As many people discovered during the COVID-19 boom in home baking, if you want a challenge, try baking with a sourdough starter. Iryna Teslia embraced this challenge, and sourdough became the basis for everything she produces in her micro-bakery, The Bread Anatomy — from traditional Ukrainian holiday breads like paska and kolach to all-American chocolate
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According to Ashley Roberts, eating out as a vegan in Philadelphia is easy. Why? Because so many restaurants offer vegan options. “I feel like you can go into pretty much any restaurant and they can accommodate you in some way,” says Roberts. She describes the contrast between Philadelphia restaurants and the venues she frequents when
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As professionals in the hospitality industry, caring for others is important to longtime friends Stephen Pressman and Heather Gettis. When the pandemic hit and both were laid off from their jobs, restaurant worker Pressman and event manager Gettis found themselves with an abundance of time and a lack of opportunity to do things for others.
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Luna Lemus-Bromley doesn’t mind getting a little dirt under her fingernails. In fact, that’s what Lemus-Bromley loves so much about gardening. She appreciates that while the end result is beautiful, the road to getting there can be tough. That’s why she named her gardening business Petal and Blade—to signify the time and effort it takes
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Whether due to seasonal shutdowns or permanent closures, the city has no shortage of depressingly dim restaurants and bars lately. So it was refreshing to see a welcoming splash of color on the door of one such establishment. While the Valanni Social Club, at 1229 Spruce Street, has been in stasis for months due to
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The winter slump had set in for ice cream sales in late January, and Kianu Walker, the force behind Vannah Banana, was dreaming of the summer—picturing himself not on a beach, as many people do, but instead in an ice cream truck. After starting the city’s first Black-owned, vegan ice cream business in 2020, Walker
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Connecting local dining establishments and grocery stores with eco-minded and bargain-hunting customers, Too Good To Go—an app designed to decrease food waste—will be available to Philadelphians starting February 23. Founded in Copenhagen in 2016 and currently available in 15 countries, Philadelphia marks the app’s third U.S. city expansion, following its rollout in greater New York
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When Emily Rodia and Jason Rusnock began pursuing a low-waste lifestyle, they started small. They replaced single-use items in their lives—trading up for things like reusable water bottles and bamboo toothbrushes. Before they knew it, the amount of plastic they put out on the sidewalk each week had dwindled. Three years after starting their zero-waste
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A decade in the making, the South Philly Food Co-op (SPFC) has opened its doors. Leigh Goldenberg, one of the first 100 member-owners at the co-op in 2011, joined before it had even begun searching for store locations. To Goldenberg, investing in the co-op early on was a commitment to a future vision of a
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Before Melissa Torre brainstorms new scents and ingredients for skin care products, she thinks about food. Prior to founding Vellum St. Soap Company, in 2016, Torre spent about five years running her bakery, Cookie Confidential, as well as 10 years managing Tattooed Mom, on South Street. She credits her experience as a chef with sparking
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Far from any port in North Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood are four massive shipping containers, retrofitted with doors and windows. North Philly native Chikrock Gonzalez ,42, converted two 20-foot and two 40-foot shipping containers into a tire shop after the pandemic forced him to close J&C Tire Shop. “The whole idea was, I had a tire
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