A few dozen of West Philly residents gathered near the community bee hives in Woodlands Cemetery on Saturday to learn about urban beekeeping and the subtleties of local as part of “Sustainable Saturdays,” a University City District program to highlight local food.

Local beekeeper Daniel Duffy provided those who attended a glimpse inside the hives at the Woodlands Cemetery Community Apiary, where amateur beekeepers are harvesting amazing honey and experimenting with ways to help strengthen the bee population. Bees have taken a beating in recent years. Populations have declined at alarming rates probably due to a combination of pesticides, monoculture farming and parasitic mites.

Luckily for city dwellers, bees often do better in town than in the country thanks to the diversity of flowers. Flowers from Clark Park, community gardens, flower boxes and Cobbs Creek, make for a variety of honey tints and textures. That diversity also makes for some interesting honey, which participants got to sample during Saturday’s event.

Urban Apiaries provided Saturday’s honey samples. Brought to you by the same folks who run Milk and Honey Market (4435 Baltimore Ave.), Urban Apiaries maintains a handful of apiaries (the official word for a cluster of hives) in the city, including one on top of Milk and Honey’s building and another on a warehouse roof in North Philly.

Editor’s note: This post may look familiar. That is because we ran it last Friday by mistake. We are definitely right this time though.

The West Philly monthly food series “Sustainable Saturdays” continues Saturday, July 16, with a program chock full of local goodness. Full details are at the University City District website here.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s in store:

• 10 a.m. – Foraging for Edible and Medicinal Plants • Woodlands Cemetery

An expedition with the Wild Phoodies of Philly.

• 11 a.m. Urban Beekeeping and West Philadelphia Honey Tasting • Woodlands Cemetery Community Apiary (near the mansion).

A great introduction to urban beekeeping and a chance to peek inside a working bee hive.

• Noon – Snacktime: Making Healthy Snacks with Local Ingredients • University of Pennsylvania’s 1920 Dining Commons(on Locust Walk on the west side of 38th St.)

Learn how to make fruit leather, granola bars and naturally fermented soda.

• 2 p.m. – Zip Code Honey, Local Cheese + PA Brews • Biba Wine Bar (3131 Walnut St.)

A seminar on West Philly honey and tastings with Annie Baum-Stein of Milk and Honey Market and Urban Apiaries. $20 admission.

• 4 p.m. – From Farm to Table: Tasting Local, Grass-fed Beef • Mid-Atlantic Restaurant and Tap Room (3711 Market St.) Free samples and $3 local beers.

Preparing local beef from Philly Cow Share.

Here’s a great chance to enjoy some fine locally prepared dishes for the next two weeks. Around 30 West Philly restaurants (see the full list on the flyer) are participating in the 6th annual University City Dining Days that will run from tomorrow, July 14, through July 28. You can try something new or visit your favorite location. There are options for many tastes and budgets.

Here’s how it works. Each of the participating restaurants will offer a  three-course dinner special for one of the following set prices: $15, $25 or $30. The purpose of this is to encourage folks to dine at as many locations as possible during these two weeks without the fear of going bankrupt.

Please note that the prices are for dinner only so if you want a glass of wine to go with it it will cost extra. Taxes and gratuity are not included either. Reservations should be made directly through the participating restaurant. See the menus and restaurant contact details on this page.

West Philly’s own GiGi and Big R’s Caribbean Soul Food truck came up big in Philly’s first ever Vendy Awards yesterday, taking home top honors.

A panel of five judges, including Mayor Michael Nutter, voted to award Gigi and Big R’s the Vendy Cup as top truck. The competition featured a cook-off among the eight finalists.

Thomas Bacon, aka Gigi, told the Philadelphia Inquirer:

“It’s been a long hard day, but it’s been a beautiful day. The Vendy Cup is a trophy that I can drink cool beer out of – after standing over a deep fryer, frying chicken, cooking cabbage and greens, and serving the customers.”

You can get a taste of their stuff, which includes pretty damn good soul food platters, at their usual spot at 38th and Spruce. West Philly truck Cucina Zapata, a fixture on the Drexel campus, won the People’s Choice Award after voting by about 500 attendees.

Here’s a video from CBS Philly:

There is no shortage of food delivery options in West Philly. You got your pizza/cheese steak standards. Manakeesh has made Lebanese fusion a phone call away. Roost will bring a half a rotisserie chicken and biscuits to your front porch. Now the folks behind New Delhi, the classy Indian restaurant near 40th and Chestnut, will bring you two curry platters for lunch complete with samosas for $8 (plus tax and tip).

The operation is called CurryBox and is available at lunchtime on Tuesday through Friday. The service is targeted at University City employees so the delivery area, which covers Drexel, Penn and USP, only extends west to 46th Street.

A different selection of entrees is available daily, though Chicken Tikka Masala (the only meat entree) is available every day and it’s $1 extra.

Here’s how it works: Order before 10 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and choose your delivery time. You can also place an order after 3 p.m. for the following day. Orders are done online. Done.

They plan to expand the service to Center City soon. Check their website for full details and the menu.

Mariposa Food Co-op has moved to a new stage of its expansion project – the new store renovation – which is scheduled to finish in October. One of the benefits of the expansion is that over the next few months Mariposa will be hiring for additional, permanent staff positions. 8-10 new jobs are supposed to open.

The first position is a Member Coordinator, as their membership numbers approach 1,000. Mariposa began accepting applications for this position last week.

Mariposa is looking for a person with great interpersonal skills, someone who will develop and refine methods and practices for their entire member program.

The job will average 30 hours per week, primarily daytime hours with some weekend/evening hours. For the full job description and information on how to apply go here. Deadline for application is July 13, 2011.

For this and future position announcements visit this page.