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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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
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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
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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
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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
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After nearly two decades, Henry Got Crops, the farm at the W.B. Saul Agricultural High School, still doesn’t turn a profit. But that doesn’t bother senior farm manager Ali Ascherio. The partnership between the school and Weavers Way Co-op pays off in other ways. The vegetable farm takes up two acres behind the school. A
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Myriam Siftar cried tears of joy. It was March 2012, and she was at the grand opening of Mariposa Food Co-op’s new home, a Greek-revival style former bank building on Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia. (Full disclosure: This author is a member of the co-op.) For Siftar, it was the triumphant culmination of a journey
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It’s a balmy day in late August, but the Mycopolitan Mushrooms grow room feels more like a forest floor in mid-October. A thick mist sprays from the ceiling, casting a glowy haze across shelves filled with blooming oyster mushrooms, lion’s mane and a handful of other exotic species. Pennsylvania is home to the majority of
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Fifty minutes before the first pitch at a Friday night Phillies game in early June, the line at Greens and Grains already wrapped around and down the concourse at Citizens Bank Park. Looking on, Kevin Tedesco, Aramark’s general manager at Citizens Bank Park, and Jason Firestone, Aramark’s senior director of concessions, shared the story of
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The name Edible Alphabet might conjure images of sugary breakfast cereal or playful pasta shapes. That’s not what has drawn more than 1,000 adult learners to this innovative series of free, fun English language classes at the Culinary Literacy Center in the Free Library of Philadelphia since 2016. Lindsay Southworth, senior program manager, traces the
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Bakari Clark describes herself as a student and a gardener. As the 2025 recipient of the prestigious Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design, Clark can now claim to be a student of gardens. The 25-year-old Virginia native came to Philadelphia to study at Temple University, where she became interested in many aspects
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