Introduction

In 2024, in collaboration with ten local organizations, the Chicago Botanic Garden co-produced eight community programs to explore the intersections among food, nature, and culture. The series, Taste of Community, highlighted the many ways people connect with nature through their lived experiences—and used food as a throughline. ​

Programs took many forms: an evening of tacos in a community garden; a chef-driven meal in a bible church; a lunch shopped for, cooked, and served by participants; dj-accompanied artmaking and dining in a conservatory; and so much more.​

The process of building relationships with community members and co-developing programming nurtured much more than a meal ever could. The documentation here serves as a kind of "toast" to community collaboration and to the continued practice of designing relevant, public nature spaces that welcome and reflect diverse lived experiences.

Project Background

A Garden Made for You

In 2022, the Chicago Botanic Garden published a new interpretive framework—a road map for visitor experience design. The Garden received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services: Museums Empowered to produce the framework, train staff on the framework, and develop a Community Advisory Group to test the framework. The title of the grant,  A Garden Made for You, became the title of the framework and directed its intention: the Garden is working to create a garden for you, and you, and you…a garden for all.

Working with Community

The Garden founded its first-ever Community Advisory Group (CAG) to begin applying the principles of the interpretive framework—specifically the co-development of narratives representing diverse lived experiences. In attempting to shape "a garden made for you," the Garden committed to building relationships with individuals and communities that  historically had been excluded from the stories and experiences at public gardens and other cultural spaces.

Taste of Community

Garden staff and the Community Advisory Group worked together to brainstorm ideas for collaboration—to create experiences together that felt relevant to all. ​

A common thread emerged from the brainstorming: food—how we connect to nature through food, and how food can represent and express culture, identity, family history, and lived experience. With this insight and intention, Taste of Community was born—eight original, nature-based, food-inspired programs at distinct sites.​

Over a period of three months, we gathered, ate, talked, laughed, ate more, and even shed some tears.​

The written narratives, photos, and film in this site express the power of community, co-creation, and designing spaces for all.​