Connecting the Community started as a conversation amongst The Space Force about how to bring the joy and passion we have for local sourcing and intimate hospitality to more people, in a way that lets us be as wild and creative as we want. The result is an attempt at a dinner series that doesn't just bring good food from a farmer to your plate, but an experience that reveals our mutual entanglement in each other, our neighbors, and the very land on which we live. 

Each dinner will be a partnership with a local farm or producer and will consist of about five courses. And these courses will involve some talking. We will walk you through our process, the particularities of the farm, the season, and the produce, and give you some historical and cultural information on the ingredients and cooking techniques. The best part? You are encouraged to talk back. We envision these dinners as conversations - a dialogue about our place in the political economy and the incredibly joyful, beautiful, and bizarre act of eating, of turning the world into us. Of the world becoming us.

This month we are pairing up with the Slagel Family which will feature Slagel Farm meats and Emancipation Brewing beer. If you've eaten meat at The Space in the last couple of months, you've had Slagel Farm products already. We pay a pretty ridiculous delivery fee so that they deliver to Champaign, and it is worth every penny. This dinner will be an opportunity to celebrate and spend time truly appreciating the remarkable fact that some of the best quality meat in the world comes from just over an hour from our front door. Slagel Farm is family owned and operated and they are undeniably committed to quality and sustainability. Beloved by many of the top chefs in Chicago, the quality has been described as "beyond prime." 

But that's just one part of the Slagel family. While LouisJohn Slagel is running the farm, his cousin Lincoln is brewing beer over at Emancipation Brewing. We are drawn to Lincoln's approach of being uncompromising in selecting quality ingredients, and fearlessness in brewing a wide range of beer varieties: it's not often you find Kölsch aged in tequila barrels alongside prickly pear fruit beers and pre-prohibition lagers. Well, I guess more rare is that it is all done well.  

The full price is $125: a $25 deposit holds your seat (we use it to start sourcing), and the remaining $100 is due at the dinner. That covers the meal and an exclusive beer pairing. Your ticket will also help pay for one of the community meals that we give out to anyone who asks for food. 

Connecting the Community Vol. 7: Slagel Family Edition

Sun, June 28th @6pm

The Space. 1 E Main St. Champaign, IL 61820.

$125/person (INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE BEER PAIRING)