Chicago Food Essay

Chicago, Illinois is known for having one of the most diverse food scenes in the United States, but where do all these foods come from?

According to Vera.org, 18% of Chicago's population consists of immigrants. This is important because if we break these immigrant groups down, we can see where all of Chicago's most recognizable dishes come from. Breaking down this immigrant population we see that there are 6 main ethnic groups in no order we have the Greeks, the Germans, the Mexicans, the Chinese, the Polish, and the Italians. All 6 of these ethnic groups have their own ethnic neighborhoods in various parts of the city. These neighborhoods include Lincon Square (German), Greek Town (Greek), Pilsen (Mexican), Chinatown (Chinese), West Town (Polish), and Little Italy (Italian).

Going more in-depth into each group of people we can see the origins of the city's classic dishes. Let us start with the Italian Beef,

Unlike the history of the Italian beef the history of how the Greeks introduced Gyro’s to Chicago is much more straightforward. In the 1840s many ship captains' food peddlers and restaurant owners settled in the west loop now known as Greek Town. The Gyro had been enjoyed by the people of Greece since the early 1900s, The Gyro is a sandwich consisting of pita bread, thinly sliced meat (typically Lamb), tomato, onions, and a yogurt-based sauce called tzatziki. The history of the Gyro in Chicago did not start till 50 years later when in 1965 George Apostolou started serving the Gyro out of his Parkview restaurant. It was an instant success 3 years after he introduced this delicious Greek sandwich, he opened a manufacturing plant to start producing these Gyro’s for wholesale. Since then, 100’s of Gyro restaurants has opened across the Chicago land area and 1000’s of Greek immigrants has moved to the Chicago land