Taste of Chicago - What You Need to Know

Taste of Chicago - What You Need to Know

The city of Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 and the historic "Route 66" begins in Chicago at Grant Park, where the Taste of Chicago is held every year. The Chicago metropolitan area includes those who live in this city and 10 million residents in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

The first Ferris wheel made its' debut at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, and the game 16-inch softball without the use of gloves was invented in Chicago. The Art invent of Chicago has one of the largest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world, and he city's Lincoln Park Zoo is the nation's oldest collective zoo as well as one of the nation's only three major collective zoos. Chicago is also home to Montgomery Ward, the nation's first mail-order firm and to Marshall Fields, another well-known agency store.

You'll also find the preeminent Sears Tower in Chicago. The country's first blood bank was started in Chicago in 1937 by Dr. Bernard Fantus and African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks grew up in Chicago. Oprah Winfrey's talk show was based in Chicago for 25 years until the show ended this year, and her fame also contributed to the popularity of Chicago as a tourist destination.

But did you know that Chicago is home to a vibrant food and dining culture? Chicago's cuisine reflects varied influences such as Italian, Polish, Jewish, Latin American, Asian and African American. One of the most well-known dishes in Chicago is the deep dish pizza, which was first prepared in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno and is also very favorite at Lou Malnati's.

This pizza is two inches deep and regularly served with pepperoni and other toppings, sauce and cheese. Other well-known pizzerias that sell deep dish pizzas comprise Giordano's, Gino's East and Leona's. Chicago is also known for their hot dogs, which are regularly topped with yellow mustard, relish, onions, pickle, tomatoes and celery salt on a wiener inside of the bun. Hot Doug's and Superdawg's are two favorite places to get hot dogs.

You can savor all of these and other foods from Chicago and nearby the world at the Taste of Chicago, which is the world's largest food festival. It starts on the Friday before July 4th and ends on the Sunday after July 4th. During this year's Taste of Chicago Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis did cooking demonstrations at the event, and for the minuscule ones there was Target's turtle sandbox for them to look at and a Midnight Circus in which the Kids could Watch gravity-defying acrobatics and funny performances from clowns and other absorbing characters.

As for music at this year's festival, Celtic musician Natalie McNaster, Natalie Cole, Loretta Lynn and Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks. The Taste of Chicago is regularly an all-day event that starts from nearby 11 a.m. And ends right before 7 p.m.