Many of us have often marveled at the onion-like layers of packaging around our smallest deli sandwiches. But unlike onion skins, we know we they won’t really biodegrade. In fact:

• Almost 1/3 of the waste generated in the U.S. is from packaging
• Plastics will take 1000 years to decompose
• The U.S. population tosses out enough paper & plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times
• Paper comes from trees, plastic comes for oil (petroleum). To obtain both paper and plastic worldwide forests are being contaminated and destroyed

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Where does your organic food come from? 

Dr. Phillip Howard at Michigan State University created an alarming flowchart that depicts the connections between organic food companies and the large, conventional food corporations that have purchased them.  Kraft owns Boca Burgers, M&M Mars owns Seeds of Change, and General Mills owns Muir Glen. 

It makes the thought of joining a CSA - when you know exactly where your food is from, and where the money is going - seem very appetizing.

There really isn’t anything like it: chewy on the outside, bready on the inside, topped with lox and too much cream cheese, even a ripe tomato if you’re lucky. Bay Area Bites writes longingly of authentic New York bagels, which she claims are unavailable out West. However, she offers resources for where California diners can approximate the deli goodness New Yorkers take for granted.

X-posted from Sustainable Apple Pie, an exploration with Israeli black cumin:

Hannah’s Kezach Bread of Wonder (not to be mistaken with Wonder Bread)

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 package of dry yeast

1 (heaping) tbs. brown sugar

1.5 cups wheat semolina

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbs. olive oil

3 tbs. black cumin

1 tbs. kosher salt

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Or at least, that chicken wasn’t a happy one. Eat happy chickens.

The New Jersey Jewish Standard reports:

This month, [Kosher Vending Industries] will unveil 25 machines serving kosher dairy items for a trial run. The first machines will serve pizza, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, vegetable cutlets, potato knishes, and French fries, at a cost of $3 to $4 per item. The food, all certified by the Kof-K, will come frozen from various suppliers and Kosher Vending will repackage it for its machines. Eventually, Cohnen would like to expand to separate meat machines.

We’ve had our rants about whether one more unenlightened, processed kosher food option actually amounts to a good thing, but not so much has been said about gadgets in general — automats are really cool.

Too bad so many of the options are so bad for you.

“They think we’re going to be bigger than Kraft because of our niche market,” he said.

Dream big, guys.

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I grew up for the majority of my childhood in the MidWest with corn, but little did I wonder why there was so damn much of it. Back in college economics courses, corn was touted as a solution to the world’s poverty problems. But it’s an interesting twist that now that corn turns out to be the devil in disguise. Produced in too large quantities by farm subsidies, at falling prices, it’s our desperation to use up the surplus that leads us to convert it into biofuels, plastics and other goods. Alas, eco-gourmets have it out against corn, and here’s why, via Grist.com:

• High fructose corn syrup’s sticky ethanol ties.
• Genetically-modified corn may not be good for you
• New documentary King Corn lays it all bare

The Board of Guardians of British Jews, the satirically self-titled “voice of all Jews since 1967″, objects to McDonald’s bagel breakfast sandwhich due to the fast-food chain’s use of pork-sausage with an emblematically Jewish bread.

“While we are not offended by neutral products going into a bagel such as jam or cream cheese, putting pork-sausage or bacon in it is something we cannot accept, that coupled with the recent advertising campaign by McDonald’s shows how much disregard they have for the feelings of the Jewish community,” said Board director of communal services Jacob Bloom.

The Board is threatening boycotts.

[The Board]

Despite the crazy weather which the North East is experiencing today, I am having a number of friends over for shabbos this week and was up late cooking last night. I made an array of different dishes, in addition to my friends offering to make a few dishes as well and helping me out in the process. I remembered that my friend’s mother had a good blend whole wheat/white flour challah recipe, so I decided to make it as well. It’s been some time since I’ve made it last, so I felt I was up for the challenge. Read more »

From Rabbi Without a Cause:

Pesach is coming.

I know what you’re thinking: Of course Pesach is coming! What did you expect, when Purim is so last week!

…

Pesach is coming, I tell you.

And the shailos, oh, the shailos. How do I kasher my coffee-maker? What’s the latest on kashering microwave ovens? Does this need a special hechsher for Pesach? Why? Why not?

My grandmother used peanut oil and had no problem with it. My grandmother refused to use peanut oil, and would have spit on your Pesach kitchen.

What’s the story with mustard? Does meat need a special hechsher? What about fresh fish?

Rabbi, I’m away for Pesach; can I just do a bedikah on the front hallway of my house? How about just a bathroom?

Oh, yes, Pesach is coming, my friend.

The mass exodus of two-thirds of my shul to various relatives. We can’t get anyone to come to our Seder. Maybe they go away just to avoid being invited to our Seder.

From the Associated Press:

For years, horseradish has enjoyed a place of privilege at the seder, the carb- and symbolism-heavy meal that celebrates Passover.

Along with its counterparts on the Passover plate, horseradish helps tell the story of the Jews’ liberation from Egyptian slavery and exodus into the desert: Unleavened, cracker-like matzoh recalls the bread the Israelites hastily made prior to fleeing into the desert. Salt water, in which parsley and eggs are dipped, symbolizes the tears slaves shed.

And horseradish generally is used to represent the bitterness of slavery.

But this year, consider adding color to the plate (and giving a nod to tradition) by substituting bitter greens — such as chicory, endive, arugula, and dandelion and mustard greens — for the horseradish.

Read more »

So I’ve been very much appreciating the beginning ideas about the role of Pesach as prompting a sort of psychological and spiritual spring cleaning, especially coming from the indulgence of Purim. I have really been feeling that sort of inertia towards springtime and freedom in almost every aspect of my life in the past few weeks, and it’s reassuring to read that others feel the same way, and that there may be explanations for it.

But sometimes I need to take a break from my day-job studying the portance and significance of food/nutrition, debating local and organic, examining food consumption trends, sustainable solutions to malnutrition, Farm Bill politics and the implications of the obesity epidemic, and explore a creative, childish side. Which is what I did tonight when my biweekly box from Boston Organics arrived and my roommate and I had a conversation about the hair-like characteristics of carrot tops. I present to you: Mr. Purple Carrot-top?

After fruitlessly trying to find information about the tuna melt, I was getting frustrated with my project. I looked at the history of sandwiches, the history of tuna fishing, and the problems with tuna fishing. However, I was having trouble linking everything together. So I decided to switch my topic to the history of apple pie. I have managed to find several sources about apple pie, including really early cookbook references. I even found a website for the American Pie Council, which is “committed to preserving America’s pie heritage and promoting American’s love affair with pies.” http://www.piecouncil.org/about.htm. I am looking forward to my research.

JTA reports:

Palestinian farmers are reportedly preparing for a windfall from sales of produce to Israelis who observe Jewish law on allowing Jewish-owned land to lie fallow. The next Jewish year, 5768, is “shmitta,” meaning that it falls at the end of a seven-year cycle ordained by the Torah and in which religiously observant Israelis are formally barred from raising or harvesting fruits and vegetables.

Some fervently Orthodox groups in Israel have been in talks with Palestinian officials on obtaining produce from the Gaza Strip as an alternative, the Israeli newspaper Hatzofeh reported Monday. The meetings reportedly were facilitated by the Israeli military, which pledged to expedite the merchandise’s transport out of Gaza.