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Healthy living focus of 'Food Day' at Advocate Sherman Hospital

Healthy, affordable and sustainable food was the focus of the annual "Food Day" celebration Thursday at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin. The event included a farmers market with vendors made possible through a partnership with the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin's Harvest Market. It also coincided with national Food Day (officially Friday), which aims to inspire people to change their diets and eat healthy, as well as promote local, state and national entities to improve food policies.

"Being one of the health care providers in this area, it's important for us to make those options available to our patients and to our customers," said Lawerence Synett, public affairs and marketing coordinator for the hospital. Synett estimated between 50 and 100 people visited the event.

A four-string quartet featuring members of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra filled the lower lobby with soothing music while shoppers perused vendor tables of Breadsmith of St. Charles, Let's Spice It Up of Carpentersville, Windy Acres Crafts of Elgin, Trogg's Hollow Farm of Poplar Grove, Sitka Salmon Shares of Galesburg, D&A Bee Yard of Carol Stream, and Bema & Pa's Products of Hoffman Estates.

Licensed dietitians answered questions and provided healthy food recipes and samples. Representatives from Food for Greater Elgin food pantry and Shared Harvest, an Elgin food cooperative, were also in attendance, along with the University of Illinois Extension employees from the St. Charles office.

To encourage interaction with the vendors, visitors could participate in a scavenger hunt to find the missing ingredients to different recipes, getting their clues from each vendor. They were then entered in a raffle for a $50 gift card good at the hospital gift shop.

At the Sherman Café, chefs cooked items from the official Food Day cookbook and shared the recipes.

Cassie Walker of Elgin came by before her breast-feeding class with her 11-month-old daughter, Sagan. "It's nice to see this side of health care that's preventive," she said.

  Shoppers visit the vendor tables of Breadsmith, Bema and Pa's Products and the Elgin Downtown Neighborhood Association during Thursday's lunch hour at Advocate Sherman Hospital's second annual "Food Day." Healthy, affordable and sustainable food was the focus of the event. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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