On this very special bonus episode of Meat and Three, we hear from our 2024 Julia Child Foundation Writing Fellow Loan Ngyuen, and get a glimpse into the new show she has spent the last 6 months developing. Nourishing Change dives into the story of three generations behind the longest running vegan restaurant in Philadelphia, as well as Loan’s own story with veganism. In this pilot episode, Loan touches on themes of cultural food access, community health and vegan soul food.

Further reading:

Keep up with Loan’s adventures beyond HRN here and here!

Next time you're in Philly, stop by the Nile Cafe!

Check out Loan's Vegan Cheesesteak Food Tour Map!

For more on why Nonwhite Americans are eating less meat, take a look at this article from NPR.

Learn more about vegan/vegetarian cheesesteaks at the links below:

• Basic 4 Café thrives for decades at the Terminal
• Philly Vegan History Walking Tour 
• r/PhiladelphiaEats recent recommendations for vegan cheesesteaks
• A redditor's recipe for a vegan Philly cheesesteak

Here's the list of restaurants, non profits, urban farms, and food distributors Loan spoke with. All of these make up just a part of the Philly food system:

• Nile Cafe
• Philly Vegan Society
• Philly Share Food Program
• Philly Orchard Project
• Drexel Innovation Food Lab
• Ruben, Alex, Melissa, Tevon, Juliana
• Weavers Way Food Coop- Germantown
• Germantown Community Fridge
• Philly Food Not Bombs
• Vetri Community Partnership
• City of Philadelphia Dept. of Health
• City of Philadelphia Dept. of Parks and Recreation
• Miss Rachel’s
• Pietramala
• Tomo Sushi
• Tattooed Mom’s
• Pandemic Pantry
• Vietlead Resilient Roots Farm
• Dirtbaby Farms
• The Community Grocer
• Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market

This bonus episode of Meat and Three was developed, researched, lead produced, and reported by our 2024 Julia Child Foundation Writing Fellow Loan Nguyen.

H and Taylor were honored to support Loan through the stewarding of this story development.

Meat and Three is produced by H Conley and Taylor Early.

Our audio engineer for this episode was Sam Gerardi.

Keep Meat and Three on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. 

Meat and Three is powered by Simplecast.

Licenses for music tracks:

my talking drum of quercy by Jean Toba — https://freemusicarchive.org/music/jean-toba/a-land-where-the-poets-dream/my-talking-drum-of-quercy/ — License: Attribution 4.0 International

Scars by Jahzzar — https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Ashes_1206/scars/ — License: Attribution 4.0 International

Driving by Jan-Michael Hökenschnieder x Fachhochschule Dortmund — https://freemusicarchive.org/music/jan-michael-hokenschnieder/single/driving/ — License: Attribution 4.0 International