(January 13, 2024)

Cheryl Hess has been doing the film festival circuit with her hilarious short documentary about a vegan recipe at a Meatball Contest.

And we have that recipe for you below.

Watch it here.

We asked Cheryl some questions about making the film.

How did you first hear about the vegan meatball controversy?

I first heard about it when I read an article online in Philadelphia Magazine right after it happened. My initial reaction was “this is the most South Philly” thing I’ve ever heard and I’ve been living in South Philly for over 20 years. As I thought about it more I realized it would make a great subject for a documentary so I kind of filed the idea away until the following year when I approached Jen Zavala to see if she was going to enter the meatball contest again and if she would be willing to be filmed.

Was it hard to convince people to participate?

It really wasn’t. People in South Philly have strong opinions and they love to share them! I first approached local restauranteurs Michael Strauss and Pete Frye who were the founders and organizers of the meatball contest.  They put me in touch with Jen and also with Biagio who was one of the contest judges.  I met each of them for a coffee and they came on board.  Everything fell into place really quickly.

What was the biggest challenge?

The production part was actually quite easy.  As I mentioned I live in South Philly so most of the shooting locations were a really close to my house. I started my career as a one-person band video journalist and I have my own gear so when I needed to film I was able to just pick up my camera and go out and shoot. I was a crew of one 95% of the time.  Obviously that style of production has its challenges but it also allows a level of intimacy that it is really hard to achieve when you are working with a larger crew. So I would say the biggest challenge was definitely finding the story in the edit.  It seems like a no brainer given the subject matter but since the meatball controversy happened the year before I started filming I had to simultaneously tell a story that took place in the past while following it in the present.  My editor Melissa Thompson did an amazing job of balancing those two things.

How has the reaction been?

The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. It is definitely a crowd-pleaser and I think that’s because I was able to explore serious issues through a humorous lens.  In the case of She Got Balls! I was able to use a very quirky, very local story to talk about gentrification and the culture wars and that really resonated with audiences.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently in post-production on my first feature-length documentary. It’s called Marriage Cops and its about a marriage counseling center in India that is run by the local police and staffed by police women who try to solve marital problems using a combination of carrot and stick.

“Past/Presence: Saving the Spring Garden School” is a short created in 2018 by Cheryl Hess and architecture firm, Kramer + Marks about Spring Garden School, a school in North Philadelphia that was vacant and abandoned for nearly 30 years before the Philadelphia Housing Authority teamed with the non-profit Help USA to convert the property into affordable housing for low-income senior citizens and homeless veterans.

VEGAN MEATBALLS RECIPE BELOW

Cheryl Hess is a filmmaker and cinematographer from Philadelphia whose work has screened nationally and internationally.  She is a recipient of the prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts and her work has been supported by the Tribeca Film Institute, the Knight Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Wyncote Foundation and others.  In 2018 Cheryl won the grand prize in the AIA Film Challenge for a short documentary she directed, shot, and edited in just 16 days. That same year she was a finalist in the Tribeca If/Then Shorts Northeast competition with her latest short She Got Balls! which was recently awarded the Best Director (Short) prize at the Atlanta Docufest.  She is currently in post-production on her first feature documentary, Marriage Cops, which was one of the projects selected for the 2023 Hot Docs Pitch Forum in Toronto.  Cheryl also has a YouTube channel called “Analog Girl” where she talks about working with film and motion picture cameras. She received her MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University.

Website

Follow Cheryl on Instagram,

Jennifer Zavala’s Vegan Meatball Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 14-oz. can of chickpeas, drained. Save the liquid.
1 1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 squash or zucchini, chopped
1 cup of kale
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tbsp. fennel seed
1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1/4 cup chickpea water (saved from can)
2 cups chickpea flour (can substitute all-purpose flour)

DIRECTIONS

1. Drain a can of chickpeas, saving the liquid and setting aside.
2. Combine diced onion, chopped garlic, diced carrot, chopped squash and kale in a food processor. Blend until minced.
3. Add a half cup of olive oil into a pan. Pour the veggie mixture in the pan and cook, stirring often.
4. Add the drained chickpeas to the food processor. Blend until smooth.
5. Add the fennel seed, red pepper flakes, oregano, and fresh thyme to the cooking vegetables. When the spices are aromatic, remove the vegetables from heat.
6. Place the blended chickpeas into a bowl. After the veggies have cooled, add them to the chickpeas. Mix with a spoon to combine. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, and add salt to taste.
7. Add the flour and the chickpea water. Mix again. Add more flour as needed until balls can be formed.
8. Heat oil in pan for frying. Place balls in oil, turning over to fry all sides. Remove when browned, and place on a paper towel to allow the excess oil to drain. Serve warm.

And if you need a visualization of the recipe, Zavala recommends this YouTube video — while the ingredients are not exactly the same (eggs aren’t vegan, after all), the process of making them is similar.

Enjoy!

Courtesy of Jennifer Zavala, Caroline Cunningham, and Philadelphia Magazine.

From the Culinary Connection Recipe Book 2024 courtesy of Pa Preferred

Jennifer Zavala’s family is a Mexican and Italian blend though she mostly grew up learning to cook Latino dishes which are her focus today with special twists. A self-taught chef, she uses local fresh ingredients while paying close attention to the changing food scene. A Top Chef finalist (Season 6), she been in the kitchens at Xochitl, Will BYOB ,El Camino Real, Amada, Farmer’s Cabinet and others. She was on the cutting edge of cannabis cooking with Inphused Philly.

Follow Jen on her very entertaining Instagram

And her Juana Tamale Instagram.

Listen to her interview on the Chefs Without Restaurants Podcast.

Until recently there was the pop-up in the video below but now Juana Tamale has a permanent location, just written up in Eater as one of the essential restaurants in Philly.

Eating Jen’s Birria Ramen and Tamale Chicken Waffles.