Discover folklife and cultural heritage of people in our Greater Philadelphia community through interviews, stories, memories, and photos.

For 76-year-old Beaty, people and their histories are the intangibles that drive him in the salvaging business. Known for his dedication to recycling, reusing, and reselling unearthed and forgotten treasures, Bob Beaty has been working in reclaiming—high end and low end, both in Philadelphia and beyond—since childhood.

Christina Zani makes and sells pasta through her Instagram account @p.a.s.t.a_n.i.g.h.t. She celebrates old school recipes and distribution methods, in a new school and contemporary way by using social media to share her offerings, communicate with neighbors, and arrange in person pickups.

On March 19, 2023 friends and neighbors of the Cesar Andreu Iglesias Garden, a north Philly community space, gathered together for a pre-equinox celebration by spending the day cooking together in the traditional methods of many of their homelands.

Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. Few places display this as succinctly and eloquently as the luncheonette. Larger than a corner deli, more compact and cozy than a diner, the luncheonette is an unpretentious, diverse, and delicious slice of life from each block–each a micro-universe unto itself.

Traditionally in Poland, preparations for Wigilia begin weeks before December 24th. Most of December, leading up to Christmas Eve, is then dedicated to recipes that take longer to make such as piernik and pierogi. The pierogi recipe that I use has been passed down by my paternal grandmother.

The Livengood family is deeply involved in the Lancaster to Philadelphia foodway connection that thrives in farmers markets and CSA boxes across the city and region, and they are now forging new directions in regenerative farming and permaculture. The Livengoods welcomed me to the farm to talk about their family’s farming story.

My first fishing experience is one of my most vivid memories of my childhood. I was fishing in Lenapehoking, using one of our traditional foods as bait, and I caught an animal that is sacred not only to Lenape people but to many Indigenous People all over North and South America.

Mallory Valvano is the force behind Party Girl Bake Club. Her cakes are instantly recognizable and have become a bit of a hot commodity in South Philly. Mallory and I took a dive into the past to see what family traditions lurk beneath the technicolor frosting dreamscapes you can see on her popular Instagram page.