Chefs to capture nature at its best at Edible Harvest fest

Three cooks will be given 45 minutes and a surprise bounty of local produce to create one memorable dish.

Among the competitors will be Joshua Grabowsky, who runs a personal chef business called Busy People Inc. and Fran Byrne, deli manager at Sunset Foods in Libertyville.

Byrne said her plan will be to not mess with the intense flavors the produce will already provide.

"You don't need to get too fancy to make it exciting," she said. "The produce will be doing the talking."

Competing among the adults will be 16-year-old Sam Timmis to represent the Lake County High School Technology Campus culinary department.

Timmis is not nervous about his older competitors. He has been cooking with his father since he was 7. And, he knows how to work with fresh produce. His father, Fred runs a farm on Hutchins and Grand avenues in Gurnee.

"The fresher the ingredients, the better it tastes," said the Lindenhurst resident.

Find out whose cuisine will reign supreme at the Edible Harvest Festival on Sunday.

The new chef cook-off will be among educational presentations, music and children's activities planned at Prairie Crossing in Grayslake.

Promoting wellness through food and fitness, the event will begin with the 5K Run on the Prairie and kids runs starting at 9 a.m. at Prairie Crossing Charter School.

The fee is $20 to join the 5K race. Among the children's runs, the cost is $10 to join the mile run open to ages 14 and under $5 to join the 50- and 100-meter dashes and half-mile events.

The festival will continue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Prairie Crossing Farm Park.

Supported by Prairie Crossing Charter School in partnership with the University of Illinois Lake County Extension, the focus is connect people to local farmers.

"The school wants to be able to disseminate to the public there are farmers in the county raising food that we can eat directly," she said.

Individuals can buy locally grown food at concession stands including roast pig, corn on the cob, apple pie, veggie kabobs and wine.

Farmers across Lake and McHenry counties also will sell their products including vegetables and meats.

For two years, Jeff Miller has run DeaDia Organics at the Prairie Crossing farm. Miller, who will sell bagged baby salad mix, bagged arugula and fingerling potatoes, said the bigger focus is educating visitors and giving him local exposure to help him build this new venture.

"The event is more focused on education than the consumer," he said. "We spend more time talking about what we do and how we do it."

Admission is $4 per adult, $2 for ages 5 to 14, and children under 5 are free.