EarthSTARS.Earth Founder Vies to Win Cooking Contest Promoting Food Security
Food creates memories. Stories create movements. Together, they change the world.” — Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz, EarthSTARS.earth
CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES — Chicago resident, nonprofit founder, storyteller, and lifelong foodie Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz, is currently competing in the national Favorite Chef competition, where she has advanced into the voting rounds for a chance to win $25,000, cook with Chef Carla Hall, and be featured in Taste of Home Magazine.
For Kravitz, the competition is about much more than food.
“It’s about family, connection, memories, and community,” said Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz, Founder of sponsorKIDS Charities and EarthSTARS.earth. Some of life’s most important conversations happen around a table.”
A passionate home cook and founder of sponsorKIDS Charities, serving youth and communities since 2000, Kravitz has spent more than two decades creating programs that bring people together through storytelling, education, music, culture, and community engagement.
Today, through EarthSTARS.earth, Kravitz uses music, storytelling, and youth engagement to inspire conversations around food security, healthy soils, regenerative agriculture, and community resilience.
The timing is especially meaningful as Chicago prepares for its first-ever Chicago Climate Week, July 18–25, while Illinois expands climate education in public schools this fall.
“Climate isn’t just about weather,” Kravitz said. “It’s about food. It’s about farms. It’s about soil. It’s about food security. It’s about our future.”
If she wins, Kravitz plans to invest the prize funds into EarthSTARS.earth programs that use music, storytelling, and community engagement to elevate conversations around food security, regenerative agriculture, healthy soils, and the future of our food systems.
Ironically, Kravitz never intended to enter a national cooking competition.
“It was about 2 a.m. and I couldn’t sleep,” she laughed. “I was thinking about Chicago launching its first-ever Chicago Climate Week when I started scrolling Facebook. The Favorite Chef competition popped up, and I thought, ‘Why not?'”
A week later, she learned she had been selected to compete.
“What started as a late-night impulse has become an opportunity to talk about the things I care about most—food, family, community, and helping people reconnect around the table.”
Home cooking matters. Family connection matters. Restaurant fun gatherings matter. Food security matters. And every meal has the power to bring people together.
Favorite Chef Carla Hall
Vote for Jeannette here: https://favchef.com/2026/jeannette-barcelos-kravitz
Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz
spnsorKIDS Charities EarthSTARS.Earth Program
+1 312-560-0053
media@earthstars.earth
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Favorite Chef 2026 Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz Story
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