photo by Jennifer Hetrick
As the daughter of a greek immigrant, Phoebe Canakis brings to her food the philosophy that it ought to be naked, not housed in cardboard but instead plucked straight from the earth, all the while being decidedly delicious.
She gleans this inspiration from her childhood when food wasn’t quite so fast. Today, she brings that slower, cooked-with-care food to those with fast-paced lives through her business venture: Phoebe’s Pure Foods.
“When my parents would make us breakfast, food didn’t come from a box,” Canakis says. “Most of the time, that was for cost-effective reasons. It’s so expensive to buy Captain Crunch or Fruity Pebbles cereals; we had oatmeal or Cream of Wheat.”
Considering herself a home cook, Canakis worked in recruiting for 12 years but always had a penchant for entertaining and whipping together palate-hugging meals for friends and family. Originally, she aspired to open a coffee shop, but once she began amassing a variety of food books, she decided to test out a healthier route that would stitch her closely to a clientele of busybodies looking to nosh a bit better, guilt-free, once per week.
A few years ago, Canakis started offering a small seasonally-specific menu by e-mail, narrated charmingly in food-speak, allowing her lunch crowd enthusiasts to place their orders for pickup or delivery. Today, she drops off meals for customers at Sunshine Wellness Resources in West Reading each Thursday, while she spends the morning delivering lunches, all in recyclable packaging, to clients in Reading, West Reading and Wyomissing.
“I’m trying to introduce people to a simpler way of eating that nourishes their body,” Canakis reflects. “In doing that, you nourish your spirit, too.”
Believing in supporting other local businesses, she purchases regionally raised produce from farms near her home in Bowmansville, Lancaster County. For fruit, she visits Weaver’s Orchard Farm Market in Morgantown, and she finds her grains, legumes and flour at Echo Hill Country Store in Fleetwood. It takes her a full day to buy all of her ingredients for Thursday lunches, and it takes another full day to prepare everything.
With each weekly menu, Canakis provides options for meatless lunches to suit those who are vegetarian or vegan, and for the meat-eaters, she often incorporates free-range chicken from Shollenberger Organic Farm in Mohrsville. She makes sure to cater happily to specific dietary needs and preferences – one of the details that makes her lunch-loving fans even more appreciative of her flavor-rich food medleys.
“I want people to see new ways to look at old ways of cooking,” Canakis says about her promotion of the farm-to-fork movement, her food journey in the making. “Connecting with people feeds my soul, and everybody has a story to tell.”
To Find Out More or To Sign Up For Weekly E-Mails Of Lunch Listings, visit Phoebespurefood.com And Follow Phoebe’s Pure Food On Facebook And Twitter.
