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
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Something special happens at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Church Lane every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. A collective of neighbors and volunteers gather in The People’s Lot, with cardboard box cutouts that read “Free Food,” but that’s not all that brings people in. If you travel to The People’s Lot, you will see an
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A whole week dedicated to vegan food? Count us in. This Sunday, October 18, marks the start of Philadelphia Vegan Restaurant Week — seven whole days of jam-packed vegan platters and desserts. Founded by Nicole Koedyker, PVRW began as an idea to promote more vegan experimentation in local restaurants. Koedyker and several of her now-colleagues
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Whether you appreciate a good slice of cheddar or consider yourself a cheese connoisseur, you might learn a thing or two from local cheesemonger Alexandra Jones’s new book. Stuff Every Cheese Lover Should Know is a pocket-sized guide to the world of cheese, both global and local. In this behind-the-scenes look, Grid sat down to
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While the craft beer renaissance has generated an uptick in breweries throughout Philadelphia (with as many as 16 new breweries opening in 2019 alone), Rich and Mengistu Koilor are on a mission to add to the city’s thriving beer scene by opening its first Black-owned brewery. The West Philadelphia brothers behind Two Locals Brewing Company
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When Barefoot Botanicals farmer-owner Linda Shanahan launched her Medicine Maker program a few years ago, she brought students onto her herb farm in Doylestown for monthly lessons on growing, foraging, processing, and using herbs to support everyday health and minor ailments. While interest in herbal medicine is stronger than ever, the COVID-19 pandemic has put
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Elizabette Andrade grew up in the kitchen. In her household, you weren’t given a cookbook—you were expected to watch and listen. As her matriarchs poured their hearts and souls into homemade dishes, Andrade catalogued every little detail. She took note of the unmeasured spices thrown into pots and marinades, her nose remembered savory scents and
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Spotted lanternflies landed on my hat, my face and every other available surface of my body on August 5, at The Woodlands in West Philadelphia. I was there tagging along with a team of Penn State researchers on a mission to collect 3,000 of the bugs that morning. Alongside me were entomologist Osariyekemwen Uyi; Michelle Niedermeier,
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When times get tough, the tough get baking—at least that’s the plan for Crust Vegan Bakery owners Meagan Benz and Shannon Roche. When the pandemic hit, their team was in a tough position, working out of a small, 250 square-foot commercial kitchen in Manayunk where it wasn’t possible for all eight of their fulltime employees
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Gardening quickly grew from a hobby to a passion for Pamia Coleman and Latiaynna Tabb. The friends founded the organization Black Girls With Green Thumbs (BGWGT) in 2016 after they’d spent a few years sharing their daily victories and obstacles with urban gardening via a joint Instagram account. The community-based organization focuses on education and
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This week is National Farmers Market Week and Grid is doing a round-up of eight of our favorite Philly Farmers Markets to mark the occasion. Even as many of us are realizing the value of local food during the pandemic, the Farmers Market Coalition reports that 57% of farmers market operators surveyed had seen an
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