10% for Charity on New Subscriptions
Also, See How Pilot Light Puts Food in Context for Our Young Eaters
New: 10% for Charity on New LFF Subscriptions
Dear Local Food Friends:
Ever since I launched Local Food Forum a bit more than a year ago, I have contemplated sharing part of the proceeds with some of our outstanding organizations in the food sector.
I had to postpone during the first year because with my transition to self-employment, every dollar mattered. But I’m happy to say I’m in a better position now and am piloting a new program starting immediately.
Getting to the heart of it:
• For every new $50 paid subscription, I will donate 10 percent to the charity designated for that month.
• For every upgrade from a free subscription to a $50 paid subscription, I will donate 10 percent to the charity designated for that month.
• For every new subscription at the $100 Founders level, and for every upgrade from a $50 paid subscription to a $100 Founders subscription, I will donate 20 percent to the selected charity.
To kick things off, World Central Kitchen is the designated charity. The work being done by this non-profit created by Chef José Andrés to feed the displaced people of war-torn Ukraine is beyond amazing. My heart aches over what those people are going through, and whatever little we’re able to raise will help feed someone.
As I have promised, I am working on a robust schedule of special programming for paid subscribers and will be rolling out events soon that hopefully will elevate the value of going paid. If helping make the world a little better place helps make the decision easier for you, all the better.
— Bob
Pilot Light Puts Food in Context for Young Eaters
As I mentioned briefly Monday, I attended one of the first post-pandemic in-school chef lectures presented by Pilot Light, the 12-year-old Chicago-based nonprofit that helps integrate lessons about food into young students’ curriculum. This article provides more detail about how Monday’s event worked.
Chef James Martin was the guest speaker at the program held for about four dozen 7th and 8th grade students in the cafeteria of Ashburn Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side. Martin last year boldly opened Bocadillo Market, a Spanish-themed restaurant in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, even though the pandemic had not run its course.
Martin is Black, as were all of the participating students, so Martin picked a relatable topic: the long-ago impact of the dark-skinned Moorish people of North Africa on Spain.
Food is, of course, a central topic in these Pilot Light exercises. In the short video below, Martin describes how the Moors introduced rice to the Spanish, who ultimately made it the predominant ingredient in paella, their nation’s signature dish. Martin also notes that the Moors brought oranges to Spain, which in turn planted them in Florida, one of their New World colonies.
The chef brought a variety of oranges which were provided to the students to experience, along with tasting samples of spices that are common in Spanish cooking, such as cumin, coriander, pepper, and pimentón (smoked paprika).
The program was not just about food per se, though. Pilot Light, in the courses it produces directly and through the Food Education Standards it created and shares with school systems across the nation, seeks to put food in the context of the range of subjects that the students are taught every day.
Martin provided those aspects by discussing how North African people had influenced Spain’s architecture, culture, music (flamenco has roots in the North African occupation of much of Spain) and even fashion, which Martin illustrated with a slide of paintings showing Moorish people wearing colorful robes.
There are two main reasons that I love what Pilot Light does. The first is that I believe strongly that the best way to build a better food system is to increase food knowledge among our youngest eaters. Monday was the first Pilot Light class that I attended in quite some time, but I was a regular for a while, and have always been impressed with how engaged the young students are in the lessons being provided.
The other great thing is that I always learn some things that I didn’t know.
To learn more about this important and impressive program, click the button below.