Pesach on our vegetable farm is a challenging holiday to pull off. We have had seders here, with everything home made, except the matzah. The menu usually included wonderful cinnamony Middle Eastern charoset balls made by a friend, an organic free-range kosher chicken soup, sweet potatoes, and a big salad. Sometimes, I would make roasted beets and potatoes. Anyway, my philosophy for Pesach, if there were to be one, is to just stick with simple whole foods. Whether that be fruits or veggies, or fresh cheese, meat, or eggs. I buy nuts, in bulk, and make a dessert of coconut milk, with frozen berries, cocoa powder, nuts (almonds) and some maple or agave syrup and call it a complete seder meal! None of the flourless, matzah meal stuff really appeals. I don’t like to imitate cakes and cookies with complicated, multi-step baked goods. I’d rather have fresh, home made sorbet. Or even fruit.

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How far would go to reduce your ecological footprint? But in The Year Without Toilet Paper in the NY Times, the question seems to be, how far can you go? Among eschewing retaurants, cars, extra straws and napkins, composting there garbage with tiny worms, and foroging TVs, radios and superfluous electrical appliances, Colin Beavan, 43, a writer of historical nonfiction, and Michelle Conlin, 39, a senior writer at Business Week, are four months into a yearlong lifestyle experiment they call No Impact.

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Joan Nathan is a James Beard Award-winning cookbook writer, who has authored several Jewish cookbooks including Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook, and The Jewish Holiday Baker.  She recently answered readers’ Passover food questions for the New York Times. 

Look especially for her mention of healthy, vegetarian ideas for Passover, and her answer to Jcarrot blogger, Phyllis’ question, “what’s for breakfast?”

Read the Q & A here.