Feeding Minds: Food Education Blog

April 27, 2016

By PilotLight

Teaching Healthy Lessons That Lead to Life Lessons

When Pilot Light partners chefs with teachers to teach through food, we transform the learning environment of the classroom into one that promotes healthy lifelong decision-making for students. In this video, our Executive Director Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn, Chef and Co-Founder Paul Kahan (The Publican, Blackbird, Avec, Big Star, PQM), and 3rd Grade Disney II Magnet teacher

April 20, 2016

By PilotLight

Round Trip: A Recap on Passport to Pilot Light

We can’t believe it’s already been a few days since Passport to Pilot Light. At our first neighborhood crawl, we were excited about a lively turnout and to see people enjoyed themselves when trying some of our favorite locales in Logan Square. The sunny weather helped tie together a successful day — we even ran

April 14, 2016

By PilotLight

Pick Up Your Passport to Pilot Light!

It’s not every weekend when you can connect crafty cocktails to charitable causes. But after ten bars and restaurants have partnered with us to create the Passport to Pilot Light neighborhood crawl, you can order sparkling wine or pork belly steamed buns while supporting our cause. 100% of the proceeds from the featured Passport to

April 8, 2016

By PilotLight

Qatar Airways Sponsors Pilot Light “Feed Your Mind” Event

Qatar Airways sponsors our third-annual “Feed Your Mind” 2015 Gala and Benefit. The Qatar Airways Vice President of the Americas, Gunter Saurwein, said Pilot Light “has championed a vital component of education.”   Learn more here!

By PilotLight

Kefir Panna Cotta

Recipe by Floriole’s Sandra Holl and Her Daughter Stella Try this easy-to-make treat this weekend! We included a fun video by Whimsy City Productions to show how cooking can also be a fun, interactive activity. Yield = 8-10 servings INGREDIENTS: 2 envelopes of Powdered Gelatin 1/2 cup cold Water 2 cups half and half 3/4

March 31, 2016

By PilotLight

Samples: A Recap of the Good Food Festival

At last week’s Good Food Festival, our chefs Paul Kahan, Josh Kulp and Christine Cikowski demoed their family-friendly recipes. We’ll be sharing these with you soon. The seats filled as did our stomachs throughout the afternoon. A few highlights included an apple hazelnut honey fettuna by Kahan and a blueberry dump cake by Cikowski and

March 24, 2016

By PilotLight

The Good Food Festival Brings, Well, Good Food to Chicago

The nonprofit FamilyFarmed launched the first sustainable local food trade show, The Good Food Festival, in the country 12 years ago. And they’ve since kept up the record of running the longest show of its kind. Pilot Light is excited to participate in the festival for its second year.  The Festival will be hosted at

March 18, 2016

By PilotLight

FamilyFarmed’s Blog Post on Chef Paul Kahan and Pilot Light

The Chicago nonprofit FamilyFarmed wrote about Paul Kahan’s accomplishments in anticipation of the nonprofit’s Good Food Festival. FamilyFarmed is honoring Kahan by giving him the “FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Chef of the Year” award.   Learn more here!

March 14, 2016

By PilotLight

Pilot Light: Reintroducing the Language of Food

For this week’s blog post, we want to share some insight on Pilot Light’s mission and what we aim to accomplish in our partner schools throughout Chicago. Check out this video by Whimsy City Productions and Spring Creative below to hear from our founding chefs Matthias Merges (Yusho, Billy Sunday, A10 Hyde Park) and Jason

March 13, 2016

By PilotLight

Lifeway Joins Pilot Light to Feed Minds and Fuel Appetites!

The Pilot Light Chefs were back in the classroom earlier this week, bringing their unique nutrition education program and approach to Chicago-area elementary school students at Disney Magnet II. As proud and enthusiastic sponsor of Pilot Light, members of the Lifeway team were on hand to help with chef-led lessons, serve a tasty and nutritious