What We Do
Three Pathways to Activate Impact
Live Activations
Bringing global food experiences to kids where they live, learn, play
High-energy, hands-on events that introduce global foods and the stories behind them. Our model has been tested in community settings across the country and is now moving into children's museums, where we are running a pilot. Each activation can include sensory food experiences, chef appearances, storytelling, activity stations, a chance to give back locally, and take-home materials for families.
Venues include children's museums, schools, libraries, community organizations, cultural institutions, festivals, farmers markets, and supermarkets.
The impact: Food memories last a lifetime. Every event we host is designed to be one of them, a moment when a child's world got a little bigger, a little braver, and a little more delicious.
Educational Tools
Building a strong foundation for classroom learning
Guides, activities, and lesson plans developed with child development and education experts. They help teachers, parents, and caregivers use food as a way into cultural learning in any setting. Materials are free and downloadable, age appropriate and culturally authentic, and available in multiple languages.
The impact: Kids who try Thai basil or learn where rice grows practice curiosity and empathy in a way they can taste.
For schools K-5: Contact us to learn more about our downloadable materials or book a live event.
National Network
Chefs, educators, and cultural leaders who have joined our movement
A growing group of respected voices who deliver experiences with authenticity, credibility, and local relevance. Each one brings food and stories from their own community, so kids learn about a culture from someone who lives it. Want to join the network or find a guide for your school or museum? Start with our Connect page.
The impact: Kids meet a food through someone who knows it well, which makes each experience feel real and rooted in place.
The Through-Line
Each pathway rests on the same belief. When we engage children's senses and imaginations through food, we teach more than adventurous eating. We help kids approach the world with open minds and the confidence to feel safe in the unfamiliar.
Where We’re Headed
From a successful pilot to a scalable national model.
Three things are driving us right now.
A children's museum pilot.
We're starting with six children's museums chosen to reflect a range of geographies, population sizes, and communities served. Working alongside executive directors and their programming and education teams, we'll implement an educational series built to test, learn, and measure impact. What we learn becomes the foundation for scale: programming for museums, public libraries, afterschool programs, and schools across the country.An expanded publishing program.
We're building on the five Kalamata's Kitchen books with new titles from new authors, arriving in 2027, each celebrating a food culture from around the world. Every book comes with lesson plans and activity guides, available in multiple languages, and all of it is free to our community partners.Short-form educational videos.
With Spiffy Pictures, an award-winning studio behind work for PBS KIDS, Sesame Street, and Fred Rogers Productions, we are bringing Al Dente to life as a puppet, in person at live events and on screen. The videos come with companion activities and curriculum that carry the learning beyond the screen. Video is how kids meet the idea. The tasting is where it becomes real.