At Vetri Community Partnership, we try to start every staff meeting with an icebreaker—something to get everyone warmed up, laughing, engaged in friendly debate, and feeling cheerful as we head into a meeting filled with updates about our important work. From the last staff meeting, I gathered some answers about what everyone’s summer food highlight has been so far. This led to a spirited conversation with tons of food inspiration shared as we near the end of the summer growing season. But, it’s not over yet! So, I’ll kick it off with my answer about the joy of summer peaches.
Lately, at the farmer’s market, I’ve been grabbing peaches for the week ahead. Nearly every day this summer, I have sliced up a peach into wedges and savored the flavor of nature’s candy just as it is: juicy, sweet, peachy perfection. If you’re feeling more ambitious, our recipe for Peach and Pepper Salsa has been a hit this summer and was given an enthusiastic thumbs up by the cutest group of kindergarteners.
Marc Vetri, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Board: My backyard fig tree has been crushing it this summer! There’s nothing better than picking your own figs and eating them throughout the week—or just all at once if that’s more your jam.
Kelsey D., SNAP-Ed Educator: I recently read about this Irish tradition around blackberries, and it got me wanting to eat as many blackberries as I possibly could. I’ve been grabbing small pints of blackberries from Rowhouse Grocery (a beloved Vetri Community Partnership partner!) and eating them and imagining I’m in Ireland.
A note from Maddy: Kelsey brought some blackberries in to share this week and YUM, what a delight!
Fae E., Development & Communications Manager: This summer for me has been all about MINT! I grew a bumper crop of mint—astonishingly easy to do, even for someone with a black thumb like me!–and have been putting mint in everything. My favorite recipe for mint has been this bright, crunchy salad loaded with couscous, snap peas, asparagus, and loads of herbs, including my beloved mint.
Tara D., Culinary Medicine Program Manager: A soul-filling moment I had recently was when Lacey (Cornell, SNAP-Ed Program Manager) brought in beautiful tomatoes from her home garden into the office. I hadn’t had a good tomato all summer, and I was starting to get grouchy about it. Once I took a bite of that beautiful yellow tomato, my spirits lifted and my soul felt full.
Sheila M., Director of Finance and Operations: I don’t want to say corn because it makes me feel extra Iowan, but unfortunately, it is corn. It’s perfect on the cob, but I’ve also noticed that people in the Mid-Atlantic region appreciate corn a little more. It seems like every restaurant in the city has some kind of pasta dish with corn, corn soups, and even corn ice cream!
Alex Z., SNAP-Ed Educator: I’ve been cooking a lot with Japanese eggplant lately because they’re just so much easier to cut than an Italian eggplant. They’re great in stir-fry, which is mostly how I’ve been eating them, but the VCP Garlicky Eggplant recipe has always been a crowd-pleaser, if you want an eggplant recipe.
Liz B., SNAP-Ed Educator: My summer food highlight has to be the nectarines that I get from the Clark Park Farmer’s Market.
Whitney S., Marketing Coordinator: For me, summer is all about peaches. There’s something about biting into a peach and letting the juice run down my hands that screams August. Actually, I was recently walking in South Philly and noticed a peach tree growing in front of someone’s house. I can’t even begin to describe how much joy it brought me!
