When I said soup season was over for me, I really meant it. It's hot. It's too hot for soup. Or pasta. Too hot for any kind of a sauce. It's salted radishes, hunk of cheese, piece of bread season. But then there's gazpacho. Gazpacho is all the brightest and crispest flavors of Spanish and Latin American food with none of the heaviness. It's not just cold, it's raw. Like all soups, and most other things I cook, it's customizable. Extra spicy? Sure thing. More of this flavor and less of that one? Go for it. I started with plum tomatoes. Plum tomatoes are the ones I can reliably find this early, and they have fewer seeds and more "meat" than the others anyway.

I also cut up a cucumber (I peeled it and took out the seeds first).

 And a bunch of tiny red onions. Like a quarter of a big red onion.

Skinning tomatoes reminds me of the late summer sauces that fill my freezer. I have this great elderly neighbor who brings me the ugliest tomatoes you can imagine from his garden. I face the heat and stand over a hot stove and make up enough sauce to last through the fall, and then spend my winter staring at cans and doing my best. So first, I get some water boiling, and have an ice bath on hand, and I make an X in the skin of each tomato with a knife.

 Then I drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for just a minute - the skin wrinkles up quickly and that's when you know they're ready to peel. Quickly into the ice water bath for another minute.

 And then they're pretty easy to peel by hand. I peeled them right into a strainer, where I smushed them and haphazardly seeded them, letting whatever juice accumulated cover the cucumber and onion.

I rinsed the tomatoes to try to clear off a few more seeds (it's really no big deal if a few get in) and chopped them up. I also minced three cloves of garlic. All of that was added to the cucumbers and onion, with some additional flavors. Salt and pepper, cumin, balsamic vinegar and vegan worcestershire (I owe the addition of the worcestershire to Alton Brown - you can certainly get by without it, but it adds depth). And a jalepeno. Note that since we've had a few incidents with peppers, the jalepeno is cut on a separate cutting board. Better safe than sorry. I pretend it's raw chicken. It needs liquid, you know, to be soup. I use vegetable juice. I think it has more to it than tomato and for whatever reason, even in glass bottles, I think tomato juice tastes like metal.  Maybe I've had too many cans of it on airplanes? So I added some veggie juice, enough to make it soup. Like a cup and a half. I added a tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon. I put a bowl cover on it and let it be in the fridge. You can blend it now or blend it later, but either way, it needs to sit a bit. I made this mostly in the morning, before work, and then came home and tended to it for a bit (added the jalepeno, blended it) left for two hours and then ate it. I think 12 hours would be perfect, but an hour would be fine. Either scoop out about half of it and throw it in your blender on puree or smoothie or whatever, or use an immersion blender and hold back.  I really wanted half of it to be liquid and half of it to be chunky. Then I just stirred it for a bit to get the chunky parts integrated. I sliced up some avocado and topped it with that and cilantro. And served it with grilled cheese on the funny t-shirt shaped bread I made a few weeks ago. This made four meals worth. It was super bright, crisp, and refreshing. This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.  Ingredients

• 10 plum tomatoes
• 1 jalepeno, diced
• 1 cucumber, skinned, seeded and chopped
• 1.5 cups low sodium vegetable juice
• 1/4 large red onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions Skin and seed tomatoes, reserving any liquid. To skin tomatoes, make an X in each, drop in boiling water for 1 minute then in ice bath for 1 minute, then peel by hand. Dice tomatoes, cucumber, jalepeno, and onion. Mince garlic. Add everything to a bowl, and blend half of it. Refrigerate for at least an hour, 12 is better. Top with sliced avocado and cilantro, if you have it. Serve cold. Details

• Prep time: 25 mins
• Cook time: 0 mins
• Total time: 1 hour 25 mins
• Yield: 4 servings

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="First tomato!"][/caption] Hellos!  This week I picked the first red tomato!  As you can see from the picture, it's pretty small for a beefsteak but I picked it because I noticed that the bottom was getting weird... [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="WHAT"][/caption] A little online research revealed that this is called Blossom End Rot because it occurs at the blossom end of the tomato (opposite the stem end, where the tomato is attached to the plant.)  Here's a look at the cross section: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="next time I'll use a white plate, I promise"][/caption] From the cross section you can see that I caught this before it got too bad and I was able to just cut off the brown section and eat the rest.  For breakfast.  The good news is that the rest of the tomato tasted just as I remember:  sweet and tangy with that slight acidic bite.  And yes, I cut the tomato in half so I could see the rotted part but then I took big bites out of it like I promised I would. But on to the blossom end rot.  As you can see from the article linked above, blossom end rot is caused by a "calcium deficiency induced by water stress."  At first I was all like "oh no, my soil needs more calcium!" and started researching how to add calcium to soil.  But a lot of things I found claimed that tomatoes don't actually need that much calcium and it is very rare to have calcium-deficient soil.  Especially in my case, since this particular tomato was grown in potting soil with compost...potting soil, unlike dirt in the ground, is formulated to have the correct nutrients and while a calcium deficiency is rare in regular dirt from the ground, it is even rarer in potting soil.  [This goes out to my friend who, when I told him I needed to buy dirt responded with "Why don't you go buy some air, too?"  See?  Potting soil is important.  But I digress...]  The important part of that bolded statement above is the water stress, which means basically uneven watering.  Now I'm trying very hard to water a little bit every day but there are factors beyond my control, namely all that rain we got a few weeks ago and temperatures ranging from super hot and dry to cool and overcast during these past few weeks.  A lot things that I read also said that blossom end rot tends to happen to the first few tomatoes but should clear up once temperatures start evening out in July and August.  Besides the one link above on blossom end rot, which comes from Texas A & M, both Penn State and Ohio State have great agricultural schools with lots of resources on their websites (I am partial to the Penn State HortReport and not only for the rhyming name; here's a particularly good issue on tomato disorders.) [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="lots of green"][/caption] On to the rest of the garden!  Above is a picture of a corner of my garden with some of almost every plant I have.  From left to right we have:  tomatoes, sunflowers (the tallest plants, against the fence), eggplant in the bright blue pot, squash against the slightly mossy fence behind the tomatoes with lots of orange squash blossoms, mint and lemon balm on the far right, then a newly-acquired fig in the bottom right corner and in the middle bottom of the picture, basil.  There are obviously lots more tomato (and basil, and eggplant, and squash) plants but this one corner was a pretty good representation of all the plants I have right now.  (It is also a good representation of how crowded things are out there.)  I'm trying to branch out into more flowers - last weekend I bought a little nasturtium for a dollar at a tag sale in West Philly and I got some shady flower seeds (wait, not shady shady like they're gonna pull a knife on you but shade-loving) so I can have some flowers under the tree. That's it for this week.  I have lots of green tomatoes about ready to turn red so I'll update you all on those next week...hopefully they will be rot-free.  I'll leave you with another shot of my basil because I am quite proud of it. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="look at you, growing"][/caption] Thanks for reading!

South Philly Food Co-op is happy to announce the election of the co-op's inaugural Board of Directors. After fifteen months of exhausting but rewarding work, the Steering Committee has handed off leadership of the organization to the newly elected board. It's an important milestone and one that will help propel us forward in our goal of opening a member-owned cooperative grocery store here in South Philly. We were thrilled to see the huge turnout last night, with 75% of current membership voting, including the several new member-owners who joined on the spot. If you weren't able to come to the meeting last night it's not too late to join the co-op. If you're already a member-owner, or just want to check out what we're doing and become more involved, please volunteer or attend one of our many events. The 2011 South Philly Food Co-op Board of Directors:

• Alison Fritz
• Cassie Plummer
• Erika Owens
• Jay Tarlecki
• Joseph F. Marino
• John C. Raezer
• Josh Richards
• Julia Koprak
• Maria Camoratto
• Mary Beth Hertz
• Stephanie Rupertus

Numbers for election results are available upon request. Stay tuned for photos of last night's meeting.

Please join us on TONIGHT at 7:00PM for the first ever General Membership Meeting of the South Philly Food Co-op where we will be electing the Inaugural Board of Directors. With membership now open to the public it is time to elect the first group of people who will guide and mold the personality and character of what the South Philly Food Co-op will become. While you must be a member-owner to vote in the elections, it's not too late to pay at least $25 toward your $200 equity and be considered a member-owner in good standing. In fact, if you show up to the meeting with your checkbook or five 5-dollar bills or a 20-dollar bill and a... (you get the picture), you can become a member in good standing right then and there. Much more information such as directions on how to vote and who is eligible are available on the Board Elections page. Below you can find the candidate statements of all those currently nominated for the board.

• Alison Fritz
• Amy Henson
• Cassie Plummer
• Erika Owens
• Jay Tarlecki
• Joseph F. Marino
• John C. Raezer
• Josh Richards
• Julia Koprak
• Maria Camoratto
• Mary Beth Hertz
• Shani Ferguson
• Stephanie Rupertus

Directions to the meeting (held in the offices of East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association who were kind enough to lend us their space for the evening) are here. In the words of our Election Committee:

In twenty years many of you may still be around and will probably still remember this first meeting and election. Take part, join the co-op today and become eligible to vote and have a say in how this local food cooperative will be run.

Please join us on TOMORROW, June 29, 2011 at 7:00PM for the first ever General Membership Meeting of the South Philly Food Co-op where we will be electing the Inaugural Board of Directors. With membership now open to the public it is time to elect the first group of people who will guide and mold the personality and character of what the South Philly Food Co-op will become. While you must be a member-owner to vote in the elections, it's not too late to pay at least $25 toward your $200 equity and be considered a member-owner in good standing. In fact, if you show up to the meeting with your checkbook or five 5-dollar bills or a 20-dollar bill and a... (you get the picture), you can become a member in good standing right then and there. Much more information such as directions on how to vote and who is eligible are available on the Board Elections page. Below you can find the candidate statements of all those currently nominated for the board.

• Alison Fritz
• Amy Henson
• Cassie Plummer
• Erika Owens
• Jay Tarlecki
• Joseph F. Marino
• John C. Raezer
• Josh Richards
• Julia Koprak
• Maria Camoratto
• Mary Beth Hertz
• Shani Ferguson
• Stephanie Rupertus

Directions to the meeting (held in the offices of East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association who were kind enough to lend us their space for the evening) are here. In the words of our Election Committee:

In twenty years many of you may still be around and will probably still remember this first meeting and election. Take part, join the co-op today and become eligible to vote and have a say in how this local food cooperative will be run.

(Editor’s Note: Due to an unavailable editor AGAIN, Sarah’s column is appearing a day later than its usual Thursday slot. Enjoy – DP) [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Check out that squash blossom!"][/caption] I can't believe how fast these squash grew.  Seems like just yesterday they only had two little leaves each and now look at all these flowers! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="so many"][/caption] And the sunflowers, which I planted at the same time, are now a couple of feet high: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="sunflowers with one squash blossom poking its head out"][/caption] I actually ate a squash blossom salad a few days ago because I knew I was going to be getting a lot of blossoms soon and wanted to see if I liked them.  The verdict was that they are delicious but they were also deep fried and stuffed with cheese and isn't anything that's deep fried and stuffed with cheese delicious?  They did have a nice delicate squash taste, but I think I'll leave mine on the plants and wait for the squash.  These are crook-neck yellow summer squash, by the way. And other exciting things are happening!  Good thing I compulsively take pictures, because now I can show you the progression this past week: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="from this..."][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="to this..."][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="to this..."][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="to this!"][/caption] I don't think it's quite ripe enough yet to pick, but I am eagerly awaiting my first taste of homegrown tomato.  And don't for a second think that I'm going to cut it up and put it in a salad or on a sandwich or - heaven forbid - cook it...I'm going to bite into that thing like an apple and let the juice run down my chin just like I did when I was a kid.  Mmm. Anyway!  There are lots more tomatoes, all green and all different sizes.  Some are getting pretty big and some are still just pea-sized.  Here's a particularly cute pea-sized one: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="little pea"][/caption] And a few larger ones: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="check out my new stakes! bamboo just wasn't cutting it anymore."][/caption] The same time that I tried squash blossoms I also tried some fried green tomatoes.  I've had fried green tomatoes before and never really liked them, but I would like to like them so I always give them another try.  Now apparently I might not appreciate them since I didn't grow up with them and also I've never had them in the South where they are a true delicacy but seriously they just taste like unripe tomatoes to me.  And I love tomatoes so much I can't fathom why someone would pick them early to get something that tastes worse but, again, I didn't grow up with them.  I should add that these foods were all consumed at Prohibition which has great food and lots of specials for in-season stuff (hence the squash blossom salad and fried green tomatoes.)  I will also add that one of my favorite sandwiches in this city (don't ask me to choose one favorite, there are so many!) is the fried tomato special at Chickie's, which is fried red tomatoes instead of green and infinitely better, in my opinion. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="green cutie"][/caption] But I digress.  One last thing I wanted to touch on was pest control.  My plants have seemed largely pest-free but I do see holes in the leaves where little bugs have munched.  That's okay!  The main reason I'm doing this whole gardening thing organically is that one of the best things about nature is the balance:  sure, bugs eat plants but bugs also eat other bugs and I'd rather let nature take care of the pests than try to interfere.  I don't know if this is that relevant around here, but growing up our neighbors had a bug zapper (or that's what I always called it...one of those bright lights that attracts bugs to it and then kills them with a satisfying zap.)  Living in the woods there are lots of mosquitoes so in theory a bug zapper makes sense.  Only it doesn't:  turns out mosquitoes usually avoid those lights because the lights are ultraviolet and mosquitoes don't care about that.  They are more attracted to carbon dioxide and human smells.  But slightly bigger bugs - the same ones that live off a steady diet of mosquitoes - are attracted to ultraviolet light and are the main casualty of those lights.  So then you end up with more mosquitoes because their natural predators are reduced!  Here's an article that explains it a little more scientifically and gives some real evidence.  But basically a lot of pest control just ends up disrupting the balance and giving us more pests in the end.  My approach has its drawbacks, though:  a few days ago I found one of my basil leaves half eaten.  I turned over the leaf and there was a caterpillar, munching away.  Look, it got a good two-thirds of the leaf: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="that leaf is not small"][/caption] before I took it rudely away from its snack and threw it over my fence into the alley.  But not before taking a picture of the little culprit: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="this thing ate, like, three times its body size. Hope you brushed your teeth, young man!"][/caption] Upon closer inspection, that caterpillar looks like the tent caterpillar kind that I found on our tree last year.  Those are no good and kill trees so I probably should have killed it but hopefully it made a nice snack for some bird.  We don't seem to have a ton of birds in our yard, so I don't feel too bad about doing the birds' job and killing things like tent caterpillars and - my nemesis - slugs.  I have kind of a hatred of slugs (they are ugly and huge here and leave gross trails) and I do not want them anywhere near me.  If I were a better person I would probably make myself love them but until that happens I will continue to leave out saucers of beer for them to fall into and drown.  Hey, drowning in beer can't be that bad a death, right? One last thing:  my parents came down this past weekend and gave me a great present:  water in my garden! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="hose!"][/caption] After exploring the dark, scary basement which is accessible by ladder my father found a pipe leading out back with running water!  And because he's good with things like this, he attached a spigot to the water pipe outside (I won't go into details on how suffice it to say it involved a blow torch) and that awesome hose was in the basement.  Success!  Now it is a lot easier to water the plants and I'm sure I'll be spraying myself when it gets really hot out there.  Thanks again! This was longer than planned (isn't that always the way?) but here's a shot of the garden this morning: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="lush"][/caption] See you next week! Sarah DeGiorgis has lived in Philly for five years and is finally starting to feel like a true Philadelphian, though she still detests cheesesteaks.  She enjoys reading, watching bad tv, eating and cooking good food and digging in the dirt. Catch up with her continuing efforts to grow food in South Philly by clicking here.

July is cooking up to be full of great music and good food at Gold Star Park. The park, located at 6th and Wharton, underwent major transformation this spring and now has a fabulous green space perfect for Thursday night picnics and listening to music! The South Philly Food Co-op is partnering to bring food fun to the well-established summer music series organized by Friends of Gold Star Park. We’ll also have membership applications and volunteers on-hand to answer questions. Bring your checkbook or your credit card and join the co-op on the spot! Every Thursday in July at 7pm join South Philly Food Co-op, Gold Star Park, and your neighbors for the following food and music events. July 7 - Local Fruit and Veggie Tasting Music: Artístas y Músicos Latino Americanos (AMLA) Youth Latin Jazz Ensemble We'll be providing samples of in-season fruits and vegetables for everyone to sample. Bring your friends, bring your neighbors, bring your kids - this is a great way to become familiar with what is in-season in our region and maybe try something new. We will also feature a blind "Taste-Test" pitting Local/Organic versus conventional produce. Do you think you can tell the difference? Special thanks to Pennsylvania Horticulture Society for providing the grant to purchase the produce, and to Birchtree Catering for sourcing and cutting up the veggies and fruit. July 14 - Picnic Potluck Music: The Philadelphia Ukulele Orchestra Bring something tasty to share - meet and mingle with your neighbors and like-minded folks interested in food, community, and music. July 21 - Dessert Bake-Off Music: The Knife & Fork Band Calling all you Betty Crockers and pastry-chef wannabees, or just lovers of chocolate and all things dessert. Bring your best sweet creation to the Gold Star Park and enter to win the first ever SPFC Dessert Throw Down - you could go down in history. A prize worthy of dessert awesomeness will be awarded. Even if you don't win best of show, going home with a belly full of yummy treats is a good consolation prize! July 28 - Local Fruit and Veggie Tasting Music: Railroad Fever We'll be providing another tasting in-season fruits and vegetables for everyone to sample. What will be in season 3 weeks later? You'll have come out to Gold Star Park and find out. Special thanks to PHS for providing the grant to purchase the produce, and to Birchtree Catering for cutting up the veggies and fruit.

[caption id="attachment_1630" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Photo compliments of Martin Brown at Little Baby’s Ice Cream"][/caption] Last summer I bought an $80 Cuisinart Home Ice Cream maker at William’s Sonoma because I had a coupon for 40% off. At the time I thought it could end up being another underutilized kitchen gadget that I bought on an impulse. Little did I know that a year later I would be opening up a small batch, artisanal ice cream business. I have read pretty much every homemade ice cream book and done a whole lot of experimenting. Making ice cream at home is incredibly fun. It’s limitless and even the clumsiest of home cooks can give it a whirl. Think of it as anti-cooking. The beauty of ice cream is that with a simple ratio and some guiding principles you can get started with a store bought machine with a very good likelihood for success. Here’s my basic ratio for your traditional 2-3 quart home ice cream machine. All you need to remember is 4-2-1-1/2 for a custard base. ------------- 4 egg yolks (farm fresh and bright orange, egg yolks are an amazing natural emulsifier, the thing that binds fats and water together making frozen ice crystals taste smooth and creamy – you can bump this up to 6 if you have a lot of other ingredients like rich chocolate or peanut butter) 2 cups cream (the higher the fat content the better 36% is good 40% is better) 1 cup milk (whole is preferable) ½ cup sugar (there are many things that can make things sweeter so start with a half cup only)

The only two techniques you need to consider:

1) The trick to a custard is to temper the egg yolks. Put the 4 egg yolks and sugar in a medium mixing bowl and whisk together. The sugar will help break up the yolks. Bring cream and milk up to a simmer in a pot (don’t boil, don’t microwave). Very slowly drip the hot dairy into the egg yolk while whisking. If you pour too fast then you get scrambled eggs. Pour out about half the pot then return to heat. Then pour the eggs from the bowl back into the pot – very slowly while whisking – that’s called tempering the eggs. Simmer on low while continually stirring until you get a thick almost pudding like consistency that coats the back of a spoon. This could take up to 10 minutes. Now that you know how to do this you can do crème catalan, crème brulee, real homemade pudding and a ton of other stuff. 2) Ice cream is a frozen foam. The idea is to freeze air in fat and water. At home you’re limited to how much air and coldness you can treat the custard mix to by the limitations of commercial machines for home use. In other words not much air and not too cold. When you’ve made your custard it must get as cold as possible overnight in a refrigerator. Whisking, blending or immersion blending might add a little bit of air but not much. Basically just stir to make sure everything is consistent before pouring, get that bowl as cold as possible right from the freezer before you start your batch, let it do its thing in the machine for about 20 minutes and get everything in the coldest part of the freezer to harden for a good couple of hours or overnight. From this point on, the ice cream should only get warmer right before you eat it. The more you take it in and out of the freezer the icier it gets. Please don’t ever put ice cream in the microwave or leave it out on the counter. If you’re going to be serving it slowly over the course of the evening leave it in the refrigerator if you need it to be a little softer, just don’t forget to get it back in the freezer as soon as possible.

Tips

-It doesn’t hurt to add a little vanilla extract to everything (even chocolate). Spend the money and buy a real vanilla extract like Nielsen-Massey Bourbon Vanilla. -Want your ice cream to be softer after hardening? Add sugar or alcohol – both raise the freezing point. -Honey, agave and anything that’s not sugar is usually sweeter than sugar and may make things too sweet and too soft. So use to taste rather than any prescribed quantity. -Leave salt out of it. I don’t think it really enhances anything, even chocolates. If you want to go for a saltier, more savory flavor think about something else. Peanut butter and chocolate both usually have some salt in them. -Steep: you can cold steep teas, coffees, cereals, your favorite candies, vegetables, bubble gum, whatever you want. Put it in some milk for a couple of hours and see what it tastes like, too long and you might start growing something that only scientists would find interesting. -Inclusions: the best part about homemade machines is you can dump whatever you want into the mix. Just make sure to do it in about the last 30 seconds. Otherwise those cookies or brownies or whatever will get so cold the whole thing will turn into a cement mix and break your machine. -Acid and dairy don’t mix: almost any fruit juice, even apple juice will make dairy curdle. For acidic fruit flavors look up online how to mix (usually a recommended heat temperature where the two will play along with each other.) -More water means more ice crystals: generally something you want to avoid. So if you add 2 cups of watermelon juice to your mix don’t expect it to be as smooth and creamy as adding caramel. -Nuts and chocolates will make things harder so think about something to go with them or add more sugar or a splash of alcohol. -There are a million and one recipes online but you should really experiment on your own. You’re never going to be able to make Haagen-Daaz style ice cream at home so don’t bother – go straight for animal crackers and figs or whatever else your imagination can think of. Martin Brown is a musician and arts administrator currently venturing into the ice cream business with Little Baby’s Ice Cream (www.littlebabysicecream.com). Being a Maryland transplant his favorite food is crabs, as a South Philly homeowner his favorite food is anything he grills in his backyard.

Have you switched your energy supplier yet? Now when you switch to The Energy Cooperative and list South Philly Co-op as your referral source, The Energy Co-op will give South Philly Food Co-op $20. With PECO’s rates continuing to increase, now is a great time to make the switch with the added bonus of supporting the South Philly Food Co-op. The Energy Co-op offers members renewable electricity at affordable rates, plus, all of the renewable power is purchased in PA. If interested, go to www.theenergy.coop or call 215-413-2122 for more information. When you fill out your application for The Energy Co-op, please list "South Philly Food Co-op" when you are asked "How did you hear about us?" Please pass this on to your friends, and ask them to help support our effort to open a community grocery store. Anyone who switches to The Energy Co-op can list us as a referral. Additional information about The Energy Co-op

• All renewable power is purchased in PA, which means improved air quality for your community and more local jobs.
• This is an effort to encourage more participation in the cooperative movement, as well as a way for cooperatives to collaborate in the Philadelphia area.
• Referral program ends September 30, 2011. Please make the switch before then!

On which committee do you serve? Legal and Finance. What do you do for a living? Nonprofit management (aka intellectual do-goodery) How did you get involved with the food co-op? I moved to the neighborhood less than two years ago with a commitment to becoming involved in some way. I attended a PSCA meeting, at which the co-op organizers presented. Having written about co-ops historically and dreamed for years of being involved with the creation of one, I had to get involved. Why do you want a food co-op in South Philly? We're pretty lucky in South Philly with the variety of food that exists in the area--from the Italian Market to the Asian grocery stores. But a co-op to me is much more than a place to buy food. It's about forging community. Back in the 1970s, people thought co-ops would eliminate capitalism. They definitely overestimated their influence, but they had a vision of a less consumerist, more connective lifestyle that is extremely appealing to me and that more people should be aware of. Why should people join a food co-op? To get involved in their neighborhood through one of the most basic and powerful human activities--eating! What is your favorite meal to cook and why? My cooking exploits occur in phases. While I was in college, I baked and decorated cakes like a madwoman. A couple years ago, I started making bread and was determined to cook my way through Rose Levy Beranbaum's Bread Bible--I've stalled, unfortunately. Lately, I've been doing quick (pesco)vegetarian meals, like asian salmon burgers with slaw or brussel sprout salad with dried cranberries and toasted walnuts (if you want the recipe it's at: http://eatingreading.wordpress.com/brussel-sprout-salad-recipe/ ). But, truly, with so much amazing food to eat in Philadelphia, it's hard to justify cooking..