As 2017 comes to a close, we’d like to take this opportunity to look back at Vetri Community Partnership’s amazing year. We expanded all of our programs to more schools and communities, bought a second Mobile Teaching Kitchen, and evolved the Eatiquette school lunch program to include classroom instruction and community outreach.

Special thanks to all of our dedicated donors and volunteers for helping to make it possible.

We thought we’d celebrate by listing the year’s Top 7 articles about Vetri Community Partnership. Enjoy!

  1. The Philly Restaurants That Give Back to the Community – VCP co-founder Marc Vetri started the year off right, landing the #4 spot on Eater Philadelphia’s list of “the most generous tables in town.” We continue to be inspired that so many Philly chefs and restaurateurs prioritize giving back to the community. 
  2. This Food Truck Teaches City Kids How To Cook (And Love!) Their Veggies – In February, our Mobile Teaching Kitchen (just three-months-old at the time) was included on Rodale’s Organic Life’s “100 Amazing Ideas” list in their Innovation Issue: “Distributing healthy, seasonal veggies in the city is great in theory—but what if kids don’t want to eat them, and people don’t have the recipes or familiarity to cook them? Philadelphia chef and restaurateur Marc Vetri has the answer: his new Mobile Teaching Kitchen”
  3. Changing perceptions one bowl of vegetable soup at a time – Each semester, Maureen Fitzgerald publishes 8-weeks of recipes, anecdotes and stories about our My Daughter’s Kitchen after-school cooking program. This article from March is one of our favorites from the Spring semester, mostly due to this high praise of the vegetable minestrone soup: “It tastes like angels made it,” she said dreamily. And then, as she continued to sip the soup, she changed her mind. “No, not angels. This tastes so good, it tastes like God himself made it.”
  4. Vetri Community Partnership’s Mobile Teaching Kitchen makes fresh food approachable – After a couple of months on the road, VCP’s community outreach manager Amy Falkenstein wrote a piece for Philly.com to explain how the Mobile Teaching Kitchen bridges the final gap to healthy eating by showing how simple and approachable making from-scratch dishes at home can be. She explains: “When I hear someone say ‘I can’t believe this tastes so good!’ or ‘She’s a picky eater, I never thought she’d eat this!’ I know that we are doing our part by making healthy food preparation and eating approachable, fun, and, most importantly, delicious.”
  5. North Philly kids plant, harvest and feast on fresh food at Osteria – This summer, we were excited to partner with our friends at Osteria to create a special experience for students in Duckrey Elementary School’s Steppingstone Scholars program. On a beautiful July afternoon, they got their hands dirty planting herbs, tomatoes, greens and more in the restaurant’s adjacent garden with cofounder Jeff Michaud and chef de cuisine Jesse Grossman. In October, they returned to harvest and enjoy a meal using the garden’s bounty. 
  6. Fresh for All produce market in Souderton joins in the giving – As part of 6ABC’s Thanksgiving coverage, reporter Tamala Edwards visited the Mobile Teaching Kitchen at Philabundance’s Fresh for All market in Souderton, PA. Every Tuesday, Philabundance sets up a free market and VCP’s chef mentors lead cooking demonstrations that show shoppers what to do with the fresh produce they just received.
  7. Vetri Cooking Lab gets kids in the kitchen – What’s our “secret sauce” for getting kids to try (and enjoy!) fresh, healthy ingredients? VCP’s CEO Marlene Olshan explains how our Vetri Cooking Lab program engages students in the process of cooking and eating, which in turns inspires them to make healthier decisions about the food they purchase, cook and eat.