Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

Situated amidst richly fertile farmland and home to innovative urban growing projects, Philadelphia is a market-goer’s dream. The open-air stalls dotting the city and countryside—from the sleek urban gathering place known as The Piazza at Schmidts to the gingham-clothed tables of the Phoenixville Market—collectively connect consumers to freshly grown and produced food every day of the week. With many now accepting electronic payments, Philly’s growing roster of markets has made eating fresh, local food a way of life for its residents. Here are just a few places to find seasonal goodies and support area farms:

Year-Round Markets:

• The only

A city reveals itself through its street food, and Philadelphia has always had a bountiful spread of on-the-fly options. Locals and visitors can taste food truck fare en masse at Night Market Philadelphia, scheduled for two Thursday evenings this season, May 24 in Northern Liberties and June 28 along Washington Avenue, or at Philadelphia’s second-annual Vendy Awards, in which the city’s best food trucks vie to be the best, this July. Of course, foodies can always taste the yummy creations the original way, on city streets. Local food trucks run the gamut from student grub in stainless steel

In Philadelphia and The Countryside®, more and more people—especially those with children—have developed an interest in understanding where their food comes from and finding ways to get involved in the local food scene. Whether they want to buy fresh food for their family, get a taste of new local flavors or teach their kids that milk comes from a cow not a carton, a growing number of visitors and locals are finding answers through agritourism—agricultural activities on or sponsored by farms.

Here’s a look at some of the region’s family-friendly offerings:

Easy Pickins:

• Active Acres Farm, located just north

Surrounded by farms and populated by genius food artisans, Philadelphia and The Countryside® offers a local bounty that’s staggering in any season. From impossibly sweet corn and perfect chèvre to exquisite gelato and to-die-for canelés, the 100-mile radius of Philly eating feels like the center of the world. Here’s a look at just a few of the region’s amazing homegrown eats:

Down On The Farms:

• Kennett Square is widely known as the mushroom capital of the world, and Mother Earth Mushrooms, with its variety of fresh and dried organic varieties (white, portabella, baby bella and shitake), is a standout

Eating locally and supporting Philly’s food producers is simply a matter of knowing where to shop. From freshly made cupcakes and fried chicken at prepared food emporiums to the ready-made cookies and hummus at specialty markets to the simple wraps and locally roasted coffee at area cafes, the foods of Philadelphia and The Countryside® are made to be enjoyed on the go—during a concert at Crossing Vineyards Winery, at a picnic in Rittenhouse Square, in a hotel room or at home. The following are just a few of the many options to explore:

Prepared Foods:

• A foodie’s paradise, Garces

Philadelphia’s flavor is a dynamic mix of traditional ethnic recipes and new culinary inventions, well-known treats and obscure dishes. Among the region’s signature foods are national favorites like Italian water ice, Pennsylvania Dutch pretzels and the ever-popular cheesesteak. Other local favorites include pork roll and scrapple, which are available here in the region and through services like Taste of Philadelphia, one of many companies that will ship Philly goodies throughout the U.S. Philadelphians are loyal to their edible heritage, and the following are just a few examples of foods that have left a lasting mark on the local palate:

• Everyone

Chef: Robert Bahm
Restaurant: Becca’s, 19 S. Whitehorse Road, Phoenixville, (484) 924-8502, beccasrestaurant.com
Love of Local: After a few decades in the restaurant industry, including 10 years at the award-winning Taquet Restaurant, chef Robert Bahm knows what makes great food. “The better the product you have and the more you can do yourself you ensure a superior finished product. [With local/organic] you get a superior product,” said Bahm. That’s the commitment to local he brings to the tables of Becca’s, the two-year-old fine dining restaurant named after his 12-year-old daughter.
What to Expect: A Victorian farmhouse-turned-Main Line mansion houses this

Name: Judy Wicks
Occupation: Local food pioneer, social activist
Her Story: Dubbed the founding mother of the local food movement, Judy Wicks has fundamentally changed the way Philadelphians think of food, and she’s proven that it’s possible for businesses to be environmentally and socially responsible and profitable. In 1983, Wicks founded the White Dog Cafe on the first floor of her West Philadelphia home, eventually growing it to a 200-seat restaurant featuring fresh local food with a national reputation for community engagement, environmental stewardship, responsible business practices and leadership in the local food movement. (When she sold White Dog in

Women have always had—and still have—a strong influence on what and how Americans eat. Yet from Betty Crocker to Rachael Ray, historically most have wielded that power from behind a stove. Today, there’s a new crop of women influencing the next generation of eaters—and many of them can be found right here in the Philadelphia region. But instead of making cooking simpler and eating easier, these female foodies are committed to providing high-quality local food and beverage. And instead of cooking up change from the kitchen, these smart and sassy ladies have chosen to cut the proverbial apron strings and

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) has launched yet another way for residents and visitors to eat their way through Philadelphia and The Countryside®, and that’s by using Foodspotting, one of Time magazine’s “Best Websites of 2010” and one of Travel + Leisure magazine’s “Top Travel Applications” of 2010. To promote local restaurants, wineries, hotels and markets to more than 800,000 Foodspotting users, Visit Philly has become a featured destination on the web and mobile platform dedicated to helping people find and share good food. To kick off the program, GPTMC will award one grand prize and 10 first

Why is it easy for Philadelphia region residents and visitors to eat locally? Locally grown fruits and vegetables taste better, support the local economy and help reduce carbon dioxide emissions produced from transportation. In the Philly food shed, from Amish country to the Atlantic Ocean, it’s fun to support the farmers, chefs, brewers, butchers and purveyors who make the local scene what it is. Here are five ways to eat locally:

• Meet Your Farmer: Residents and visitors can find local and fresh produce any day of the week at one of the five-county region’s 45 farmers’ markets. There’s also the

The following itinerary is available on visitphilly.com/food:

LOCATION: Center City; Old City; Fishtown/Kensington; Kennett Square; Center City; University City; Italian Market

TRANSPORTATION: Foot, taxi, bus, regional rail or car

DURATION: Three days and two nights

TRIP SYNOPSIS: Philadelphia and The Countryside® is bursting with local flavors—lively farmers’ markets, excellent wineries and breweries, local-minded specialty stores and top-notch restaurants sourcing their ingredients from area farms. A tour through the region’s indigenous flavors should hit all the legendary sites for local eats, plus some lesser-known finds.

FRIDAY:
Start Fresh
9:00 a.m. – Take a bus or a cab or walk to

Philadelphia Really Digs Community Gardens
Based on anecdotal evidence, Philadelphia boasts the second largest number of community gardens—a whopping 500—in the country, according to authors of a University of Pennsylvania report on sustainable food practices. From vacant-lots-turned-horticultural oases to urban “farms” on city land that yield fresh food for the surrounding community, the diversity of the gardens is great. And, so are the gardeners. High school students, senior citizens, community groups and members of ad-hoc co-ops are among the many Philadelphians who love getting their hands dirty while also helping to beautify the neighborhoods where their gardens live and boost

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s (GPTMC) Philly Homegrown® initiative announces new partnerships that will broaden people’s understanding of the region’s local food scene and drive them to visitphilly.com/food, where they can meet the makers, find out what’s in season, see the diversity of farmers’ markets open each week, get local recipes and more. Here’s a look at seven new partnerships:

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society:
GPTMC has partnered with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) for PHS Pops Up!, a temporary garden at 20^th and Market Streets. Through October, PHS is growing vegetables, herbs, grains and flowers to be

Philly Homegrown®, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s (GPTMC) education and marketing program promoting the area’s 100-mile food shed, has teamed with Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) “PHS Pops Up.” The giant temporary green space at 20^th and Market Streets is growing vegetables, herbs, grains and flowers for use by six local star chefs and hosting special tours, family events and Philly Homegrown® workshops to teach visitors and residents how to partake in Philadelphia’s local food scene.

Free Programming:
Philly Homegrown® workshops teach visitors how to grow regional fruits and vegetables using organic methods and how to save money

In 2008, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) conducted the Greater Philadelphia Food System Study to better understand the region’s food systems—all the processes involved in feeding a population, from growing and harvesting to processing and packaging. The study, released in January 2010, covers a wide range of food supply issues such as agricultural production, natural resources, the significance of the food economy and the people behind it all. Here are some key findings:

PHILLY FOODSHED: The region’s foodshed encompasses a 100-mile radius that extends from Center City, Philadelphia to 70 counties in five states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey,

This June, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, the William Penn Foundation and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission launched Philly Homegrown™, a tourism and education campaign to position the Philadelphia region’s local food scene as a new, key feature of the destination. The region’s abundance of farm land, fresh food and accessibility to the Atlantic Ocean make eating local in Philly a given. Here are several additional local programs working to make eating local fun and easy:

• Buy Fresh Buy Local®: This national campaign builds the market for locally grown and produced foods. The Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local® chapters

Foodies eager to dig into Philadelphia’s local food scene need look no further than visitphilly.com/food. The special section on the Philadelphia region’s official tourism Web site allows visitors to plan their Philly Homegrown experience—farmers’ markets, restaurants, pick-your-own options, Amish treats and Philadelphia faves—from start to finish. On visitphilly.com/food, visitors can:

• Explore the tons of local food offerings in Philadelphia, including farmers’ markets, restaurants that use local ingredients, pick-your-own farms and orchards, wineries and breweries
• Plan a whole day—or a few days—of local nourishment with Center City and regional itineraries
• Meet the people leading Philadelphia’s local food movement, from