Philabundance receives many generous food don
ations to support our work to end hunger across greater Philadelphia, but when 50,000 avocados came in from Giant Food Stores and Avocados From Peru, the celebration called for, what else, guacamole. Giant team members volunteered at Philabundance to unload, store and distribute the avocados, and Giant helped with our first Guac Off, a contest to create the best guacamole in Philly. After all, July 31 is National Avocado Day.
Local chefs, a nutritionist and media personalities joined in to compete. We’re proud to say that our own Samir Hernandez, a chef at the Philabundance Community Kitchen, won the contest with a delicious recipe from his mother. As you know, that’s where all good recipes come from. It’s so good, it’s worth passing along (see below). The mouth-watering recipe includes red onion, rice wine vinegar, Mexican oregano and jalapeno.
Philabundance CEO Loree D. Jones, and a judge in the Guac Off, returned to Hernandez’s table to taste a little more. It was that good. “It was so simple and so delicious, I couldn’t help myself,” she said between bites of chips loaded with Hernandez’s now award-winning Guac.
Hernandez is a former student and now an instructor at the extraordinary culinary training program at PCK. Hernandez had learned cooking skills from his Colombian mother and abuela, growing up in Washington, D.C. In the PCK training program, he acquired professional skills and worked in professional kitchens before returning as an instructor.
Giant has been a consistent supporter of Philabundance’s hunger relief efforts throughout the Greater Philadelphia region, with food donations including Easter hams and Thanksgiving turkeys as well as financial contributions. Philabundance is fortunate to partner with more than 300 food donors, including grocery stores, farms, food manufacturers, the Port of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market. In 2020, Philabundance and our member agencies distributed more than 55 million pounds of food to minimize food insecurity across the Philadelphia region.
Samir Hernandez from Philabundance Community Kitchen’s Guacamole Recipe
Ingredients
About 3 Avocado
2 ¼ red onion; small dice
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup Rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. garlic; grated
2 tsp. Mexican Oregano
1 bunch cilantro; stems and leaves; rough chop ½ *Jalapeno; seeded and deveined; sugar, salt, black pepper, olive oil
Directions
1. Put avocado into a medium bowl and mash.
2. Add your red onions and garlic. Mix ( if using jalapenos add now)
3. Add your lemon juice, lime juice and rice vinegar. Mix well.
4. Fold in your cilantro with a rubber spatula.
5. Taste. Add salt pepper and sugar as needed.