Tröegs joins PA Eats’ mission to Nourish PA

PA Eats and Tröegs Independent Brewing have teamed up to empower Pennsylvania’s food-insecure to cook fresh, healthy and affordable meals. This unique partnership is made possible thanks to a generous $5,000 donation from the Hershey-based brewery.

“When we look at potential partnerships, the first question we ask is: Why?” said Tröegs co-founding brother Chris Trogner. “With PA Eats, the answer came easily. We started working in earnest with Pennsylvania ingredients back in 2002 with the debut of holiday favorite Mad Elf. Today, we buy about 25,000 pounds of local honey and 100,000 pounds of Pennsylvania-grown barley every year.

“We also brew and cook with a long list of locally grown ingredients. For instance, Pennsylvania long-neck pumpkins for Master of Pumpkins, which we first brewed in 2013, are planted and grown just for us at Strites’ Orchard, less than 10 miles from the brewery. We bring in about 3,000 pounds after harvest, and our kitchen team cleans and roasts the whole lot before handing them off to our brewers,” Trogner said.

PA Eats’ mission is to showcase the stories of people, places, and products that make Pennsylvania food culture exceptional and to create educational resources that support and empower food insecure Pennsylvanians.

Through innovative educational programming and a partnership with Feeding PA, PA Eats developed the Nourish PA video and recipe series, which features healthy, simple and affordable recipes.

Feeding Pennsylvania helps member food banks across PA secure food and other resources they need to reduce hunger in our state. With over 2,700 PA food pantries actively distributing food, there’s a crucial need for educational resources they can use to teach their clients how to create nourishing meals with the food they receive.

The partnership is achieving its goals in two powerful ways. First, a generous donation from Tröegs is helping to stock pantries, providing food for Pennsylvanians in need.

Second, to take the effort a step deeper, the partners will show people just what they can do with the food they are receiving.

The innovative approach leverages something that both Tröegs and PA Eats do particularly well: share knowledge. Chefs from the Tröegs Scratch Kitchen and the storytellers at PA Eats are collaborating on recipes, blog posts and videos that will teach food-insecure Pennsylvanians how to use the ingredients they get through food pantries to cook nourishing meals at home.

“Tröegs Independent Brewing is an incredible Pa. company and a perfect partner for PA Eats,” said Tom Gavin, Board President of PA Eats. “We share respect for Pennsylvania agriculture and producers. We thank them for their support and their commitment to providing our community members with access to food.”