Even with the blistering winter weather beating at the windows, the warm yellow hues inside Rx — located at 45th and Spruce — can brighten up the chilliest day. Last Wednesday, during its annual Green Week, the Penn Environmental Group held a dinner celebrating the restaurant’s commitment to sustainable and local agriculture. In freezing temperatures, Rx still relies solely on the farm-to-table philosophy, basing their ever-changing menu on whatever ingredients are available from the local farms and greenhouses. Greg Salisbury, owner of Rx, communicates with his meat, fish, dairy and vegetable providers nearly every day to ensure that the restaurant receives the freshest in local ingredients. From heirloom tomatoes to kaffir limes, the produce at Rx comes directly from the farmers’ hands. While students dined on a $25 prix fixe menu, including beet salad with baby arugula and gorgonzola cheese, whole roasted Pocono Mountain trout with chickpeas and olives, and Lancaster County heirloom apple cobbler, the farmer who grew the beets, arugula and apples rose to speak.
Barbara Marshall, a farmer at Green Meadows Farm who provides fruits and vegetables for Rx, spoke on the advantages of sustainable and minimal impact farming. Although people who obtain their produce from Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) may have the occasional bug in their lettuce, they can rest assured that the bug will be living and not drugged up on unnecessary chemicals. Marshall’s farm supplies ingredients to nearly 30 other restaurants throughout the Philadelphia area, including Raw Sushi & Sake Lounge, Chloe BYOB and Farmicia. Green Meadows relies on natural farming methods and does not use any chemicals in their processes. In addition, they are currently working to move off of the electrical grid completely. Much of their energy comes from a diesel generator powered by the used vegetable oil taken from restaurants they serve.
Mary Summers, a political science professor who focuses on the politics of food, also spoke about bridging the gap between the university and urban life in the neighborhood. The Urban Nutrition Initiative at Penn (UNI) involves college students with public school students in the West Philadelphia area to “improve community nutrition and wellness.” University students can volunteer or intern for the UNI programs, which include healthy cafeteria food tastings and planting school gardens.
For Penn students, there are many ways to support local and community agriculture, whether by dining in restaurants with a commitment to sustainable produce, buying fresh produce from farmers markets near campus during the warmer months, or volunteering for the Urban Nutrition Initiative. So jump on the bandwagon (or the tractor) and go local!
Rx 4443 Spruce St. (215) 222-9592
