Across the table.

"The food was delicious, the space was perfect and conducive to easy flow of conversation...It felt very comfortable and I feel like I'm walking away with things to process and think about. Can't say enough good things. Great concept, great execution!" Regina, Old Town

Across the Table bridges gaps between our diverse communities by uniting Chicagoans for thought‐provoking conversations and delicious meals. Across the Table’s topic‐focused and facilitator‐led dinners, lunches and brunches take place in community organizations, art galleries, cooking schools, event space and restaurants throughout Chicago about three times a month and consistently attract individuals from diverse ages, ethnicities, communities, religions, and socio‐economic groups.

Locations
The location of the dinners constantly varies. Our goal is to make sure that we venture into neighborhoods throughout Chicago so check the Sign Up to Join Us for Dinner page for the details.

Food and Drinks
Almost all of the meals are vegetarian, those that aren't will be indicated, and all are served family style. Some of the places we go are BYOB so if you’d like to bring your own beer and wine, that’s great! But of course to do so you need to be 21 years of age or older. When a dinner takes place on a non-restaurant location the dinner is catered by the wonderful Fig Catering whose meals are delicious and whose owners have supported Across the Table's work.

Group Size
Dinners are limited to ten people in total, including the facilitator. We've concluded that having ten people table allows for a high energy conversation in which all of the groups are cohesive, and all the voices are heard.

Conversation Topics
Conversation topics range from, "What does it mean to be an insider and an outsider?" to "What does it mean to be free?" or "What is the good life and are we living it?"

The goal for all of the topics is to make sure that they are interesting, fun and allow for anyone to participate, regardless of their education level, knowledge of current events or the arts. When a dinner is done in partnership with other organizations or businesses, the topics relate to the mission of the partner organization.

http://www.acrossthetable.org/about.html