023 East End Food Co-Op's Story with Tyler Kulp

(00:54) Ever wondered how a food co-op can transform a community? In this episode of The Pittsburgh Dish, we're joined by Tyler Kulp, the interim general manager of East End Food Co-op, who takes us on a fascinating journey through the unique, community-based essence of the co-op. Tyler sheds light on their vast selection of every day items, bulk grains, and fresh local produce, as well as the gradual reopening of their cafe post-COVID. As the co-op is open to everyone, we decode the perks of membership, which include not just discounts but a voice in the co-op's governance.

(10:05) Tyler shares the co-op’s deep commitment to community values, sustainable practices, and exceptional customer service that sets it apart from large competitors. We also delve into the positive worker experience at the co-op, highlighting comprehensive benefits, fair wages, and the tight-knit community of employees, some of whom have been with the co-op for decades.

(24:06) Get inspired by the East End Food Co-op’s sustainability initiatives and community engagement efforts. Discover their partnership with Zero Waste Wrangler for composting and recycling, and learn about their presence at community events like VegFest. 

(31:51) We also check in with Ashley Cesaratto on a dining spot for any special someone in your life. As a final treat, Adjo Honsou shares her cherished black-eyed peas recipe, complete with tips and pairing suggestions, promising a wholesome culinary experience. Tune in for an episode brimming with insights into our vibrant local food scene.

Transcript

Doug: 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. What exactly is a co-op grocery store and how has Pittsburgh's own been going for 40 years? We'll learn about it with this week's guest. Thinking about your next dining spot to share with someone special, we get a pick from Ashley Cesaratto and looking to take some black-eyed peas to the next level, we have a recipe that gives it an au jus flavor boost. All that ahead, stay tuned. Thanks for listening to The Pittsburgh Dish. We'd love you to support the show on our Buzzsprout page. You can sign up for $3, $5, $8, or $10 a month and cancel at any time. Your support helps us to keep the show going and producing the content that you already enjoy. Thank you, hey. Thanks so much for coming over and being on the show. Would you introduce yourself and the role you have going on right now in the world of food?

Tyler: 1:05

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be on the Pittsburgh Dish and chatting with you today. Doug, my name is Tyler Kulp. I am the interim general manager of the East End Food Co-op in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I've been at the co-op. This is my 10th year. Wow. I've been in a few different roles since I started at the co-op back in 2014. I started out in prepared foods and then I moved to manage the produce department, and now I am in the interim GM role. Our former general manager left at the end of January and I took over as part of a team initially, and now appointed as the interim GM. Oh, that's awesome. So a lot going on at the co-op, as always, but happy to be in the role and honored to try and serve our membership. So, tyler.

Doug: 1:53

I would love to define first for our listeners, if someone hasn't visited the co-op. It's a grocery store, right? It's sort of like a community-based, more locally focused. How would you describe it and how would you describe the shopping experience? What are people going to find in the store?

Tyler: 2:10

If you walk into the front doors of the East End Food Co-op and you don't know anything about the cooperative business model or how the co-op is governed, it's going to look like a small, locally owned natural foods grocery store. Yes, it's going to look like a small, locally owned natural foods grocery store. Yes, we have fresh produce from local farmers and from national distributors. We have a large bulk grains and beans section.

Doug: 2:34

It's one of the largest, if not the largest in the city, which I think is great, by the way, when you want something special and you want a certain amount or you don't want to overbuy. I think that's, for me, one of my favorite things about the co-op. Yeah.

Tyler: 2:45

We do well in bulk and it really makes us stand out and I'd say our local produce selection is also something that makes us unique from other city grocery stores and you'll find, you know, dry pasta and teas and everything you would find in a grocery store milk, eggs, butter, meat.

Doug: 3:03

So I know, like with the cafe, that's one of my favorite things. But things changed with the lockdown. Do you ever see it? You know kind of reopening the way it was.

Tyler: 3:12

Since COVID, the prepared food section has been on a little bit of a journey, but we are. We do produce in-house made sandwiches, salads, wraps and other you know takeaway goods like hot soups, cold soups, freshly made juices that are bottled, and we are actually um.

Tyler: 3:30

starting on July 4th, we're reopening our beverage bar, so you'll be able to come into the co-op three days a week Thursday, friday, saturday and order freshly made smoothies, juices, cold brew iced teas, lemonades, et cetera. That's like phase one of our cafe reopening plan. But all the grab and go cold and hot food has been there the whole time, so we make a really nice selection of grain bowls and salads Really nice.

Doug: 3:56

So good, yeah, let's do a couple just logistic things too. Can you give us your hours right now and days of the week?

Tyler: 4:04

We are open seven days a week, from 8 am to 8 pm.

Doug: 4:07

Okay, and what is the address? It's sort of the end of like North Point Breeze, almost going into Wilkinsburg.

Tyler: 4:13

Correct. Our address is 7516 Meade Street and we're in a building called the Factory, which is located at the corner of Penn Avenue and Braddock. So it's a big intersection there, but the front entrance is behind the front of the building on Meade Street.

Doug: 4:29

And I will just say, because Pittsburghers are Pittsburghers, you have parking and it's free.

Tyler: 4:34

That is correct. We have a parking lot. The building does have a couple other tenants in it, but a couple of the tenants have left, so parking is easier to find there now than ever. There's also on-street parking, and it's all free.

Doug: 4:46

It's also bike-friendly.

Tyler: 4:47

Yes, we have bike rack inside and outside. We also have if you're commuting by bike to the co-op. We have a lock available at customer service desk. If you forgot your lock, you can come in and grab one lock up your bike outside.

Doug: 5:00

All right outside. All right, I think we should talk a little bit for listeners to about the sort of the makeup of the co-op and maybe some of the democratic parts of it. Can you give us a little summary of that?

Tyler: 5:12

Yes, so anyone can shop at the East End Food Co-op. We are open to everyone and membership is not required to shop. Though membership does have its advantages in the form of discounts on everyday purchases, a quarterly discount reserved for the date of your choosing. You can place special orders and get even bigger discounts on retail pricing, and you also get a democratic say in how the co-op is run. So the way, the way the cooperative business model is structured is, there's a base of membership that elects a board of directors. So we have an election every fall and the seats are staggered. So not every seat is open every year. This year, I believe, we're going to have three seats up for election. That process will unfold starting at the end of the summer, and then the board of directors is responsible for hiring and overseeing the general manager.

Doug: 6:08

All right.

Tyler: 6:09

So the board currently is my boss and then I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the store, including all of the other staff, management, stock clerks etc. And membership. Yeah, it's sort of like a checks and balances system. You could say the board is there to serve the membership. We currently have almost 17,000 members. We just crossed, I think, 16,700 members as of last week.

Doug: 6:34

Democratic that's amazing actually. Yeah, it's great. I just want to. Over 16,000 members are part of your grocery store co-op, correct.

Tyler: 6:41

And that is the actually, that's the number of active members, and we define active members as having shopped, like once a year for the last few years. So there are actually 23,000 members. About six of them have gone inactive but it doesn't mean they're not members, it's just we consider them inactive. They could have moved away a long time ago and the way the membership works at the co-op. You invest a $100 share in the co-op and that's a lifetime one-time payment.

Doug: 7:11

Lifetime.

Tyler: 7:11

Yeah, not annual or monthly or anything Yep $100 lifetime investment and it's fully refundable if you decide you don't want to shop at the co-op or you're going to move out of Pittsburgh, for whatever reason, you can ask to have your share refunded to you.

Doug: 7:27

If I pay the $100, is that for just me or is that for my household? How does that work?

Tyler: 7:33

That is for your household. Yes, and you're issued. When you sign up for a membership, you can list the other names of the people in your household and you will be the primary member. So only the primary member can vote in the board of directors elections. But the household members can use the membership and get the discounts and place special orders, et cetera.

Doug: 7:53

All right. Can you share a little bit about any community partners you're working with or your focus on maybe bringing in local stuff? What is that like?

Tyler: 8:03

One of our main missions at the co-op is to work with local vendors, local food producers and, from all over the map of you know farmers that grow lettuces and beets to. You know small producers that make local cheese makers. We have local sushi makers. Like all over the map, that everything that our members and shoppers want to have in the store we look for a local version of. So we're always on the lookout for new local partners to work with. We use a lot of local distributors, like Clarion River Organics out of Clarion County, pa, and they are under cooperative as well with a series of Amish farms that deliver to Pittsburgh twice a week in the growing season. They also have a cheese and milk line called Three Rivers Grown and they bring local milks from Western PA, eggs, cheese, meats yeah, lots of other delicious stuff. And that's one of the things I think that you know really exciting and fun job for me is to meet the local vendors and and help them have a platform to get their products in front of more people and keep that money in the community.

Tyler: 9:13

As the co-op, you know the other big part of our business model is you know that money stays in the community. We hire local people. We support local vendors. We don't have a national you know shareholders or CEO. That's siphoning off profit. Any revenue and profit that we make goes back into the business and back into the community. We do a register roundup program where customers can choose if they want to round up their purchases to the nearest dollar. We do that on a quarterly basis where we have two recipients every quarter and the money gets divided evenly between both recipients.

Doug: 9:47

Cool, I love that how many folks work at the co-op?

Tyler: 9:50

Yeah, right now we have about 75 employees at the co-op full, full and part-time employees and we've been you know, we've been a employer in the community now for four. This is our 44th year as an incorporated business. We've been there since 1980.

Doug: 10:05

It actually started up sort of like a little mini membership in the 70s. Right there was a family and then it just got bigger and bigger and the actual incorporation, as you said, 1980. And, like over the years, you've expanded right or moved around. It wasn't in Garfield and then where it is now.

Tyler: 10:22

Yeah, so in the 70s I'm not sure exactly the date, but yeah, it started basically as a small buying club out of somebody's garage and it had a handful of you know neighbors and family members got together to start a buying club to try to get better pricing on the bulk grains and beans and other things like that they wanted to get you know, get a better price on and find a natural or organic version of which was hard to find In the 1970s super hard, but it was a big movement that was starting.

Tyler: 10:48

Yes, yeah, we consider ourselves to be a part of what they call the second wave of co-ops. Okay, the first wave goes back to really about the 30s and 40s, when there weren't traditional grocery stores as we know them now. So people kind of had to band together to be able to afford things during the Depression. So people kind of had to band together to be able to afford things during the Depression. And those co-ops lasted for a couple of decades. But then grocery stores really started to proliferate across the United States small chains, larger chains and there wasn't as much of a need for that cooperative model. And then in the late 60s, early 70s, you saw a resurgence in the cooperative model where everything that was going on socially at the time, which obviously before my time.

Tyler: 11:28

But you saw another big outcropping of co-op starting across the world and we were started around that time and, yes, originally we were where the Pittsburgh Glass Center is now on.

Tyler: 11:39

Penn Avenue in Garfield. That was one of our if not the first, one of our earliest locations and I think we moved to Meade Street around 84. And there was another co-op in Pittsburgh at the time, another food co-op called the Simple Street Co-op. I'm not sure exactly the circumstances, but they ended up kind of dissolving as a physical location and we absorbed their membership into ours and we've been the only food co-op in Pittsburgh since then.

Doug: 12:07

Yeah, going strong, though for 40 years.

Tyler: 12:11

Yeah, and we're poised this year for our highest sales year ever. So there's a real movement. I think right now, behind co-ops, there has been a third wave starting in the last 15 to 20 years. A lot of suburban you know Minneapolis suburbs. There's a huge outcropping of co-ops there. You're seeing a lot of co-ops that second wave co-ops like us expanding into second stores or relocating to larger spaces to serve their membership as there is a growing demand to combat the Amazonification of our shopping experiences and keep things local and have that direct, tangible experience?

Tyler: 12:49

I think back to one of your earlier questions. When you walk in the doors of the co-op, what I like to think you're going to find is you're going to see staff members who are community members just like yourself. They're committed to the same mission and the same values that our membership and our local shoppers have commitment to local, commitment to sustainability. We compost everything. We got rid of plastic bags in 2008, long before the city ban, which we're so grateful.

Tyler: 13:18

The city finally did that, and we are. We've seen a lot more reusable bags since then, so it's definitely helped. But yeah, that that's sort of always the I like to think, and I'm biased because I love the co-op. It's my home.

Ashley: 13:29

Of course.

Tyler: 13:30

But we're always a little bit ahead of the curve in some of those trends. Until, I would say, the late 90s, early 2000s, you couldn't really find organic groceries anywhere. Whole Foods came into Pittsburgh in the early 2000s and that changed things and by now you can get organic tempeh at Target. So we have to really lean into our customer service and that experience of shopping in your community, amongst your neighbors, to stand out from those competitors.

Doug: 13:59

Yeah, when I walk in I do feel a friendly neighborhood vibe. Everyone is so helpful and, unlike certain places, they talk to you. I mean that sounds awful. But it's not just about customer service, but it is about neighborly hospitality and I think that's what I love about it, even in your checkout experience.

Tyler: 14:23

Thank you, doug. Yeah, I feel the same way and I have. I was a member of the co-op when I first moved to Pittsburgh, before I started working there, and I had the same experience. Walking in there, I just felt, oh yeah, this is, this is where I shop, these are my people. Yeah, they have the products that I want and the standards of quality that I'm interested in, but even more than that, it just feels like home, an easy place to shop and to hang out. Great, this is Tyler Kulp, interim General Manager of the East End Food Co-op, and you are listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug: 14:56

Can we talk a little bit about the worker experience in the co-op? It seems like a lot of folks have been there a long time. You've been there a pretty long time. So, what's it like as an employee?

Tyler: 15:09

of the co-op, I want to acknowledge our very hardworking staff it is not always easy to be there from early morning until late into the evening and customers and deliveries and vendors. We have a lot going on. It's a dynamic business from before we open until after we close and staff work very hard throughout all of those different challenges and we like to consider ourselves very benefit rich as an employer. You know the co-ops were founded on that sort of foundation of you know we provide healthcare. We've been over minimum wage for very long time especially here in Pennsylvania.

Tyler: 15:50

Our current starting wage is in line with the MIT livable wage when you factor in benefits and paid breaks. We offer full healthcare to full-time staff vision, dental. We have a retirement match plan for a simple IRA. We do paid time off. It accrues at a percentage of hours worked as you move into seniority. So you know you can, after a couple of years you can have four to six weeks of vacation every year and that's to balance out that. We recognize that it is a hard job and retail isn't for everybody, but we have some people who have been there for over 20 years.

Doug: 16:29

That was my question. I mean the employee longevity is there. I mean you said you've been there over 10. Do you have any idea who the longest tenured employee?

Tyler: 16:37

is Our member services services. Uh, specialist Leslie has been working at the co-op so long that we had to make up a start date because we don't know, we don't know, we weren't always great at record keeping, so we we don't know exactly when she started, but, um, yeah, Leslie's been there for a long time. Our bulk buyer, Jim, um, he's been there for 20 years. Our it manager uh, she started in the cafe, um, making smoothies 24 years ago. Our HR manager has been there for 20 some years.

Doug: 17:07

Yeah, and I love what you said about yourself and that woman from smoothies to you.

Tyler: 17:12

Guys have moved around.

Doug: 17:13

So not just that you. You know we're having a good position, but there was opportunities to do even more.

Tyler: 17:20

Sure, we are a small organization with one location but we do hope to provide learning and advancement opportunities for all of our staff and education on the job. We train everybody on the job. You don't have to be an expert at retail or grocery to start as a cashier or a stock clerk and you'll grow all your skills from there and I think it shows in the longevity. We do have turnover. Obviously, like I said, retail's not for everyone and the hours can be tough, but just the fact that a lot of staff members have been there for more than four or five years, it is a really good job.

Doug: 17:54

So, tyler, we talked about this employee experience and all the benefits and some of the movement. You've been there a long time.

Tyler: 18:04

I'd like to talk a little bit more just about you. Sure, did you grow up here in Pittsburgh? Yeah, so I grew up in central Pennsylvania, in State College PA, where.

Ashley: 18:09

Penn State.

Tyler: 18:09

University is? Yeah, my parents were both Penn State students and you know they met there in school and stayed. My grandparents on my father's side also went to Penn State in the 50s and they still live there. What brought you to Pittsburgh then? Yeah, so my mom grew up in the South Hills in Bethel Park, so a lot of my mom's family is still here in the Pittsburgh area, and my brother moved here after college. After college, he was in Philly and then he moved to Pittsburgh to work for US Steel and he's my best friend. So I wanted to be closer to where he lived, and so it took me a few years to follow him here, but eventually I did in 2014. And I yeah, I've been at the co-op all like after, I think, three months of living in Pittsburgh, I ended up getting a job at the co-op and ever since Co-oping all the way. But before that I was working on an organic farm in central PA, right outside of State College.

Tyler: 19:03

And I was working managing their wholesale division. They had a line of value-added products so I was in charge of managing the wholesale production and getting those products into stores in Philadelphia and DC and Pittsburgh and the co-op was one of my customers. That is how I first made some connections with um, some former buyers and managers at the co-op that the buyer that I first started working with she retired shortly after I started working there. Um, but yeah, that was sort of my entry into into the co-op and into Pittsburgh. Food was um through that, through Tait farm foods where I started. Yeah, Tait farm, yeah, Tait Farm Foods is the name of the company on Tait Farm. It's in Center Hall, Pennsylvania. They're still around, they're still operating. Yep, we still sell their products at the co-op to this day. How great.

Doug: 19:48

So I love that connection. I'd love to ask just sort of another follow-up. You've been, then, in the food business for a really long time. What's your food life been for you, growing up cooking picky eater, not to cook for yourself, what's that like?

Tyler: 20:03

Well, yeah, I definitely was a picky eater as a kid, and so was my brother, and so was my dad, so that I, my poor mother, I think there were some nights where she made like three different meals, which is, yeah, I'll.

Tyler: 20:15

I'll never forgive myself for that. But yeah, you know I I became a more adventurous eater as I got into my teenage years and then early twenties, I think. You know I've I've always worked retail and having coworkers Um, I actually. So when I was a teenager, I started working in record stores and my um coworkers were all older than me, cause I was like the 16 year old kid that they would pay to sweep up the floor and you know dust, all the CD bins and things like that.

Tyler: 20:42

But they were, all you know, in their twenties and thirties and you know they were eating for central Pennsylvania. You know much more unique foods that I had not experienced growing up. Like Indian food buffet was a big lunchtime thing at the record store. So I just started trying different things, you know, basically cause I wanted to keep up with the older, like the cool cats to be with the cool kids yeah.

Tyler: 21:03

So, that that exposed me to a lot of different foods and you know, and and music, and art and all sorts of things like that. I always say that everything I know about everything I learned in a record store. That's so funny so. But then I realized as I, as I got a little bit older and I moved around a little bit in my 20s, that if I wanted to have the money to continue to buy records, I needed to not work in a record store. So I started where I ended up, getting into food, and the security of like retail grocery was really appealing to me. And here I am still.

Doug: 21:36

What about your personal views on wanting to eat organic or local or vegetarian? Do you share any of that? Because that's a big thing with the co-op, yeah it is and, I think, for me personally.

Tyler: 21:48

I'm proud omnivore. I like to eat all sorts of different foods, but for me really, one of the things that appeals to me the most about the co-op, and especially the fresh local produce, is eating seasonally. That really matters to me. I wrote an article in our cooperator a few years ago, all about that and how. You know there's nothing wrong with not eating a tomato for seven months of the year.

Tyler: 22:12

Like it should be. It should be special. And you know, nutrition is also really important to me. I have some you know chronic health issues, so I try to be conscientious of eating healthy and clean and I do appreciate the organic growing standards and the organic certification, but to me it matters more that it's local and I can have a connection to it and it's seasonal.

Doug: 22:34

Organic is actually kind of hard for a lot of farmers to achieve anyway, they're doing their best. Yes, yeah, for a lot of farmers to achieve, anyway they're doing their best.

Tyler: 22:39

Yes, yeah, there is an advantage to it, but there is quite a bureaucracy and there are some barriers for all, for all local farmers or any farmer, to get certified organic, and so that that's not. You know, that's not a prerequisite to sell your produce to the co-op, especially if it's local and it's grown sustainably and responsibly. Right, that's okay for us.

Doug: 22:57

We're reducing transport. We are getting it to you quicker. Yes, you're supporting local. All good things, yeah.

Tyler: 23:09

So yeah, I think that it can be a challenge in Western PA to eat seasonally, especially with produce, but I think that's part of the beauty of it. And then you appreciate that strawberry or that tomato so much more when it's fresh and local, or that asparagus Like I feel like I can eat asparagus three weeks a year, but I'm going to eat it every day because it's so special.

Tyler: 23:26

And then you know, like I said, nutrition is important and I would never want anyone to not get the vitamins and all the nourishment that they need to to be a healthy person. But if you can lean into that seasonal aspect of local produce and canned goods, you know that's we. We have canning for that purpose, that's right. So there's, there's a whole generations of people eating before us figured all these things out and how to do it, before there was globalization and ultra processing.

Tyler: 23:54

Exactly yeah. So no, I'm not. I'm not a homesteader or anything, but I do. I do try to really appreciate and and evangelize to our customers about that aspect of eating.

Doug: 24:06

I'd love to bring us back to the co-op too. You as a business and organization have some other values. I know you guys partner with 412 Food Rescue. Can you talk a little bit about some of the events and partnerships like that that are important at the co-op?

Tyler: 24:22

the people who shop there and then the planet in the sense of yeah, like we talked about, you know we got rid of plastic bags a long time ago. We partner with 412 Food Rescue and the Western Pennsylvania Food Bank. We do three pickups a week with 412 Food Rescue. Any produce or other item from the store that is, you know, very edible and delicious, just maybe not to retail quality.

Doug: 25:01

Not at their best buy type of date.

Tyler: 25:04

Yes, and we also for staff. We call it the free bin in the produce department one for perishable, one for frozen, where staff can access, you know, yeah, things that might be just past their sell by date or have a dented can or whatever the case may be that we can't sell at retail, instead of just throwing it away or putting it in a landfill, we want to get it to people who need it and the co-op. You know that's a loss for the co-op but we don't see it as a loss. We just, you know, we'd rather the food be consumed.

Tyler: 25:31

We also partner with Zero Waste Wrangler, Kyle Winkler, who has a residential and commercial composting business. So he picks up at the co-op twice a week so no food scraps end up in the landfill. Kyle works with a farm right outside of the city that he brings the compost to, or he brings our scrap and food waste to be composted and they also can compost wax cardboard, which a lot of produce arrives to our store in wax cardboard. And he also recycles glass for the co-op because the city currently is or has not been for a long time collecting glass recyclables other than at specific donation spots. I think that might be changing.

Tyler: 26:11

I heard recently, but we partner with the Pennsylvania resource council every couple of years to do a waste audit of the co-op to see if we are, you know where we could increase our waste diversion, and currently we're at about 87% waste diversion at our last audit in 2022. Uh, so we're hoping to do another one, if not in 2024, then 2025, uh, we have goals to get that up to 90%. That we do think is attainable. It will never be 100%, do you?

Doug: 26:39

have any idea where other folks in your sort of grocery realm land if you're at 87%.

Tyler: 26:45

I don't, unfortunately. Yeah, I don't know if other grocery stores even conduct those audits. And if they do, yeah, I don't know If they publish it. Nowhere I've seen.

Doug: 26:55

Yeah, tyler, I'm so excited to just shine a light on the East End Food Co-op and what you guys are doing. Can you talk about any future events or goals? What do?

Tyler: 27:08

you have going on right now Meade Street, and so we are currently working with our landlords to have a lease extension to ensure that we are staying, you know, for our local community shoppers for as long as we can. The landscape of our neighborhood has changed quite a bit in the last five years.

Doug: 27:30

It's a lot of development right around you. Yes, the.

Tyler: 27:32

Rockwell Park development is right, you know, basically across the street from us and I think technically we are a part of it, though we're on the other side of the Meade Street, undeveloped side.

Ashley: 27:40

So far yes the undeveloped side.

Tyler: 27:42

That's right. Rockwell Park is hoping to bring new retail, new residential and office space to our part of Pittsburgh and we want to be able to fulfill our mission and serve new residents to our neighborhood and continue to serve our existing membership and the neighborhood that's been there for a long time. So we want to be conscientious of exposing the quality products that the co-op has to offer and our democratic participation in co-op membership to all the new people moving to that part of the city and moving to Pittsburgh in general.

Doug: 28:16

Yeah, I actually keep thinking, if I had kids, how much I'd want them to understand all of this from just the democratic process. It just gets your mind in a totally different and better place than what we think about our grocery system now and even just how we manage our communities and our business. I love what you guys are doing, thank you.

Tyler: 28:36

Yeah, I think it's important for that next generation of consumers to be frank, to understand the cooperative business model and be exposed to that at a young age so they can, you know, sort of grow up knowing it's not all just point and click on Amazon or point and click on, you know Target bringing out to your parking spot.

Doug: 28:56

Well, for me, I, you know, I I went to Penn state. We were talking about Penn state. I went for nutritional sciences and we talked a lot about how kids don't actually know where their food even comes from. And you take it to even that next level of you know. Kids probably don't know how a grocery system could or should work or the good or bad around that. So I'm just going to say you know hashtag, you know summer camp program or something.

Tyler: 29:20

I'm glad you brought that up. We used to have a program that we are actually on the verge of relaunching and it's called co-op explorers and it's a free fruit for little kids. Basically, when they come into the co-op they can have a banana or an apple for free you know, but as their, as their mom or dad shops or whatever, keep some occupied but also just hopefully, you know, creates that positive connotation of like, oh, I want to go to the co-op because I get an apple, which everybody loves. Apples, they're delicious, of course.

Doug: 29:49

So let's do this. Why don't you plug the co-op, uh, all of the socials or the website, and again the address for anyone that hasn't visited and is interested in learning more or actually coming into shop?

Tyler: 30:02

So you can find the East End Food Co-op online www. eastendfoodcoop, and we're launching a new website next month. It'll be a redesign with all the information that we currently have about the co-op's bylaws and governance and membership, but in a new have about the co-ops, bylaws and governance and membership, but in a new, easier to access format. We also are on Instagram and Facebook East End Food Co-op. You can find us there. We have some events coming up this summer that we're excited about.

Tyler: 30:32

We're going to be at.

Tyler: 30:32

VegFest in August, so that'll be a fun neighborhood event on the north side. Come out to VegFest. Lots of great food to eat. We will be there just informationally, tabling and selling some tote bags with the co-op logo on it.

Doug: 30:44

That's great. Thank you so much for the time. We're kind of coming to the end of our time together. So, tyler, the name of the show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What's one of the best dishes you've eaten this week? Oh, wow, that's a great question.

Tyler: 31:00

What is it Wednesday? What have I done so far on Sunday? Uh, my wife and I went out to dinner in Shadyside at Tocayo it's like a Mexican restaurant and I had some really fantastic carnitas burrito Um that was. That was really tasty and we'd never been there before, and I think that that's one of the things I like the most about Pittsburgh is exploring restaurants and finding a new place that we'd never been to before. And the heat wave had finally subsided and we timed it really well in between the big rainstorms, so we were able to walk to the restaurant Shadyside and have a delicious meal and a nice cocktail.

Doug: 31:35

I love it All right. Best bite this week Tyler Kulp. Yes, thank you so much for being on the Pittsburgh dish.

Tyler: 31:42

My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, and I'm at the co-op all the time, so feel you know we're open every day. Anyone can come in and say hi, say hi, all right, thanks again.

Doug: 31:52

Thinking about that next dining spot to share with someone special. We check in with Ashley Cesaratto and see where she recently stopped. Hey, everybody, we're back with Ashley Cesaratto and Ashley. I was wondering if you've gone to dinner lately with anyone special and you could give us a spot for something like that.

Ashley: 32:11

I did so about a month ago. I had a fitting for my wedding dress.

Doug: 32:18

And we need to say congratulations. When you were on the show a few months back, you were not engaged yet.

Ashley: 32:24

Right, not yet. Congratulations, I knew it was coming. You knew it was coming. Yes, I did. Yeah, we designed the ring together. Yes, it was really fun.

Doug: 32:32

Well, congrats to you and Kurt. Thank you, but you were not with Kurt on this special day.

Ashley: 32:42

You're fitting. You were probably with somebody else, right? I was with my mom, yeah, and she really doesn't get to go out to eat that much. So, and we were in Etna, so I was trying to think of someplace close where we could just have a nice dinner and chit chat. And Alta Via was definitely on my radar because, yeah, I love that place.

Doug: 32:57

It's just up the road in like O'Hara Township, just up from Aspinw all.

Ashley: 33:01

Right, just maybe five or six minutes away from Etna, so it was perfect.

Doug: 33:05

So what did you?

Ashley: 33:06

have. My mom and I both got homemade pasta, and I also got a side of their meatballs too, because they're delicious.

Doug: 33:14

So good.

Ashley: 33:15

And they have. I believe it's a ricotta toast as an appetizer, and we might've gotten bruschetta too. We just kind of ordered a bunch of everything and took home some leftovers.

Doug: 33:24

Well, you can't go wrong with the pastas, and I think I've had their meatballs too, and they are so incredibly good. And they now have a second location. They have that downtown location.

Ashley: 33:34

Market Square.

Doug: 33:35

Oh, that's right and, if someone has noticed, they also have Altavia Pizzeria or AVP, over in Bakery Square and they have like a limited menu of the regular Altavia and they focus more on pizzas there and that place is delicious as well.

Ashley: 33:49

I definitely need to try that out. Yes, it's on my list.

Doug: 33:52

All right, altavia, over in O'Hara Township or right in downtown Market Square. Yep, thanks so much, ashley. Thank you. You can follow Ashley on Instagram at eatingwithashleypgh. We're continuing our special Recipe of the Week series with the contestants from Season 3 of the Great American Recipe on PBS. From season three of the Great American Recipe on PBS. This week we're talking to Adjo Honsou of St Louis, Missouri, but originally from Togo, Africa, and she's bringing us her recipe for black-eyed peas. Let's give her a call and learn a little bit more about this dish Hello, good morning.

Doug: 34:35

Good morning Adjo, it's Doug.

Adjo: 34:38

Hi Doug, how are you?

Doug: 34:39

I'm doing well. How are you I?

Adjo: 34:42

am doing well. It's so good to hear your voice.

Doug: 34:45

Oh, same here. So, Adjo, it is so great to talk with you, and I really want to talk about your black-eyed peas recipe. It just sounds so comforting and so delicious. Is this something you've been making for a while?

Adjo: 34:59

So this recipe I actually learned from my mother, I would say maybe eight years ago or so. I am one that I don't mind black eyed peas, but I just don't like it straight up. So this way gives it a very unique and interesting way for it to become comparable with a lot of other stuff, the way I'm going to show you how to make it.

Doug: 35:23

Yes, I love it. And for any of our listeners out there that haven't seen the recipe yet, you're using black eyed peas, but you're also throwing in tomatoes, bell peppers as well as mini bell peppers, some green onions, some yellow onions. Can you tell us a little bit about how you prepare all of this? Is it going in like? Are you sauteing some things first? Is it going in just a pot or a pressure cooker? How do you do it?

Adjo: 35:48

Yes, so definitely you are cooking the black eyed peas first, so you would start with the washed black eyed peas. You will cook it on a stovetop, just like how you cook beans. Right, but you make sure it's just.

Doug: 36:01

there's still a little toughness to it A little under, not too tough yeah.

Adjo: 36:05

Just a little bit under to it, right. And then, in a separate pan, you are going to saute the tomatoes. Make sure the tomatoes are not blended. Okay, you chop up some tomatoes, slice some bell peppers to the size that you would like. If you like them chunky, keep them chunky. If you like them smaller, make them smaller. This is all about your preference. The green onions you definitely want to use the chives that comes with it. Don't just cut off the onions and throw away the green.

Adjo: 36:37

You want to use all of the onion because all that aroma is going to mix in, right. So you're sauteing it with some yellow onion as well, some bouillon cube, and the bouillon cube flavor can be your preference. It can be a protein-based, like chicken or beef, or it can just be a vegetable-based bouillon. If you want a little bit kick to it, adding our fufu and sauce curry would bring all the aromas together.

Adjo: 37:08

And then what you're going to add to that pan of sautéed vegetable onions and peppers and goodness is the black eyed peas that you cooked just a little bit under. So you add it to it, drain the water off of it we don't want it to be watery, because the water from the sautéed vegetable is going to mix in with the black eyed peas and finish it. Then you cover it, let it simmer, salt it to taste and boom, that's your black-eyed pea au jus. And what I really love about this dish is you can pair it with white rice, you can pair it over lightly toasted bread, you can use some chips with it. So it's very, very malleable and you can eat it in many ways as opposed to just beans on a plate.

Doug: 37:59

Oh my gosh, that sounds so delicious. You'd certainly have ramped up black eyed peas for everyone. I have just a couple of side questions. So I don't know if I've made black eyed peas recently at home. Do you soak them overnight like a bean, or can you just put them straight in the water to cook?

Adjo: 38:17

you soak them overnight like a bean, or can you just put them straight in the water to cook? If you have time to soak them overnight, you can. What that would do is just help it cook faster, right, but black eyed peas originally the way I learned how to make them, even from my grandma back home. You can just wash them and throw them in the pot and just close the pot and let it cook and, depending on how much peas you have, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to cook down a cup or two of black-eyed peas.

Doug: 38:42

Yeah, they cook pretty quickly and you don't throw any salt in that water. Do you put any seasoning in? No, you do not.

Adjo: 38:49

You do not want to cook black-eyed peas with salt, because it will take much, much longer to cook it. Adding salt at the end if you're just making black eyed peas, adding salt at the end once they're cooked down is an easier way, but adding salt to it at the beginning or adding salt to the water would keep you there forever. Yeah, toughens the skins, yeah it does, it really does, yeah, yeah.

Doug: 39:16

Yeah. Now the other question I had, Adjo, is I have had your Togolese curry spice mix and it is amazing. I think people can order it from you maybe, but if someone didn't have access to that spice, are there a couple of spices that you would suggest to at least get them going?

Adjo: 39:34

Yeah. So if you, if you don't have a way to get this curry, or you're doing this last minute and you don't have the curry near you, some of the substitutes that you can use some garlic powder, some ginger powder, some nutmeg, if you have it, some anise, if you have it, some cumin as well and mix all those dry powders together and that would give you somewhat of a blend that you can use in lieu of our curry. Of course, our curry has way more ingredients than that, and even some found solely back home found solely back home. But yeah, that would give you that kick of flavor that will substitute our curry for a while, until you can get to us and get home.

Doug: 40:23

Yes, so good. Thank you for that, and I just want to make sure folks know where Back Home is for you. Can you tell us?

Adjo: 40:30

Oh my goodness, yes, back Home is Togo, West Africa. So, I was born and raised there and we moved to the US in my teens, and St Louis now is my second home away from home, but the original home is Togo, west Africa.

Doug: 40:47

And I love that you go back to get spice and hibiscus and all the good things to bring back over. It's amazing.

Adjo: 40:54

It is my favorite thing to do, doug, like I look forward to every December because that's the time I get to go home back to Togo and go to the marketplace back home and it's you know, we're an open market culture, so you're in the market and the air is just filled with all spices and curry and the fresh catch of the day and the farmers in the market. It's literally like a giant farmer's market everywhere and it's bustling and I just really love that experience. It's almost healing and mentally fulfilling every time I'm home to go there and experience that, because I don't get to have that here in the US.

Doug: 41:35

So lovely. You transported me there so good. It is lovely.

Adjo: 41:41

It is very lovely.

Doug: 41:44

Well, it's so lovely to talk with you and, adjo, I want to just take a moment. If folks want to find and follow you for more of your food, or especially to get that curry spice, where can they find you?

Adjo: 41:56

your food or especially to get that curry spice. Where can they find you? So we are on Instagram at Fufu and Sauce, and that is F-U-F-U-N-S-A-U-C-E Fufu and Sauce, and our website as well is www. fufunsauce. com. And if you're feeling like a trip, you know we are in St Louis and you can come down to St Louis and eat some good food at the food truck, all the numerous events that we do over the summertime as well. And you know the other place they can find you and your cooking is on this season of the Great American recipe on pbs. That is very true, see you and me on the show and follow our journey and get to see how, uh, we really share our culture and the love for cooking and and the love for each other and, just yeah, our heritage.

Doug: 42:47

So, yeah, the great american recipe I agree 100 and people can find it uh, this summer, usually monday on PBS or on PBS org and streaming on the PBS app. Adjo, thank you so much for this black eyed peas with au jus recipe and thank you for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Adjo: 43:08

Thank you so much, Doug, for having me. I'll talk to you again soon.

Doug: 43:11

All right, take care Adjo, bye, bye.

Adjo: 43:14

bye Dougie.

Doug: 43:16

That's our show for this week. We'd like to thank all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.