When a fellow volunteer at the Crossroads Kitchen Project announced that she didn’t like rice, Philipa Laster sensed a challenge. Laster, a native of Nigeria, grew up eating rice every day. She began thinking about a dish that would change her colleague’s mind. Masa cakes, a traditional northern Nigerian food that Laster’s mother made weekly,
More
Early in 2026 in the Oxford Circle neighborhood, 115 Philadelphians representing 15 different nationalities sat down to enjoy dinner at the first in a series of 21 events across seven diverse neighborhoods. The social impact project, called “Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers” and conceived by president and CEO of The Welcoming Center (TWC) Anuj Gupta, rests
More
Patrick Berkery didn’t always love pizza. His first memory as a youngster in Willingboro Township, New Jersey, was of a “typical neighborhood flavorless garbage pizza with rubbery cheese.” It wasn’t until his parents discovered Marra’s, the legendary Passyunk Avenue brick-oven Neapolitan-style pizzeria, that the then-8-year-old Berkery had a pizza epiphany. In December 2025, Berkery, a
More
As the oldest of nine children, Shevy Sputz was her mother’s kitchen assistant in their Brooklyn household. Sputz’s mother, a talented cook and baker, wisely gave her daughter responsibility for making desserts. Decades later, that early family apprenticeship and an heirloom recipe led to the formation of Sputz’s burgeoning Fairmount-based business, Shevy’s Babka Paradise. Although
More
Every Friday afternoon from May to October, Alex Correia and George Murkowicz meet for lunch. Correia, a senior horticulturist at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, and Murkowicz, executive chef at its on-site garden-to-table restaurant, 1906, taste-test dishes that result from the horticultural-culinary partnership at the center of it. Correia, Murkowicz and volunteers work together, balancing
More
Even the most talented chefs began their food careers as eaters. Well before they were able to cook, they witnessed the magic of combining ingredients into delicious dishes, made for them by family, friends and other cooks. For some, need, desire — or even nostalgia — converts us from eaters to makers of the foods
More
Move over, Pat’s and Geno’s. Philadelphia’s sliced-and-diced meat-and-cheese concoction faces a more sustainable, animal-friendly competitor — the vegan cheesesteak. So, where’s the “beef”? Typically, it’s thinly sliced seitan. Made from wheat, seitan was developed in China about 1,500 years ago and enjoyed by vegetarian Buddhist monks. Today, seitan has gained popularity among vegans, who do
More
Modern and boxy, with a silver exterior and sharp, clean edges, it’s hard to believe that Kitchen Korners in Mayfair used to be a run-of-the-mill Northeast Philadelphia garage. What’s inside is just as surprising: a state-of-the-art kitchen facility, where local entrepreneurs, caterers, food packagers and other like-minded culinary purveyors can create their products safely and
More
Ebo Nunoo’s grandfather was part of a generations-long line of cocoa farmers in rural Ghana. In search of more opportunity, he moved his family to Accra, the nation’s capital, and became a shoemaker. Decades later, his grandson Ebo left Accra for the United States to attend college and find his own opportunities. It’s unlikely that
More
Summer is over, but it’s not too late to capture its flavors in a jar. Scoop up late-season veggies at your farmers market and lean into the magic of pickling. Amina Aliako is eager to share her Syrian-style pickling secrets with you. At its most basic, pickling requires only four ingredients: water, salt, vinegar and
More