Estere Alveno-Marius remembers the first time she tasted comparette (also known as konparèt), the sweetly spiced gingerbread-like treat that originated in Jérémie, the capital of Haiti’s Grand’Anse region. A friend visiting Alveno-Marius in her hometown of Saint-Louis-du-Sud brought the pastry as a gift. One taste and Alveno-Marius understood how the fragrant coconut sweet bun got
MoreLiberating yourself from processed and prepackaged food often starts with the small stuff. For me, salad dressing was a game changer. Once I realized how simple it was to make, and started reading the labels on commercial brands (Canola oil as the number one ingredient? Water as number two?!), I could never go back.
MoreIn the summer, eating local is easy. Farmers’ markets abound, featuring mounds of beautiful, colorful produce. In the winter, there are potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a rotating cast of root vegetables that require a bit more work than the kiss of the grill and a splash of olive oil. Fortunately, there are a few green
MoreA Chinatown company churns out tofu
Manufacturing is a centuries-old tradition in Philadelphia, but over the last 50 years, countless factories have left the city. In 1990, Yatsun Wen, a Chinese immigrant, started manufacturing tofu by hand in Chinatown. Now, 20 years later, his company Nature’s Soy has distribution up and down the East Coast, and
A seasonal spin on Shepherd’s Pie
photo and recipe by erin gautsche, farmtophilly.com
This vegetarian casserole is a variation on the traditional Shepherd’s (or Cottage) Pie, created in England in the late 18th Century to feed poor working families. The top layer features the ubiquitous (and cheap!) potato; we’ve replaced the traditional filling of leftover meat with
To the Readers of Grid,All of us at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) are delighted to share our story with folks who truly understand the importance of building a food system that not only helps to keep good farmers on the land, but good environmental practices in the field and good food on
MoreWe all know that food tastes better when it’s prepared by someone who loves us, or when it recalls something treasured from the past—Dad’s Friday night roasted chicken, your neighbor’s homemade hot fudge or the tangy summer slaw that smells like the very essence of childhood beach weekends.
MoreA local dairy farm turns out killer cheese, and a few surprisesOn his first day of kindergarten, the teacher asked Ken Miller what he wanted to be when he grew up. It was an easy answer, since he could only imagine becoming one thing: a farmer.
MoreSean Weinberg has restaurants in his blood. His parents own the legendary Rose Tattoo Café in Fairmount, and, after years of studying cooking—including stints in Italy and Mexico, and an externship under The French Laundry’s Thomas Keller—he worked five years at the helm there. Along with his wife Kelly, Weinberg has always been intensely passionate
MoreA local seed company quietly amasses a tomato treasure troveHearing Happy Cat Organics’ Tim Mountz talk about tomatoes is enough to make any food-loving soul long for summer. Along with his wife Amy Bloom, Mountz has compiled a seed collection featuring 200 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. If that sounds like a lot, have no fear:
MoreUsing small parcels of urban land, a local co-op reaps a plentiful bounty
Off of Washington Lane in East Mt. Airy, down a rough little driveway, is the Mort Brooks Memorial Farm. There, on land leased from the Awbury Arboretum, farmer David Zelov and his crew of apprentices and volunteers are taking local to a new