Listen to the interview here!
Phoebe Canakis
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I am with Phoebe Canakis. Phoebe, welcome to the Project.
Phoebe Canakis: Thank you so much. It’s so exciting to be here.
Toni: I’m happy to have you here. We’ve had a lovely conversation leading up to this interview, so I think this is going to be a pretty good one. Phoebe, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Phoebe: My name is Phoebe of Phoebe’s Pure Food, and what I do is make nourishing nosh a cravable convenience. I do that by inspiring seasonally chic, seductively wholesome, and garden-to-plate food. I do that with my blog site for people who are very hands-on and how-to. I also prepare meals for delivery, and I create memorable food experiences through catered events, for small, intimate catered events, and I host a Pure Food Soiree.
Toni: Pure Food Soiree. That sounds very exciting.
Phoebe: It’s fun for Berks.
Toni: What’s your blog site?
Phoebe: I blog on my main site, www.phoebespurefood.com, but I also blog for www.bloomingwhereyouare.blogspot.com, where we focus on all of the beautiful things that Berks County has to offer, and I blog for Fig Lancaster. I blog specifically for the Lancaster Central Market, which is the oldest running market in the United States.
Toni: Thank you for being here. Let’s get into the first question. What does inspiration mean to you?
Phoebe: When I think of inspiration, I think of it as a seed for something that blooms into so much more. It’s that small spark, and it reminds me of a quote that I keep strangely on my Facebook page, and it’s an Einstein quote. I found it years ago. He said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious, and that it is the source of all true art and science, and he to whom his emotion is a stranger, his eyes are closed or as good as dead.” I think it’s interesting that inspiration isn’t something that is just … we can't keep it to ourselves. It’s something that’s created to share.
Toni: Is it something that’s created inside of you that you feel obligated to share once you’re inspired?
Phoebe: I don’t think there’s an obligation to share it. I think it’s a means of introducing people to a new way of thinking, and that’s why something that’s mysterious, there should be some kind of allure to the mysterious. Inspiration helps one person connect to someone else.
I’ve been described as a nurturer, and I think that sometimes I feel the need to just introduce … you might not like my perspective, but it’s just a different way of thinking, especially when it comes to food. Food is so traditional for some people. Food can be a memory that’s created with your mother cooking little flat pancakes, or your grandmother making flat pancakes, and how you made them with sprinkling sugar, but someone else’s perspective is very different. I think the world becomes so much bigger when you share that.
Toni: How do you put that type of inspiration into practice here in Berks County? When you are inspired by something, and maybe you’ve taken something that was mysterious to you that had an allure about it, and you became more aware about it – did you share it? Can you give an example of how that might have happened here in Berks County?
Phoebe: My husband sometimes looks at me like I’m a little cooky when we’re out at the market or at the store and I’m not very bashful when it comes to speaking with strangers. Sometimes I think that you can find inspiration from people you don’t know, and you can find inspiration from those people that you choose to be in your life because they have experiences that are so much bigger than yours. I think it can come from anywhere.
Toni: When you’re inspired, how do you handle that when it comes to food?
Phoebe: I love to talk about food.
Toni: You do?
Phoebe: I do love to talk about food.
Toni: Are you inspired by food?
Phoebe: I’m always inspired by food. It’s ridiculous. I love lavender, and I’m experimenting with some cookies now – but there’s so much more that you can do with just lavender or just blueberries. I mean, blueberries aren’t just for your yogurt. You can make salad dressings. You can make vinaigrettes. You can bake with them – everyone bakes with them. There’s so much to find in a product that’s not so stereotypical.
I love to blog, so blogging is usually my favorite outlet for sharing. Really, I think the Soiree that I host on the First Fridays is a nice way to introduce people to a different way of thinking about food, because we talk about creating meals that don’t include meat or food from a box. If you’re going to bring a recipe, you have to push yourself to find some other inspiration, whether it’s on a website, whether it’s from talking to friends, or opening a cookbook.
Toni: So is that what a ‘soiree’ is? I don’t know what a soiree is.
Phoebe: It’s a potluck.
Toni: Ah!
Phoebe: It’s my fancy word for a potluck. I didn’t want to call it potluck.
Toni: A potluck soiree!
Phoebe: It’s so boring – potluck. It reminds you of dirty dishes. The Soiree is a little more fun, and it inspires people to think outside the box. I think when people see a spread of food that they never would have thought that they could have made at home, they think, “I really can do this. It is easy to think outside the box in terms of eating healthier.” Dare I say the word, “healthier?”
Toni: I understand a little bit about how you share your inspiration with others. It is during these soirees – I don’t know what the conditions are around this – but if everybody brings something, am I going to be inspired by the food that is at this event, and possibly learn a different style of cooking or recipe techniques? Is that what happens?
Phoebe: That’s exactly it. It’s great to create a bond with someone you didn’t know. Everyone sits at a group table, and you make connections. You learn about recipes. Some of the recipes are cultural. It’s just a great way to think outside of the food box.
Toni: That’s a great way to put inspiration into practice. I love that! Who in Berks County inspires you?
Phoebe: Well, my parents moved out of Berks County, but my parents are my inspiration. They’re the folks that can spin gold from straw, I think. I’m inspired by the people I make connections with sourcing local food for my meals. Erica Bowers is someone I just adore – someone who can cultivate and grow a business literally, and still have a passion and a level of integrity to do everything organically.
I feel like there are so many women that are inspirational in Berks County. There’s Tracy Beaky and Robin Costenbader-Jacboson, who are women who have experienced things in their professional lives that they think we as women can all learn from. I think we all change and grow, and it’s nice to find that inspiration from women who have been successful.
Toni: Absolutely. I couldn’t agree with you more. That’s why you’re doing a Get Inspired! Project interview, because just listening to you, you have so much to offer, and we can all learn from you. What would you like your legacy to be, Phoebe?
Phoebe: When I think of the word ‘legacy’ I think of ‘rest in peace’ … like, “She was a good wife, and she made a wicked good casserole.”
Toni: She changed a ‘potluck’ into a ‘soiree’ – that’s my legacy!
Phoebe: Yes.
Toni: No – think of it as a living legacy. What’s your living legacy?
Phoebe: I can relate to that, because I think that tomorrow is going to be here soon enough, and if I’m remembered tomorrow, it’s not as important as living in this moment. Today is what we have. If I had a legacy, it would be in the moment, and I feel like I would like to touch people’s lives and remind them that living well or making better health choices, specifically with food, doesn’t require a huge change. If you just take baby steps and try kale, you might just like it … I think.
Toni: I think that’s fantastic. Thank you so much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Phoebe: Thank you. I’m so excited!
