Letter from the Publisher: Fall 2025

Story by Megan Marshall

Just before the pandemic, I started to feel like Chicago was shrinking. I’d officially lived here longer than anywhere else and started to feel like someone growing out of the small town they grew up in. But I knew that wasn’t even close to reality. I was nowhere close to experiencing everything this city had to offer. So, I set out on a personal project: to visit a food or beverage business in all 77 of Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Halfway through, the world shut down. After a couple of months, I ventured back out again, driving to each corner of the city for some Covid-safe take out. I finished with the last neighborhood (#77) on September 12, 2020, eating a Senegalese feast from Yassa African on the hood of my car. That project reminded me that Chicago is endlessly expansive, layered with deep stories, global cultures, and flavors—all within reach if we take the time to seek them out.

The project became a way of tracing, with more intention, the immigrant influences I knew were the heart of Chicago. We’re privileged to experience communities from all over the world in our own neighborhoods—and we carry a responsibility to honor and protect them as neighbors. Travel is a wonderful, but frequently inaccessible thing; instead, our city gives us daily opportunities to journey outward through taste.

As we approached this “travel issue,” I debated what it means to explore at this moment. Is it about regional road trips? A guide for tourists? Ultimately, we decided it’s about celebrating our profoundly global city—honoring the privilege of experiencing communities from around the world all within the city and embracing the responsibility we carry as neighbors to protect and welcome each other.

In this issue, you’ll find restaurants where global flavors meet Chicago kitchens, cookbooks that transport us into lived experiences from afar, and guides to exploring the city by train, with food as your compass.

Connection and community aren’t just nice to have; they’re essential. Pursue them with intention, and we’ll all be better, safer, and—most importantly—happier for it.