Grow a Garden That Gives Back: Native & Heirloom Plants
Did you know that many fruits and vegetables we eat today have deep roots in history? Heirloom varieties are fruits and vegetables that have been passed down for generations – typically 50 years or older – and have existed long before modern mass agriculture. These plants offer rich flavors, unique appearances, and a direct link to…
How to Create a Philly Charcuterie Board
Charcuterie boards have lost the plot. Going from simple cuts of meat and selected cheeses to full on inebriating grazing boards smeared with labyrinths of hummus, mounds of ricotta, heavy dips, brittle chips and everything in between. It’s time we retreat. Let’s let quality do the talking. Simple things done well. I believe a charcuterie…
All About Organic Poultry
With Thanksgiving fast upon us, the subject of poultry—specifically turkey—has been top of mind for many. Serious slow food proponents know that the best option for our health, the planet, great flavor, and the birds themselves, is to steer clear of factory farming and buy your Thanksgiving bird from a local producer—preferably from a farm…
Coffee That’s For the Birds
Here’s something to think about when you pour yourself your morning cup of coffee: There’s a direct connection between what’s in your mug and the sharply declining numbers of migratory birds. Bird populations in the U.S. and Canada are estimated to have dropped by 29 percent (or 3 billion birds) since 1970, and a key…
Growing Pains
I’ve never believed in the notion that someone is born with certain talents. It always seemed too idealistic to think that an affinity towards something could just be passed down through one’s bloodline. Generations upon generations linked mysteriously through DNA and special skills. It sounds nice in a novel or movie, but I’ve always felt…
Snail of Approval Spotlight – Coddiwomple Canning Company
BUSINESS: Coddiwomple Canning Company LOCATION: Gap, Pa. ESTABLISHED: 2017 We talked to Coddiwomple’s founders, husband and wife team Kimberly Harrington and Brian Cauley, both veterans of the restaurant industry, about their operation and its mission “to reduce food waste by preserving local produce into shelf-stable pantry staples.” What’s a Coddiwomple? It’s an English slang term…
Slow Wine 2024
Slow Food believes that wine, just as with food, must be good, clean, and fair — not just good. In fact, the first Slow Food events were centered on wine, specifically wines of the Piemontese region, home of the headquarters of Slow Food International. In conventional wine production, pesticides, herbicides, and excessive water consumption are commonplace. …
Where’s the Beef From? An Insight on Imports
Overview In a world where we are constantly bombarded with multisensory inputs about what to eat, what not to eat, and how to eat it, cultivating a diet we feel good about can be challenging. Oftentimes, when we are determining what to eat, we forget to consider where our food is coming from. For omnivores,…
The Lost History of Philadelphia Pepper Pot
I remember eating Campbell’s Pepper Pot Soup as a child when my mother or grandmother would invariably tell me that “it’s from Philadelphia.” What did that mean, exactly? I promptly forgot about this soup for decades. To me, it remained just one of the many indistinct varieties of canned soup to be found in the…
Chili Season is Upon Us
For me, there is no dish more associated with winter than a steaming pot of chili. It’s essential comfort food, a great antidote to a frosty night, not to mention a football game day staple, as well as the focus of a multitude of cook-offs in communities across the country. Chili’s origins date back to…
