About This Site

The site is focused on finding and eating locally grown/produced food in Philadelphia, its surrounding suburbs, and South Jersey. Whether you consider yourself a locavore, an adherent to the 100 Mile Diet, a Slow Food-er, or something else, we can all agree that eating local is not only good for you, it's good for everyone!

Ten Reasons to Eat Local [click the link for more info]

1. Eating local means more for the local economy.
2. Locally grown produce is fresher.
3. Local food just plain tastes better.
4. Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen.
5. Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic.
6. Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons.
7. Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story.
8. Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism.
9. Local food translates to more variety.
10. Supporting local providers supports responsible land development.

We're not barefoot hippies with patchouli stank running around trying to save the world. We're students, homemakers, and professionals just trying to do what's best for us and what's best for our community - which is to eat local as often as possible!.

The writers

By day, Kevin is a high school English teacher in South Jersey. By night, he's still a teacher, but one who loves to cook when he's not grading papers. He lives with his wife and cat (pictured) in Queen Village. He dreams of one day cooking as well as Marc Vetri.

Never having owned a car, Allison has been dealing in local food for a long time. Happily, these days more "local" food is, actually, local. A big foodie, container gardener, and knitter (there's a local movement there, too), Allison lives in South Philly.

Erin lives in West Philadelphia, where she writes thinks about sustainable urban gardens, local food, city chickens and ninja-style abandoned land reclamation. She writes the vegetarian food blog Veggicurious, and can be found, when not coordinating programs at the Kelly Writers House, cooking in the her kitchen (or someone else’s), making trips to local farmers markets and the Mariposa Co-Op, riding her bicycle, and trying to get more people to compost.

A self-proclaimed ecovore, Melanie lives and eats with her two cats in West Philly. A graduate student by day and night, she spends much of the time that should be devoted to German literature thinking about food, the environment and what tasty local meal can be created from her latest CSA share. Recently, Melanie decided to speak up about (or write down) her thoughts on being an environmentalist gastronome in blog form. On top of cooking, eating talking food - politics - environment, she also enjoys pampering her cats, riding her bike, reading (lots), listening to great music, knitting (infrequently), sewing (even more infrequently than knitting!), roof gardening (harvest pictured) and spending time with her wonderful friends.

Charlotte Markward is a 34-year old local-eatin’ Philly resident. Originally from Southwestern Chester County, she played with Amish kids until she left for college in the big city. After racking up tons of student loans, Charlotte decided to stay in her new urban landscape. But after a while, the call of the rural (most notably, the raw milk that she grew up with) hearkened. But low and behold! To her delight, there’s a budding local foods movement afoot! So in addition to her day job as a freelance graphic designer and marketing maven, she spends her time visiting farms and eatin’ local!

Nicole [email], 35, lives with her husband, three cats, and one dog in Delaware County. Nicole keeps a vegetable garden and loves to cook, read, and knit. She swears she's learning a bevy of skills [like cheesemaking and spinning yarn] so she can drop off the grid and live like a hermit or survive in case of the shit hitting the fan politically, but she really just likes to learn new things. Nicole also likes to go skydiving now and then, and is a member of a local dragonboat team. She volunteers at the Fair Food Farmstand and Planned Parenthood.

Mikaela lives in the Philadelphia 'burbs with her boys, a crew of quadrapeds and an adorable little vegetable garden. In addition to being a mom, Mikaela enjoys her work as a Certified Health Counselor and a Marketing and Public Relations Director. Her passions are healthy and whole living, empowering people to reach their wellness goals, great communication and speniding loads of time with friends and family.

Jackie lives with her husband, son and three cats in Philadelphia, just blocks from the Wissahickon. When she's not cooking, reading or writing, Jackie knits sporadically, pushes a stroller up unfairly steep hills regularly, gardens seasonally, and is the treasurer of her local Friends of the Free Library branch.



Eliza is 33, and Germantown born and bred. She loves to mesh her love for city living with her love for good, organic, local food. On disability due to her cystic fibrosis, she spends her days petting her three cats, being an aunt to her niece and nephews, hanging out in person or by phone with her family and friends, reading Tintins, sleeping, and devising exciting lunches for her lovely partner of nine years, M.

Naomi lives in West Philadelphia and is a PhD candidate in neuroscience. When not in lab, she enjoys eating seasonally and locally. She also knits and spins her own yarn.

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