Welcome to Pilot Light’s Feeding Minds blog! Here, we get to tell the story of Food Education through in-depth stories from our classrooms, partnership spotlights, new program announcements, and opinion pieces from guest authors and the Pilot Light team. Join us in exploring the power of food to connect, excite, and empower us to build a better future together. 

August 14, 2020

By PilotLight

Pilot Light on The Todd & Stephanie Schnick Foundation Podcast

We caught up with Todd Schnick at the Todd & Stephanie Schnick Foundation Podcast last month to talk about how our #PLFamilyMeal lessons and videos are designed to support educators, families, and youth during this time of distance learning through the act of sharing food.  We also talked about what a food integrated lesson looks

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July 2, 2020

By PilotLight

Quick Pickles Recipe for a Crowd

Looking for a science lesson on fermentation and a recipe to feed your crowd? Try this recipe for quick pickles from our chefs! Discover how immersing them in vinegar not only allows them to keep in your refrigerator but also changes their flavor, texture, and smell! Quick Pickles   Makes 4 cups 3 medium cucumbers, thinly

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May 27, 2020

By PilotLight

Pilot Light Partners with CZI and The Primary School

With the support of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Pilot Light has had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with The Primary School to learn from one another and explore potential ways to share our food education model with their students and families. The Primary School, which was co-founded by Priscilla Chan and Meredith Liu and opened

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May 25, 2020

By PilotLight

Memorial Day Pasta Salad Recipe

Looking for a delicious, easy to make recipe this Memorial Day? Try our quick and easy Pasta Salad! Pasta Salad  Makes 5 cups 1 lb. dry pasta (preferably rotini, but anything works!)  ½ c canola or vegetable oil 4 TB lemon juice (juice of ~ 1 lemon) 4 TB red wine vinegar ½ tsp. mustard

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April 22, 2020

By PilotLight

Pilot Light on WGN Radio

Listen as our co-founder, Matthias Merges, and Executive Director, Alex DeSorbo-Quinn, join Ji Suk Yi’s radio program to discuss Pilot Light and Family Meal.  The show originally aired on Thursday, April 16th. In addition to explaining the history and mission of Pilot Light, Matthias and Alex introduced Family Meal, our new distance learning program designed

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February 7, 2020

By PilotLight

Ray Elementary Students Garner Support for Chicago’s Styrofoam and Single-use Plastic Ban

Ray Elementary students have joined forces with Alderman. Scott Waguespack and Alderman Susan Sadlowski Garza to help drive support for the prohibition on single use plastic and Styrofoam containers in Chicago.Students attended the press conference held by the Illinois Environmental Council on January 15  to introduce the ordinance to the Committee on Finance. Friends of

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December 20, 2019

By PilotLight

Welcome to The Jungle: Publican Quality Meat’s Rob Levitt Delights Students with a Live Butcher Lesson

     Students at Dewey Elementary School, which is on the border of the neighborhoods of New City, Englewood, and Back of the Yards in Chicago, were in for quite a spectacle this past week, as Rob Levitt, head butcher for Publican Quality Meats prepared a special demonstration for the classroom – the butchering of

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November 25, 2019

By PilotLight

Harris Policy Labs and Pilot Light: Building a Coalition of Support for Food Education

In 2018,Pilot Light released the nation’s first-ever Food Education Standards, a set of recommendations for food education for K-12 students. The Food Education Standards were developed in collaboration with Pilot Light co-founders and notable Chicago chefs Paul Kahan, Matthias Merges and Jason Hammel, as well as nutrition and education experts and faculty from the University

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September 3, 2019

By pilotlight@dmin

Pilot Light Partners with the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation to Bring Food Education to Summer Camp

What do professional hockey leagues and Pilot Light have in common? We all have to eat, right! Pilot Light was excited to provide produce-focused lessons this summer. More than 800 kids from across Chicago participated in Healthy Hawks camp run by the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation in collaboration with Pilot Light. Students created snacks using an

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July 25, 2019

By PilotLight

Student Activism in Action: Former Governor Pat Quinn joins Ray Elementary School to Support Student Polystyrene Ban Petition

Last month students from Ray Elementary School, along with former Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn, made history when they took a trip to the Chicago City Hall to present their ordinance to ban polystyrene use in Chicago restaurants. As part of their Pilot Light Food Advocacy Project, 6th grade science teacher Vicki Drewa and her students

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