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Or, I Was Sebastian White's Paparazzo
Regular readers of Local Food Forum know about my admiration for Sebastian White, self-taught chef and founder of Chicago non-profit The Evolved Network. The organization he started in 2020 provides underprivileged youths with education, inspiration and opportunity through farm to table experiences.
I'm a true believer that we cannot address the problems of our under-resourced communities unless we restore jobs, hope and opportunity, and that food must play a big role in that. Sebastian's work is a shining example of this philosophy.
Sebastian is holding The Evolved Network's biggest annual fundraising event, Eat and Evolve 2024, on Monday, October 21 at eden restaurant in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood. As you'll see below, there is any amazing lineup of leading philanthropy-minded chefs that will be serving up small plates of their culinary magic at the event.
But first, a little story about another reason why you should consider supporting Sebastian White's work.
Early September is just packed with food-related fundraisers. Beginning last Thursday (September 7), I covered three such events in four days in different parts of this sprawling city.
Sebastian White contributed his cooking talents to all three of these events.
First, Sebastian was one among the 100+ chefs who served up treats at Green City Market's Chef BBQ fundraiser in Lincoln Park. In the photo above, he is plating servings of his Cold Smoked Chicken Salad with Cahokia Rice and pecan.
Chefs who participate in the event are asked to source ingredients from the farmers market's vendors. Sebastian utilized five different vendors to create his dish.
On Saturday (as seen in photos at the top and immediately above), Sebastian was one of five chefs who prepared courses for a lovely sit-down fundraising dinner to benefit Just Roots Chicago. The event was held at Just Roots half-acre urban farm in the north end of the Bronzeville neighborhood.
The organization — which also recently started farming a three-acre property in south suburban Sauk Village — donates half of what it grows to food assistance programs and sell the other half to individuals and health-focused organizations within its surrounding community.
For this event, Sebastian prepared Japanese sweet potato with miso butter, Thai herb oil, gochugaru and pea shoots, using produce from the Just Roots farm.
Finally, here's Sebastian on Sunday supervising his team at the Backyard BBQ held by Growing Home Inc. in the South Side's West Englewood neighborhood. Growing Home grows tons of organic produce each year on its small growing space, increasing access to healthy and sustainably produced food in its surrounding under-resourced community, while providing paid jobs, training and services to local residents who face employment challenges.
The preparation for this event was a crusted eggplant slice with confit SunGold tomato. As I was getting ready to leave the event, I told Sebastian that if anyone asked about the guy with the camera, he should say that I'm his personal paparazzo and I'd been following him around for four days.
You can see how hard Sebastian White works to support community good works. Now the community has an opportunity to support his work at The Evolved Network by buying tickets for his Eat and Evolve fundraising on October 21.
You can get an idea of the astounding all-star chef lineup for the event in the graphic above. At the upper left is Chef Sarah Stegner of suburban Northbrook's Prairie Grass Cafe, who learned about The Evolved Network early on and has been its leading advocate. It's hard for me to believe that it was just a little under two years ago that I met Sebastian at an event arranged by Sarah at Green City Market.
Please click the first button below to learn more about Eat and Evolve and buy tickets, and the second for more information about The Evolved Network's work.
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