APRIL 3, 2026 – Today the 4-judge panel is announced for the 2026 edition of the Best Vegan Cheesesteak in Philly contest. Voting in the contest, open to all Greater Philly residents and workers, is ongoing, ending on April 8th. The final judging event will occur at the Philadelphia Ethical Society at 6 pm on Monday, April 13. At that event, the finalists will not only vie for the championship, but will collaborate on a unique sandwich – The World’s Largest Vegan Cheesesteak.
Our 2026 judges are:
Pamia Coleman is the co-founder of Black Girls With Green Thumbs, a community-based nonprofit that teaches people how to grow healthy, accessible food in high-need neighborhoods across Philadelphia and Delaware County. Through hands-on garden education, plant-based cooking, and wellness programming, she helps families and young people understand the full journey from soil to table. Pamia is also a former vegan cooking instructor; her work centers on empowering communities with the knowledge and confidence to grow and cook their own healthy food.
Aliza Green is a renowned pioneering female chef who helped make the city of Philadelphia a premier dining destination. She is the James Beard Award-winning author of more than fifteen cookbooks and food guides including her 100-chapter masterwork Starting With Ingredients. Green created a second career organizing and leading international small group culinary tours to destinations like Morocco, France, Portugal, Greece, and Italy. www.alizagreen.com.
Besides being co-founder and co-host of the Vegan Sympathizer podcast, Don Steinberg is a journalist and author who has written for The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, TIME, GQ, Philadelphia Magazine and the Inquirer. Former City Paper readers may remember his long-running humor feature “Don Steinberg’s Scrapple Plate.” His book “The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Midlife” will be out in October.
Lisa Tynes is an accomplished food innovator and presenter, the daughter of Alfoncie B. Austin, who at Basic 4 Vegetarian in the Reading Terminal Market, introduced a vegan cheesesteak in 1999 — the earliest on record as a standard menu item in all of Philadelphia. It was Lisa’s teenage vegetarianism that inspired Alfoncie Austin in her goal of infusing tasty, familiar foods with plant-based healthfulness. Although her mother died in 2019, Tynes carries Basic 4 brand forward with plant-based catering.
Get tickets to the April 13 event HERE.
