It seems that Jews have made it. Bizarre, strange American holiday rituals (read: butter turkeys for Thanksgiving, fruit cakes for Christmas) have extended out a hand to American Jews. New for the holiday season is a special soda that tastes like latkes and a Christmas Ham soda that happens to be kosher.

Jones Soda co., a Seattle based soda-maker, announced new soda flavors for the holiday season. See the story in The Olympian. Jones is known for bizarre and “offbeat” flavors. New to the holiday line–in addition to the turkey and gravy soda flavors for Thanksgiving–are Chanukkah and Christmas flavors. The Hanukkah pack features Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and latkes soda flavors. “As always, both packs are kosher,” a Jones statement read. Read more »

I was just in Los Angeles and saw a bus stop sign exclaiming in huge letters “Mazel Tov on YOUR kosher Subway”. Ironically, I checked my email shortly after the sighting and before I had time to digest the gist of the message I saw another kosher Subway had just opened in New York.  

Someone hold me, I’m scared!

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X-posted from Jewschool, Josh Frankel covers the growing Uri L’tzedek social justice beit midrash in Washington Heights. This week, the beit midrash covered food issues, including Agriprocessors:

Avi Lyon, director of the Jewish Labor Committee, told stories from his visit to Rubashkin’s meat’s AgriProcessors plant, in Iowa, and poor working conditions there, from intimidating workers not to speak to outsiders, to charging workers for their smocks and not paying them for the time required to get into and out of their safety equipment, to the high injury toll. Mike Schultz led a group brainstorm of any and all problems of workers’ rights or being an ethical kosher consumer that were really bothering the people in the room, and people had a lot to say, with a lot of fervor. Steven Exler outlined the cycle of community organizing, presented more facts on Agriprocessors, and asked people what they would be willing to do about it. Shmuly closed out the night by offering multiple opportunities for “homework,” ways to start acting on what we had talked about. 10 people signed up to table for workers’ rights at this weekend’s convention of kosher food producers, KosherFest. Others are planning to start working on pressuring local food providers to carry other meat options. Several people wanted to work on generating more of a halachic discourse on tzedek questions among the poskim.

The batei midrash will continue every 3 or 4 weeks, open and accessible to all, and now Uri L’Tzedek is starting to move into providing support and partnership for those who are ready to take the lead and get it done in the community. Started by three YCT students, Aaron Finkelstein, Mike Schultz, and Shmuly Yanklowitz along with the generous support of a Herbert Lieberman Award. For more information, contact Aaron Finkelstein.

For those of you with a sense of humour about what you eat and where you buy it, and for those of you who need to explain why big box organic has its own issues, I present to you this.

shabbat shalom

I’ve been visiting New York City for over a week, sadly because my 97-year-old grandfather has been in the hospital. And in this time, I’ve eaten almost every meal out. Not by choice, necessarily, but when you’re getting together with friends or relatives in the evenings, going out to a meal is the easiest thing to do.

We have already pretty much said goodbye to tomatoes in California, and basil as well. But when we went to a quite good Italian place near my dad’s apartment on the Upper West Side the other night, I couldn’t believe there was a caprese salad, without basil, on the antipasto table.

While the brussel sprouts and mushrooms and grilled endive and marinated carrots and olives all looked delicious, the tomato slices were an embarressment. Why were they even on the table, I wondered. They were so pale, they didn’t even look like tomatoes, and I could tell they were hard as a rock. Why didn’t they just do without a caprese salad? Read more »

What do you get when you cross: 

-A blend of 28 cocoas (including 14 of the most expensive and exotic around the globe)
- 5 grams of edible 23-karat gold, served in a goblet lined with edible gold
- 18-karat gold bracelet at the bottom of the goblet (with 1 karat of diamonds)
- Whipped cream covered in more gold and a side of La Madeline au Truffle, which sells for $2,600/pound?

The Frozzen (yes two zs) Haute Chocolate, a $25,000 desert from Serendipity 3 in New York City.  Here’s my question, why would you want to EAT gold?  Yes, yes, there’s the whole “you are what you eat,” thing, but would you really want to be an inert mineral that probably causes serious indigestion?

Let’s just say The Frozzen Haute Chocolate doesn’t top my Chanukah gift wish list this year - but if you want to get me something from The Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide…

The Jew & The Carrot presents a sustainable Chanukah gift guide, which features earth-friendly, meaningful present ideas for (just about) everyone in your life. 

• A vegan cookbook for your sister?
• A sturdy bike basket for your cycling buddy?
• A kosher, organic tea set for your boss?

Find these great gift ideas (and many more) at The Jew & The Carrot’s Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide

Does it pay to read blogs? Maybe if I hadn’t checked a few of my favorites this morning (metafilter.com, jewlicious.com, nextbook.org), I wouldn’t have come across these bewildering, highly amusing and slightly nauseating headlines:

• A talmudic analysis of a soccer player’s lament, as it relates to restraints made of kreplach
• An FBI plan to track Iranian terrorists in California based on monitoring spikes in falafel sales
• White Castle’s 2007 Recipe contest winner? Slider Latkes (only slightly less gross than last year’s winner -I think I’m gonna be sick)

OK, back to work, people. (Image via Jewlicious)

Way back in April, I attended and sang in Northampton, MA, at one of the many ‘Step it Up’ rallies going on across the country, and across the world, to bring attention to the realities of climate change. The sound system was powered by veggie oil from my van’s engine running through an inverter, and a good time was had by all. You can see my van, the ‘Veggie Voyager’, near the top right of the photo. Ironically, the weather was perfect! Here is a broadcast from WAMC radio that sums up the event pretty nicely.

Click here to listen!
This past weekend, another series of Step it Up rallies were called across the country - hundreds in all. I played at the rally in Kingston, NY, organized by the teachers and students of Kingston High School. This time though, the weather was cold and wet - making it harder to think about global warming! Activists of all stripes were there, and the mood was festive. Congressman Maurice Hinchey came to support the event, and he spoke after the music. Check out ‘Step it Up’ to see how you might get involved next time!

I’m going to out myself again as a newbie in the culinary and foodie world, but that’s my place on this here blog, so here we go. This morning I slept through all my alarms, both electronic and internal, due to the deep, deep sleep one gets when the body is fighting off a cold. Awaking late, I rushed out of bed, hit the subway, and ducked into the deli closest to work — only to find that breakfast was over, and only lunch food was about.

Thus this morning’s quandry: what do you eat for breakfast when you’re sick in New York City? Read more »

Thanks to Andrew Kastner for this powerful guest post on his decision to train to be a shochet, a Jewish ritual slaughterer. It’s easy to talk in the abstract about getting in touch with one’s food, but significantly more difficult to actually take the responsibility of doing so into our own hands….

Earlier this year, I began training to be a shochet, a Jewish ritual slaughterer. As a rabbinical student who is passionate about culinary traditions, I felt that I was profoundly disconnected from the source of my food. Influenced by Maimondes’ dictum, which states, “Anyone who desires to eat meat must take the responsibility to procure it”, I felt that the challenge, though daunting, could help me relate to my food and the source of life in a more meaningful way.

After weeks of studying Jewish legal codes relating to schitah, the rabbi informed our small group that he would be bringing a few chickens to our next class. Later that week when we met, the rabbi opened the cardboard box holding three young birds.

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Today’s New York Times included a fascinating op-ed called “Weed it and Reap,” by Michael Pollan, which notes the significant increase in public input on the 2007 Farm Bill.   Has the public’s voice made a difference?  Read “Weed it and Reap” here.

Have something to say about a kosher estabilishment in your area?  Here’s your chance.  Kosher Community Surveys is a surveying organization “dedicated to recognizing quality kosher establishments.” There are open surveys for the Washington DC and Philly area, and surveys opening soon across the country.

Reuters reported that Cargill recalled over 1 million pounds of beef distributed in the US because of possible e. coli contamination.  This is the second major recall for Cargill in the last month, prompting me to wonder, what is safe to eat these days?  Read the article here.

Hat tip to Jewschooler and NY Ride alumnus Josh Frankel:

After the tremendous success of its first beit medrash, Uri L’tzedek, the organization dedicated to engaging the Orthodox community in social justice, is back for more. “Ethical Kashrut, Workers’ Rights, the Kosher Meat Industry” is the title for this week’s program, and the word on the street is that Rubashkin’s should take cover. Monday night, 7:30 - 9:00 PM, at the Mount Sinai Jewish Center, 135 Bennet Ave, in NYC.

For more information, check out Uri L’tzedek’s new facebook group.

Margaret Hathaway’s new book, The Year of the Goat, tells the story of the 40,000 miles she and her partner (now husband), Karl Schatz, traveled in search of the perfect goat cheese - and a new way of life.

Before embarking on their year-long journey, Hathaway was a freelance writer who managed Magnolia Bakery in New York City, and Schatz worked as a photo editor for Time Magazine’s website. Together, they lived in Brooklyn, shopped at the Greenmarkets, and generally enjoyed city life - but they craved something more than the five boroughs could offer. So, they set off on a year-long journey to discover if farming - and particularly working with goats - held the secrets of the next chapter of their lives.

Along the way, Hathaway and Schatz met what they call, a “vivid cast of characters,” including a myriad of goat cheese and meat enthusiasts, a Texas-born Muslim living in Maine and helping the local Somali community in Lewiston acquire fitting goats for their religious festivals, and a Messianic Jew who keeps Shabbat as well as a herd of goats.

I spoke with Margaret and Karl last week about goats (naturally), their adventures in homesteading, the connection between farming and Jewish tradition, and their upcoming event in NYC, the Goatstravaganza (Nov. 8).

Interview continues below the jump…

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