Pilot Light

We're very excited to be joining the 2024 National Science Teaching Association's National Conference on Science Education this week! Our Food Education Fellowship Director Caitlin Arens will be there sharing about the innovative work Pilot Light teachers have been doing to combine Science & Food Education in everyday classroom learning. We hope to see you there!

Find registration info here: https://www.nsta.org/national-conference-science-education-new-orleans-2024?utm_medium=social&utm_source=exhibitor_social&utm_campaign=2024nola&utm_term=reg

Did you know that November is National Bread Month? 🍞 🥐🥖

We love all things bread, especially this recent lesson from Food Education Fellow Gabby, a middle school science teacher in Chicago, IL. Gabby's students learned about cellular respiration by making bread together as a class. 🔬 The next day, students ate their loaves of bread and observed how the yeast reacted differently in each group's loaf. We can't imagine a more delicious and fun hands-on science lesson!

Looking to recreate Gabby's lesson in your own classroom or home? Check out the book Bread Lab from our friends Readers To Eaters to get started, and check out our easily adaptable bread lesson in our online Food Education Center: https://foodedu.pilotlightchefs.org/lesson_plans/bread/ (featuring a no-knead bread recipe from Greg Wade himself!)

🥂 The 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala is TONIGHT! We can’t wait to celebrate with you all very soon.

➡️ REMEMBER! Our virtual silent auction closes tonight at 9:45 PM CT - you do not have to be at the Gala to participate and win great prizes! Place your bids while you still can: https://aesbid.com/PLC24/ =1 (🔗 in the usual place).

Some restrictions apply, see Gala website for details.

Photo by: Sandy Noto

Happy Diwali! These 1st grade Pilot Light students celebrated by learning how to make a homemade mango lassi and the significance of milk in Hindu culture. How are you celebrating this week?

💐 Shout-out to our sponsor Virtue Cider for supporting this year’s Feed Your Mind Gala! You're the apple of all of our eyes 🍎🍎🍎

🍽️ Take a bite out of life and join our annual Feed Your Mind Gala silent auction! You do not have to attend the Gala in Chicago to win great prizes like tickets to see Stephen Colbert tape LIVE in NYC, distillery tours, Chicago cubs memorabilia, private cooking lessons, and more!

Bid NOW through Friday, Nov. 1 at 9:45 PM CT and support Food Education: https://aesbid.com/PLC24 =1

💐Thank you so much Chef Jose Sosa of The Greggory for joining our 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala as a Guest Chef! We are thrilled to have you join our community of Chicago chefs passionate about Food Education. See you Friday!

💚 ABOUT CHEF SOSA:
José Sosa is the executive chef partner of the Greggory Heart & Tavern (opening Early September 2024). The Greggory is a fine dining restaurant. The heart is at the center of the restaurant, and it drives the menu. Classic offerings will be executed on the wood-fired grill, oven and rotisserie imparting unique flavors and house made pastas.

Most recently he was the Executive Chef of Ummo Chicago in River North, contemporary Italian Restaurant and part of Somos Hospitality and before that he opened Gibsons Italia, a modern Italian steakhouse in Chicago’s West Loop where he dedicated 17 years to this group and got the be number 5 in the Best Steak Houses of the World.

Growing up in a small town outside of Mexico City, Sosa spent most of his days working on his grandparents’ farm. He developed a strong work ethic and connection with nature, two values that are reflected in his cooking today.

At the age of 16, Sosa moved to Chicago and began his culinary career with stints at the Rosewood Restaurant in Rosemont Il. and The Ambria. In 2008, Sosa joined Gibsons Restaurant Group and began working his way up the ranks to the role of executive chef at Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House and then LUXBAR in the Gold Coast neighborhood. At LUXBAR, Sosa revamped the menu by featuring seasonal, farm-fresh dishes. As executive chef, he worked with local farmers and secured relationships with the wineries, cheesemakers and oyster farms that produce the highest quality ingredients in the country.

When he’s not in the kitchen, Sosa can be found spending time with his wife Vivian, his sons and jogging around Lake Michigan.

💚 Food is a fantastic way to learn about the beautiful diversity of world cultures! One Pilot Light teacher, Resilda N., ended her Fellowship year with an International Food Week where her third grade class learned about -- and got to taste! -- delicious traditional foods from all over the world including Puerto Rico, Ghana, Greece, China, Japan, the Bahamas, and more!

🗺️ "Students were very skeptical to try some of the foods because of how it looked or how it smelled. It wasn't appealing to them, but they tried it and absolutely loved it. They were so surprised. [I listened] to the conversations the kids had when it came to comparing different foods to foods that they had tasted. One student said: "My mom sautés spinach at home, This tastes better with the cheese and I actually can eat the spinach." It was interested to hear how the kids were making those connections. People from different cultures use the same foods or ingredients but can cook it completely differently. It was very nice to see and hear the conversations and connections that students across all grade levels were making. They realized that everything connects back to food!." -Pilot Light 22-23 Food Education Fellow Resilda N.

Food is a powerful way to build cross-cultural connections and understanding. What's your favorite international cuisine?

✨ Want to support Food Education projects like this one? There's still time to supportour annual Feed Your Mind Gala in Chicago this Nov. 1st, or participate in our silent auction virtually through 11/01/24 at 9:45 PM CT. This annual fundraiser helps fuel our mission all year round - you don't want to miss it! Tickets, silent auction and more info at: aesbid.com/ELP/PLC24/

💐Thank you to the incredible team at Hawksmoor Chicago for supporting our mission by sponsoring the 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala and donating a portion of your proceeds from different menu items throughout the year! We also are excited to welcome Executive Chef Phillip Branch to our festivities this year as a Guest Chef. Thank you so much for welcoming us into your community with open arms this year – we are very grateful to have you in our corner!

🍽️ Hungry for more? Join us at the 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala on Nov. 1! Don’t miss your chance to experience this one-of-a-kind evening in support of Food Education. Get your tickets today while you still can: https://aesbid.com/ELP/PLC24/

💐 We are beyond excited to welcome back Chefs Genie Kwon and Tim Flores of the Michelin-starred Kasama Restaurant to our 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala!

🍴 Not only are they both back in the Feed Your Mind kitchen creating a one-night-only dish for our guests, they also generously worked with our Curricula Manager Regina Santiago on a new “Pilot Light in One Bite” educational video and lesson plan about the history of one of their favorite foods, longanisa sausage. This video will make its debut at the gala on Nov. 1 and be used in countless classrooms and kitchens all across the country!

💚 Thank you so much to you both for being a part of the Pilot Light community. We are incredibly honored to have you in our corner.

ABOUT CHEFS GENIE & TIM:
Tim Flores and Genie Kwon met while both working at GT Fish & Oyster. In 2014, Flores moved on to work as a line cook at Senza while Kwon served as the pastry chef at BOKA and netted a Jean Banchet Rising Pastry Chef of the Year award. In 2016 they helped open Oriole-a fine dining restaurant that earned 2 Michelin stars in its first year.

In 2018, Flores and Kwon left to conceptualize a space of their own. After two and a half years, they built that space in the Ukrainian Village and named it Kasama, meaning “together” in Tagalog. Kasama is a reflection of both Genie and Tim's culinary backgrounds as a bakery and restaurant that serves modern Filipino food inspired by the food Tim grew up eating. Kasama earned a Michelin star making it the only Filipino restaurant in the world to receive the accolade.

Feed Your Mind Gala Tickets: https://aesbid.com/ELP/PLC24/

The first Food Education in Action Week was a success! We loved hearing from our teachers and partners across the country about the different ways they celebrated and shared their Food Education work with their community.

🥔 One 2nd grade classroom, led by Pilot Light Fellow Jennifer Bailey, even gleaned 378 pounds of potatoes in just one hour for their local food pantry! Students loved this activity - one even said "this is better than recess!" You can't get a better 2nd grade endorsement than that!

Find the full recap on our Feeding Minds blog:

Teachers take action for Food Education in Action Week! - Pilot Light Food Education teachers took action this year by participating in the first Pilot Light Food Education in Action Week.

Tickets for the Feed Your Mind Gala hosted by are still available! Join us in Chicago this November 1st to support Food Education for all 💚 ticket link in bio!

Can’t make it to the Gala? You can still help support Pilot Light classrooms by bidding on a silent auction item (closing Friday, Nov. 1 at 8:30 PM CT) or making a donation any time at: https://tinyurl.com/PilotLightGala24

Generously sponsored by Shar and Ellen Afshar and Anupy Singla of - thank you so much for your outstanding support of our annual event!



ABOUT PILOT LIGHT:
Pilot Light is a chef-founded nonprofit that teaches thousands of students across the country about food, cooking, agriculture, nutrition, and the food system. I’m so excited to support this incredible mission at their gala this November 1st – get your tickets today at https://tinyurl.com/PilotLightGala24

Looking for lessons that align to this year's Farm to School Month theme "From Soil to Sea: Nourishing People and the Planet"?

Check out the new classroom resources aligned with Hope in the Water, the sustainable waterways docuseries produced by our friends at Fed by Blue! These lessons, available now through PBS LearningMedia, are designed for grades 6-12 and shine a light on how a sustainable food systems future can be achieved through collective effort.

Check out these 5 great lessons today at: https://www.fedbyblue.org/educational-tools

Thank you, Chicago Food Magazine for sharing the exciting news about this year's Feed Your Mind Gala Host, Antoni Porowski of Q***r Eye on Netflix! We are so excited to celebrate with our supporters this year!

Pilot Light Announces Celebrity Host for Feed Your Mind Gala on November 1 The chefs behind Pilot Light have announced Antoni Porowski as the celebrity host of the 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala. Set for Friday, November 1, 2024 at 6pm

💐 We were honored to collaborate with the amazing team behind SIX4 Creative this year as our exclusive Feed Your Mind Gala media sponsor! Their hard work, dedication, and unwavering positivity made them fantastic partners! Thank you so much for supporting our mission – we couldn’t do it without you!

🍽️ Hungry for more? Join us at the 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala on Nov. 1! Don’t miss your chance to experience this one-of-a-kind evening in support of Food Education. Get your tickets today while you still can: https://aesbid.com/ELP/PLC24/

Check out our Feed Your Mind Sponsor Indian As Apple Pie on WGN today!

🥹 There is something irreplaceably special about Pilot Light students and teachers sharing the impact our programs have on their lives in their own words. Thank you, Janelle and thank you to her teacher Mr. Albrecht for sharing this quote with us.

➡️ Last year, Janelle's 7th grade class worked together to advocate for a share table in their school cafeteria in an effort to reduce food waste. Their hard work paid off: their school administration and nutrition team agreed to have a student-run share table going forward, simultaneously reducing food waste and battling food insecurity in their school community.

💚 These stories of "small" changes remind us that food advocacy doesn't have to be big in scope to have a lasting impact in our communities. What are small changes you can make to help our food system?

✨ Want to support Food Education & advocacy projects like this one? There's still time to attend our annual Feed Your Mind Gala in Chicago this Nov. 1st, or participate in our silent auction virtually through 11/01/24 at 9:45 PM CT. This annual fundraiser helps fuel our mission all year round - you don't want to miss it! Find tickets, silent auction and more info at: https://aesbid.com/ELP/PLC24/

💚 Thank you, Chef Leigh Omilinsky of Daisies Chicago for joining our 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala as a Guest Chef!

🌼 Chef Leigh has quickly become a staunch supporter of Pilot Light: following last year's "Cookies for a Cause" holiday fundraiser box, she and the rest of the incredible Daisies team have hosted several fundraisers for our Food Education programs. Now, we are absolutely thrilled to welcome her to the kitchen at our annual Gala. Thank you, Chef Leigh, for all you've done for Pilot Light classrooms!

🍽 About Chef Leigh Omilinsky
One taste of crème brûlée at age 10 sparked a lifelong dessert passion for Leigh Omilinsky. Upon receiving degrees in Baking & Pastry Arts and Food Service Management from Johnson & Wales University, Omilinsky returned to Chicago in 2006 to work alongside James Beard award-winning chefs Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand; first as lead pastry cook at Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood. Enamored with the fine dining environment, Omilinsky took a job at L2O, where she served as chef de partie under celebrated chef Laurent Gras.
In 2010, Omilinsky joined Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, where she ascended the ranks to Executive Pastry Chef overseeing the pastry programs for all the hotel’s concepts. In 2013, she earned a place on Zagat’s 30 Under 30 list and received the Jean Banchet award for “Rising Pastry Chef;” she was crowned the following year.
During her time at Nico Osteria in 2015, Omilinsky was included on FSR Magazine’s 40 under 40 and appeared on Food Network’s Best Baker in America, Season 2. In 2019, she joined Boka Restaurant Group as pastry chef for three concepts.
In 2022, Omilinsky reunited with former colleague and friend by joining his newly formed Radicle Food Group (anchored by pasta-focused Logan Square spot Daisies) and within a year was named to CS Modern Luxury’s Power List in 2023. Beyond lending her pastry prowess, Omilinsky serves as a partner, playing a pivotal role as the restaurant collective gears up to expand.

🥂Get your tickets to the 2024 Feed Your Mind Gala while you still can! https://aesbid.com/ELP/PLC24/

Another great reading list from our friends at Readers To Eaters! What are you cooking this week?