Chef Lo Lalicon is truly exemplary of a core message we try to impart in our programming at Edible Education Experience: that food comes from a people, a place, and a season and is meant to build community. At his celebrated Mills50 restaurant Kaya (recent semifinalist for Best New Restaurant at the 2024 James Beard Awards), Chef Lo educates Orlandoans about Filipino culture with the dishes he serves up, made with seasonal ingredients from Kaya’s own garden. A community ambassador, he also hosts multicultural markets at Kaya to promote local chefs and artisans. The Filipino concept of kapwa is the guiding principle behind Chef Lo’s cooking, and the mindset he imparts as a Chef Ambassador. For everything is connected, and one’s approach to food is tied to daily habits and the ways in which we care for one another. Deeply concerned with the challenges inherent in our food system, Chef Lo wants to build a legacy as an agent for change in his community. “Food is a generational situation,” he says, aware that childhood intervention has a powerful impact on the future. Perhaps that is why Chef Lo’s favorite way to engage with EEE is with our children’s field trips and camps, where he gets to expose kids to the stories of cultural cuisine and help them realize that a meaningful relationship with food connects to every aspect of a fulfilling lifestyle.