Guest guest Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Ever on the lookout for the intersection of Philly institutions and new " green " thinking, I dropped by ScrappleFest 2009 on Saturday to sample a concoction some would call a contradiction in terms - vegan scrapple. I know, I know, many people have responded to the concept with some version of " that's just wrong. " Maybe so, but it exists. Sarah Cain, manager of the Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market (where else would ScrappleFest be held?) created the product in question, Vrapple, a little over a year ago for a friend who had gone vegetarian but missed the decadent taste of scrapple. Since I failed, in my 11 months living in Philly before I went vegetarian, to ever try the original meat product, I can't speak to how closely authentic the veggie version was, but it tasted pretty darn good to me, anyway. Apparently I wasn't alone. Of the eight varieties of scrapple tasted and judged by a celebrity panel of food experts, Vrapple beat out seven pork-based versions to take the second-place prize. Sarah Cain and chef John Blanchet (who worked vrapple into a recipe involving maple-roasted pumpkin) seemed rather surprised and delighted by the strong showing, and as you'll hear in the attached 4-minute podcast, were perfectly happy not taking first. " Something would be wrong with the universe " if a veggie scrapple had won at ScrappleFest, said Blanchet, while Cain added " I think someone would put a hit out on me. " Congrats to both, and to Vrapple for carving out its own salty, pan-seared chunk of Philly food tradition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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