Schoolhouse Mobile Kitchen
Chicago’s Partner for Culinary Programming for Kids!
We Bring Everything but the Kitchen Sink!
At Schoolhouse Mobile Kitchen, we bring the joy of cooking and food literacy directly to your school! Our hands-on classes create a fun and engaging space for kids and their communities to explore good food.
Guided by enthusiastic instructors, students learn practical culinary skills while discovering the connections between food, culture, and the environment. With kid-tested recipes and techniques designed to inspire a lifetime of confidence in the kitchen, we make cooking an exciting and educational adventure for all.
OUR MISSION
About Schoolhouse
Since 2012, Schoolhouse kitchen + studio has been inspiring people to grow, eat and share and learn about good food.
We love cooking with kids and their families! There is so much to learn in each recipe. Culture, economics, food systems, math, science and art! We believe that a kitchen classroom is a fun and relaxing environment to explore.
Cheryl Knecht founded Schoolhouse Kitchen in 2017, inspired by the joy of cooking with her own kids.
With a passion for empowering kids and making cooking accessible to students after-school, Alison Carchi helped launch the mobile kitchen in 2023.
Mobile Kitchen's Approach
Our hands-on cooking classes allow students of all kinds to explore new recipes and cooking skills they will use for the rest of their lives. Young chefs learn how to identify new foods and their origins, all while utilizing age-appropriate kitchen tools. Through positive modeling and pride in their own culinary creations, students are more open to trying new—and even previously intimidating—foods.
Every recipe on our menu has been tested in real classrooms with real kids — Veggie Fried Rice, Zucchini Fritters, Corn Cakes with Honey Butter, and dozens more, refined until we know they work for the age group we're teaching.
What sets us apart?
We bring everything but the kitchen sink. There's no special equipment to buy, no kitchen to prep, and no recipes to plan. We show up with everything: portable cooking stations, kid-sized tools, fresh ingredients, and an instructor who knows how to run a 75-minute class that keeps a room full of kids engaged start to finish. Your school just provides the space.
Our instructors lead with encouragement, not correction, so a spilled ingredient or a wonky-looking dumpling becomes part of the fun instead of something to fear. Students have pride in something they made themselves, in a room where trying and messing up are both part of the process.
Impact
This year, we cooked with 750 students across 30+ schools and community partners in Chicago and every class starts with the same goal: help kids build real confidence in the kitchen. That confidence carries further than the classroom. Kids learn practical life skills they'll use for the rest of their lives — how to follow a recipe, handle a knife safely, and feed themselves and the people they care about. And the habits built early stick: kids who grow up comfortable cooking and trying new foods carry those healthier patterns with them long after the class ends.
Sometimes the best measure of impact is what the kids remember:
"We did a mobile kitchen activity with you last year to make ramen noodles, it was such a hit! As the children look through our memory book from last year they all say how much they loved to cook."
— Crème de la Crème Westmont
Our Partners
Montessori Gifted Prep
CPS Schools (approved vendor #43740)
National Museum of Mexican Art
Oak Park, River Forest, Berwyn Public Schools
Lincoln Elementary River Forest
St. Luke School
St. Vincent Ferrer School
Washington-Irving Elementary School
Lycée Français Chicago
Coonley Elementary
Longfellow Elementary
Elm Middle School
Steinmetz College Preparatory
Whittier Elementary
Goethe Elementary
St. Mary’s of the Angels School
Intrinsic Schools
Holmes Elementary
Chicago Public Libraries
McCutcheon Elementary
CICS-Irving Park
Lawndale Community Academy
Guidepost Montessori
Moos Elementary
