We’ve been programmed to believe that Monday is the longest day of the week. And that countdown to quitting time you’ve got going is only making it worse.

Another way to pass the time: Imagine gorging yourself silly at the Common Threads World Festival tonight. The nonprofit that uses culinary arts to teach kids about diversity has invited chefs from around the country to Chicago to stir things up.

The list of participants reads like a who’s who of the culinary world, which comes as no surprise: The organization is Oprah chef Art Smith’s baby.

Gale Gand (Tru) and Carol Watson (Milk and Honey) are dishing sweets in the Parisian Cafe. TV heartthrobs (er, chefs) Rocco DiSpirto and Tyler Florence are heating things up (in more ways than one). Randy Zweiban of Nacional 27 is making food to match the mojitos, and Cat Cora is proving why she’s the only female Iron Chef.

Tickets cost $75 — not much more than dinner — and it’s all to fund Common Threads programming.

Not to mention a little deprogramming of your own.

Common Threads World Festival, at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington Street, at Michigan Avenue, 6-9 p.m. Tickets at 312-752-2692 or online at ourcommonthreads.org.