2024 Best Vegan Cheesesteak in Philly judges (from top left): Gretjen Clausing, James Dupree, Rue Landau, Seth Tibbott.
The team at Best Vegan Cheesesteak in Philly is happy to announce our judging panel for this Sunday’s final judging event and celebration starting at 3 pm at the Ethical Society! In alphabetical order, they are: Gretjen Clausing, executive director of PhillyCAM; renowned Philly artist and educator James Dupree; Rue Landau, City Council’s first openly LGBTQ member; and Seth Tibbott, the founder and creator of Tofurky.
These four will sample the three finalists, drawn from the top ranks of our citywide vote (which is still open through noon Wednesday – go here to vote if you haven’t done so today!) and rank their favorites, from which the overall champion will be determined.
By special arrangement, the winner will be announced by legendary former Philly mayor and PA governor Edward G. Rendell, who will join the proceedings via remote hookup, and who vows to eat a vegan cheesesteak from the winning venue.
Here are more details on our four great judges:
Gretjen Clausing
Gretjen Clausing is the Executive Director of Philadelphia Community Access Media (PhillyCAM), the city’s new public access television station and community media center. She was a co-founder of the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition, a grassroots group that successfully lobbied for the creation of public access television in Philadelphia. Clausing was one of the co-creators/producers of the television show Big Tea Party, an award-winning educational television series that has aired weekly on DUTV Cable 54 starting in January of 1999 and also, beginning in 2004, on Free Speech TV. She has been a panelist for Bush Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Program, Ira Radzwill Documentary Fund, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship, and the Pew Fellowships in the Arts.
James Dupree
With 35 different series of work reflecting the life of a contemporary African American Artist, Dupree’s art treads the line between politics, culture, and fine art. His expression of color, form, and unparalleled technique pair well with with Dupree’s ardent activism as a stronghold within the Philadelphia community for the last forty years. Dupree holds a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design, an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and has attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He has taught at such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the University of Pennsylvania, and Crewe and Alsager College in England. His newest gallery location isat 10 North Union Street in Lambertville New Jersey.
Rue Landau
Rue Landau is a civil rights and housing attorney, a public school parent and the first openly LGBTQ+ member of Philadelphia City Council. For more than a decade, Councilmember Landau worked as an attorney at Community Legal Services helping low-income renters in Philadelphia avoid illegal eviction from their affordable housing. She fought and won lawsuits which kept thousands of the city’s most vulnerable and high-risk families together by successfully challenging government bureaucracies. A proud graduate of Temple Law School, Councilmember Landau has served on numerous boards of non-profit and community organizations, and is an active member of her synagogue Kol Tzedek in West Philadelphia. Councilmember Landau is married to her wife, Kerry, and together they received the first same-sex marriage license in Pennsylvania, when it became legal on May 20, 2014.
Seth Tibbott
Seth Tibbott is the founder and creator of Tofurky, the game-changing Thanksgiving roast that spawned an entire company of diverse, high-quality plant-based meat products. He attended Wittenberg University and went vegetarian there in 1971. In the later 70s he was inspired to go vegan by The Farm commune in Summertown, Tennessee. As a food pioneer, Tibbott’s original plan was to popularize tempeh, a fermented soy product from Indonesia, and he remains a big tempeh fan. But his trajectory changed in 1995 when he introduced the first Tofurky and founded Turtle Island Foods (now The Tofurky Company). Also a fan and expert in the field of veg history, Seth has spoken on the topic worldwise, including at the American Vegan Center in 2022 and at the 2023 edition of the American Vegan Society’s annual Garden Party.
