You love to cook. You love to eat even more. You think about food all the time, and you need something to channel all this food-loving frenzy into so you start a blog (not so hard to imagine, huh?)

You are a computer engineer by day, but when not at work, you are either cooking or eating or writing about it for your blog.
You invent recipes. You test them again and again, and finally, when they come out to your liking, you take mouth-watering photos of them.
At first, you are among a small community of such people. But that community and your readership grows. Your passion for what you do really shows through, and more and more people begin to discover you. Finally, you are so popular that you get a book deal, and quit your day job. You become a food writer (and photographer) full-time. You are only 27 years old.

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Jewish simchas (joyous events) usually don’t conjure images of charcoal, lighter fluid and grills.  Steaming bowls of soup?  Yes.  Buffet tables loaded with dishes?  Definitely.  But not BBQ.*  A recent article by Tina Wasserman in Reform Judaism says:

“…finding a traditional Jewish recipe that uses this technique is almost impossible. The preparation of meals in biblical times was centered on milk and bread. When meat was eaten, it was usually boiled and only occasionally roasted, as we know from 1 Samuel 2:15 (when the sons of Eli declared that they preferred their meat roasted rather than boiled) and from the roasting of the paschal lamb.”

But although “Jewish grilling” is hard to come by, finding Jews who grill is easy.     

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Shalom! I am happy to report back to jcarrot from the beautiful wilderness of upstate Connecticut — more specifically, the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and a program called Adamah which I have the great privilege to be a part of this summer.

Adamah is a 3-month long fellowship for 20-somethings to explore Jewish identity and learn about organic farming. We are 14 people, with different histories with Judaism, different (often no) experience with farming, from all over the US, Canada and Israel. We’ve only been here two days, but already we have learned about goat farming, weeding, compost, irrigation, climbed to the top of a mountain, shared hopes and fears, learned about group mediation, and jumped sweaty and hot into a watering hole.

I’ll write as often as I can to give you a sense of some of what I’m learning up here. I have to say from even these two days, though, that I expect this summer to be an amazing experience. I’ve done a lot of talking about food, I can tell you up down and sideways why you should join a CSA, support your local farmer, shop at a farmers market, eat seasonally, eschew high-fructose corn syrup. But I’ve never actually grown things in the ground in quite this way.

So far, I can tell you some stories from my experiences this morning, in the Sadeh (our 4-acre field), doing the weeding.

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CSA advocates will tell you that joining a Community-Supported Agriculture project is the next best thing to growing your own food. You support a farmer for a whole season, and every week you get to pick up locally grown, organic, just-picked produce that still radiates life and earth. But what happens if you’re just too busy to cook for yourself? Over the course of the season the vegetables can start to pile up in the fridge. You start to feel guilty throwing away the soggy bok choi in the back of the vegetable crisper, and dread the next influx of fresh vegetables that will be piled onto last week’s unused produce.

Sweet Deliverance, a new business run by a Natural Gourmet Institute grad, Kelly Geary, offers a solution for busy New Yorkers. You pay for a CSA share. Geary will pick it up for you, prepare wholesome fresh meals, and deliver them to your door at a time that works for you - for an extra weekly fee of $250. Local food, and home cooked meals, with no work by you! It’s the ultimate in no-fuss, locally-grown convenience. And honestly, it creeps me out.

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Water is strolling the red carpet a lot these days, from concerns about overhydration, Dead Sea water levels, and access to fresh water, among other things. Today’s Times article, “The Unintended Consequences of Hyperhydration,” illustrates another aspect of water’s newfound popularity. It traces concerns, from the late 60s, over the development of “bottle bill” programs that reward bottle recycling.

The article’s author, Jon Mooallem, emphasizes the complexities in the debate over bottle bills as well as the major players on both sides of the debate. New York State has taken significant steps in addressing the issues of water bottle recycling.

This year, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill campaign in New York is making its sixth attempt to redirect those unclaimed deposits — estimated at $100 million each year — into a state environmental fund.

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I was priviledged to work at New Voices magazine, the only national magazine written by and for Jewish college students, and truly support their work — the magazine is free free free so suscribe yourself or your synagogue’s students today — getting the voices of the next generation of Jewish writers, editors and thinkers out into the community. This month’s excellent issue — The Body Issue — contains a superb wrap-up by Michael Croland (read his blog here) of the controversies facing the kosher industry and a humane treatment of its animals:

“The kosher meat industry of today is not the perfect, painless slaughter that is alluded to in the ideals of shekhita. The industry’s future success and its treatment of animals may depend upon how consumers react now that the spotlight is shining.”

Read the full article.

You know you’re addicted to blogging when, despite spending much time on your own site, you jump at the opportunity to also blog on someone else’s. That is my story, and this first post on JCarrot is an introduction of sorts - which is another way of saying that Leah asked me to write a little about myself and my mind promptly went blank. Ahem.

My name is Ariela and I’ve been writing about food on my blog, Baking and Books, since September ‘06. For me, food has been a tremendous means of exploration. I’ve learned about my family’s history by speaking with my grandmother and researching dishes she grew up with in Mexico City, and about other cultures as I’ve delved into their recipes and the stories behind them. I have a Masters degree in Jewish Studies from Columbia University and am currently a graduate student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, so it should come as no surprise that Jewish cuisine is a particular fascination of mine. From honey-vanilla challah to Transylvanian Pongyolas Alma to making pita in the desert, food has transformed the way I look at Judaism and Jewish culture. I hope you will join me on that journey as I share new recipes and bits of culinary history here on JCarrot.org. I’m thrilled to be joining Hazon’s community and look forward to learning more about you in the comments!

Culinary Jew, Bagel and Lox Jew - these are the terms most often used to describe members of the tribe who relate to Jewish life primarily through their stomachs. These foodie Jews connect to their heritage through babka and matzah ball soup, and are likely to feel equally “Jewish” at the kiddush table as in a minyan. Being something of a culinary Jew myself, I tend to find myself at events centered around creating and eating Jewish foods (Shabbat meals, of course - but also a latke parties, hamentashen parties…).

Last night was no exception, when my friend Avi invited a group of friends over for a Shavuot blintz-making party.

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My career as a personal chef has barely begun and I’ve already lost my first client.

I started cooking for Rachel* in October. I saw her at a party during Sukkot, where I met her baby daughter for the first time. Rachel was one of those people who I didn’t know very well, but I always liked to run into. We began catching up, her telling me a bit about her being a single mom, and I told her about my career change. Before I could finish talking about what it was precisely I was doing, she blurted out “Would you cook for me now?”

I wasn’t really ready to do it professionally yet, but I said sure. I was in class three days a week, and figured I could use someone to practice on, and make a little money at the same time. Little is the operative word there. I felt funny charging regular personal chef rates, since I wasn’t done with school. I also liked that I had room for error, if it wasn’t that good.
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Courtesy of Elisheva Kaufman:

Abundant remains of wheat were found by in the early 1970s by Prof. Yigal Yadin (translator of the Dead Sea Scrolls) at Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea in the Judean Mountains. The grains were stored in earthern jars when Masada was the royal palace of King Herod, from -37 to 73 CE. It is rare to be identify archeobotanic material to the level of a specific variety. The shape of the carbonized wheat rachis, the inner spin that holds the kernels and the kernels themselves from Masada were identified by Israeli plant-archeologist M. Kislev as Jaluli and Hourani.

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Christians get the rap from other faiths for eating “bunny eggs” on Easter, for the reason that rabbits and eggs have more to do with pagan symbols of fertility and cycles of life than with Jesus’ story. But I recently discovered that Jews have a few seemingly amusing food associations as well.

Apparently, the Lord Almighty put before the Israelites at Mt. Sinai the law of the Torah and held above them…a cheesecake? Where did that come from? Thanks to Eric for his excellent post on why cheesecake has become a symbol of Shavuot and the giving of the law. But in embracing our own funny food moments, here’s to things that God gave us, like Jewish senses of humor:

One of my co-workers decided it was time to shed some excess weight. She took her new diet so seriously that she even changed her driving route to avoid her favorite bakery. One morning, however, she arrived at work carrying a gigantic cheesecake.

We all scolded her, but her smile remained cherubic. “This is a very special cheesecake,” she explained. “I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a host of goodies. I felt this was no accident, so I prayed, ‘Lord, if you want me to have one of those delicious cheesecakes, let me have a parking spot directly in front of the bakery.’ ”

“And sure enough,” she continued, “the ninth time around the block, there it was!”

Hag sameach.

Concerns over working conditions at Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat processing plant, are heating up after a walk-out organized by the United Food and Commerical Workers, The Forward reports.

The NYTimes piled on with a profile of Conservative rabbi, Morris Allen, leading the charge for a social justice oriented tzedek hecsher.

Allen joined a team of rabbis who investigated the Postville plant last summer: “We weren’t able to verify everything [the Forward reported on working conditions]” Rabbi Allen recalled, “but what we did find was equally painful and filled with indignities.”

The Orhtodox Union equivocated.

“The issues raised — workers’ rights, safety, environmental issues — are not mundane issues,” Rabbi Genack [of the OU] said last week in a telephone interview. “The question is one of implementation. These issues are best dealt with within the mandate of other agencies — federal and state. We believe they’re handling it properly and have the expertise and the authority to handle it.”

Kosher Today suggests the Forward might be on an “Orthodox bashing” “crusade”, that the UFCW is stirring the pot, that there’s no market demand for a social justice certification and anyway, things are tough all over. “The anti-Agri crusade also ignores the fact that Agri is part of a larger meat industry where conditions are considerably worse than at the kosher plants.”

Tom Lehrer responds: Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That’s not my department” says Werner von Braun.

We are excited and humbled to announce that Jcarrot won the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards in both of the categories we were nominated in:

Best New Blog  -and-
Best Kosher Food/Recipe Blog
Thanks to all of our amazing contributors, and to everyone who reads and comments on posts, for helping to make Jcarrot the front page voice of the New Jewish Food Movement.

Thanks also to our blog friends, Gluten Free by the Bay (which currently has an amazing recipe for roasted garlic, artichoke, and white bean spread)  and Two Heads of Lettuce, which placed in 2nd and 3rd in the Best Kosher Food/Recipe Blog categories.

Thanks again, and here’s to what’s next!

With Shavuot on the horizon, many Jews are preparing for fillings of blintzes and cheesecake. Dairy products (as Eric noted below in his post “Got Shavuot?“) have a number of intimate connections with the festivals that marks, among other things, the giving of the Torah to the Israelites at Sinai. But what are we to make of it that so much of the world’s population is unable to digest lactose, the sugar in milk products?

Years ago, while waiting for the ice cream truck to come by the neighborhood, I recall a friend who would ritualistically take his “dairy pills.” While less painful than the insulin injections that another friend surrendered to, I was puzzled at his body’s intolerance as well as his reason to continue eating milk products if it caused such problems. Little did I know that so much of the world’s population is lactose intolerant, figures hovering between the 66-90 percent mark.

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