allen who grew up poor on a rural Maryland farm and then jumped at the chance to sink his hands back into the soil after leaving his sneakers on the court and working in the corporate world for a decade. Growing Power is a leader in taking vacant city land and turning it into areas where people can grow food and, equally as important, keep the garden in the local community. Allen’s daughter Erika runs Growing Power’s activities in Chicago, and here in the Windy City, the organization has its hands in plenty of innovative activities.

Last year Growing Power hauled in 100,000 pounds of compost from its base in Milwaukee to build a garden at the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park where the city traditionally plants flowers. Will Allen added red worms and employed his “livable biological brewing system, in which the worms break down the food waste to make the soil fertile — so rich in nutrients that he could plant more crops in a relatively small space.

Worms don’t make your mouth water? For those who want to sample the results of Growing Power’s work with the community, pay a visit to the local Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts, which is working with Growing Power in an effort to help students understand where their food comes from. Kendall even has a restaurant within the college, so diners can enjoy tasty salads filled with greens grown right here in town. Its healthy, and it’s home grown. Eat up!

Call Growing Power at (773) 347-1374 or visit online at www.growingpower.org.

Photo by Jenna Dickinson and Tim Inklebarger, "The Skillet Lickers."