(Hat tip to Jewschool .)
I believe in dinner plate feng shui. There comes a time, right before dinner, when I take a few moments to select just the right plate or bowl on which to nestle the food I’ve made.** (Since many of the dishes in my cupboard hail from Goodwill and/or roommates’ collections, I have any number of styles and patterns to choose from.)
Now the folks at the decidedly non Jewish company, “Feed on the Word,” have added a whole different component into the mix of choices: Scripture Tableware. As Danya at Jewschool wrote:
“…Several of the themed collections (at least “Praise,” “Psalms,” “Patriotic” and a few of the serving dishes) are comprised of all Old Testament pasukim, so maybe this could be a nice way to differentiate between milk and meat dishes.”
Here are the verses found on the “Praise” collection:
Read more »
Valentines Day is coming up this Thursday - and while it’s not a Jewish holiday per se, it’s as good a day as any to remind the people in your life that you think they’re pretty freaking awesome. To help you express your loving sentiments - the sustainable way - The Jew & The Carrot offers our newest resource list:
Kosher Sustainable C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E
All of the chocolate bars included on the list are kosher-cerfitied and some combination of organic, fair trade, cane-sugar sweetened, and vegan. (sweet!) If you want to put that chocolate bar to even better use, check out Chef Laura Frankel’s amazing recipe for chocolate mousse. And if you’re looking for something a little bit more risque, the company Green Knickers is offering a Valentine’s day special: a bar of chocolate from Divine with every pair of organic cotton, fair trade boxers or briefs you purchase. (I can’t find anything on Divine’s kashrut status, but this was too cute not to include. Thanks to Grist for the hat tip.)
According to PETA, their Kentucky Fried Cruelty advertisement - which focuses on the fast food industry’s blind eye towards animal cruelty - was denied commercial air time on Super Bowl Sunday.
On the one hand, PETA should have equal right to advertising. On the other, the ad does not exactly fit into the Super Bowl’s family-friendly image. What do you think - should the ad have been allowed to play?
(Warning: PETA’s ad depicts graphic violence, so watch with caution.)
From this week’s New York Jewish Week:
Can You Be A Kosher Locavore?
by Sandee Brawarsky
Published on: Feb 5, 2008
‘Locavore” is 2007’s Word of the Year, as anointed by the Oxford American Dictionary. The word refers to someone who makes an effort to use locally grown ingredients. More than a word, it’s a collaborative movement, encouraging people to buy their food from farmers’ markets or grow their own, with the aim of eating healthier, supporting local farmers and avoiding the great costs of fuel in shipping foods long distance.
Locavores — some of whom set a 100-mile radius to define local — may be environmentalists, food lovers who appreciate a challenge, health conscious cooks, novice and veteran farmers, for those with a spiritual bent who want to be aware of what they’re eating and where it comes from. But locavores who are both urban and kosher face particular challenges, especially in New York City in mid-winter.
Read more »
I’ve been working on a few bread projects lately: sourdough starter, and the no-knead focaccia-style bread recipe from the NY Times last year. Today, I completed a successful merger and the result? Only half a loaf left, after my parents & I were through with it at dinner.
The no-knead recipe goes something like this: wet dough + long time to rise = big air bubbles. Home-bakers tend to be more familiar with the opposite kind of bread, that is, a very elastic, kneadable dough, that rises for 2-3 hours, and gives a dense, fine-crumb loaf. You could come home from work at 4 and still have challah for shabbos at 8 kind of thing. But the air bubbles intrigued me — who doesn’t love french bread! and so I’ve been experimenting.
Read more »
To all the Hebrew-speaking foodies out there - here’s a challenge for you. Hazon is working with Jewish day schools in New York to create Min Ha’Aretz (”from the land”) - a family education program. In short, Min Ha’Aretz uses food and Jewish learning as focal points to create an innovative curriculum for day school students, a related beit-midrash (learning group) for their parents, and all-school activities (farm trips, cooking demos, nutrition classes etc.) where kids and parents have the opportunity to learn together. The program aims to strengthen intra-family conversations about eating, Jewish tradition, and the world around us.
Here’s where you come in. Our first partner schools have successfully launched Min Ha’Aretz - meanwhile, we’re always striving to improve the curriculum. Since most day schools encourage their students to be bi-lingual, we are in the process of translating the curriculum’s lesson titles into Hebrew. The thing is, we’re kinda stumped on a couple of them.
The question: how do you translate ”whole foods” (the concept, not the health food chain-store!) and “food miles” into Hebrew in a way that does justice to their nuanced meanings, while still making sense? Any brilliant suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Find out more about Hazon’s Min Ha’Aretz day school curriculum here.
Thanks to Maria Russakoff for this guest post, originally printed in the Arizona Jewish Post. It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything about Hazon’s Food Conference or the controversial goat schecting, but this piece is worth sharing.
The handwritten sign over the shiny percolator reads: “Chai tea - made lovingly with raw goat and cow milk, brewster honey, sadeh hot peppers, blackstrap molasses, black tea and ginger.” I haven’t the faintest idea where brewster honey comes from or what makes hot peppers “sadeh,” but I know from the first sip that I have come to a place that will nurture my stomach, mind and soul for the next three days. I breathe a contented sigh of relief, happy to have made it in one piece from sunny Arizona to the Connecticut Berkshires in the dead of winter, happy to be back at the Hazon Jewish Food Conference in its second year.
Read more »
The Jew & The Carrot blogger, Jeff Yoskowitz, has been on hiatus from the blog for a little while - but he has a darn good excuse. He is currently living on a kibbutz in Israel. On the one hand, like many kibbutzim, internet access is spotty so posting frequently is a challenge. But Jeff’s situation is a little different. Jeff is currently researching the (painfully ironic) pork industry in Israel. His kibbutz happens to house an industrial pork feed-lot, which means he’s spending most of his time hanging out with animals he’d never personally eat.
The little bit of time Jeff’s not researching pigs, he’s logging in his experience at his personal blog The Wet Sprocket. And while we understand his need to prioritize his web time, his stories are just too interesting not to share. To find out more about Jeff’s extraordinary daily experiences check out his blog, and read a few key (and quite graphic) excerpts below:
Read more »
Last summer, the British rock band Radiohead made waves by selling their new album, In Rainbows, on a pay what you can basis.
Now, a vegetarian restauranteur is taking this model to the food world, selling meat-free, globally-inspired cuisine to customers - for whatever they think is “fair” - at his non-profit eatery, Lentil as Anything, and a local college cafe.
Some customers are completely thrown by the concept, and continue to ask for prices at the counter, but others see it as a chance to give back to their community. Owner Shanaka Fernando said the most a customer ever paid for a lentil burger was $50. “There must have been something in it that I didn’t see,” he said.
What do you think - is this an inspired idea, or totally nuts? I’m not sure yet, but I do already have a name in mind for the potential kosher, vegetarian spinoff: Abraham’s Tent.
Read the full article about the restaurant and school eatery here.
I lived in Oregon for two years (the defunct hippie enclave of Eugene to be exact), so before any of you west coast readers get all up in arms over what I’m about to say, just remember I’m a sympathetic member of the tribe.
It’s just that, since moving to New York, I’ve fully realized to extent to which the east coast, and NYC in particular, sets the cultural tone for the rest of the American Jewish community. Seinfeld - New York. Woody Allen - New York. Manischewitz…okay, Cincinnati and then New Jersey, but close enough.
Considering the cultural monopoly east coast Jews have on most things Jewish, it seems to follow that the majority of successful Jewish food entrepreneurs would hail from the more neurotic side of the Mississippi. So I was utterly taken aback when Lois Leveen proved me wrong on her blog MacaroniManiac.
Read more »
I don’t know what it is, but I have been craving chocolate for weeks. I always enjoy the velvety, luscious stuff, but recently things have gotten out of hand.
It may be the time of year. I don’t mean the holiday set aside for eating chocolate and receiving roses, though the red cupids in florists’ windows may have a subliminal effect. It also isn’t my insatiable sweet tooth - I can bake whenever I want.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the culprits are these amazing new cocoa and chocolate bath products I bought. Read more »
Until recently, the world of kosher cheese was pretty bleak. On the one hand you had shrink-wrapped, industrial produced (but kosher certified) brands like Miller’s. On the other, you had artisanal, raw-milk and hand-crafted (but not kosher certified) cheeses. These days the tide is turning.
Introducing: The Jew & The Carrot’s Kosher Sustainable Cheese List
The cheese companies on the list allow you to have your kosher cheese and eat ethically too! We think we have enough options represented for a pretty decent cheese plate, but welcome suggestions. Send cheeses you’d like to see added to list (especially mozzerellas, which we had trouble finding!) to: tips @ jcarrot dot org, or leave a comment below. And don’t forget to pair your cheese with a bottle from The Jew & The Carrot’s Kosher Organic Wine List!
There’s an ad that’s been driving me crazy lately, haunting me from the pages of the New Yorker, and elsewhere.
A cute young woman proudly shows off her kitchen, in which all of the cabinets that usually hold pots and pans and well, food, are replaced with closet space, making room for all of her clothing, shoes and trendy handbags. Citibank made this possible, giving her the freedom to transform wasted space into premium closet space.
It could be seen as funny, but I just saw it as sad. This woman couldn’t even make a cup of coffee if she wanted to; I think her appliances were gone, too. And I’ve been thinking about it more since I got to New York yesterday, and have been seeing every other person walking down the street with their take-out (when not getting it delivered).
Read more »
Like Thanksgiving and just about every Jewish holiday (aside from Yom Kippur of course), the Super Bowl this Sunday offers a major opportunity to join together in thanks and celebration stuff your face. And with nachos and beer dominating the typical menu, it’s not the most stomach-friendly fare. Roz Cummins over at Grist came up with a plan for healthier and more sustainable TV-watching foods. Her suggestion: take a traditional Superbowl comfort food (sausage ravioli) and make it vegan.
While I’m certainly an advocate of vegetarian dining and a big fan of Grist, I thought Roz’s suggestion fell slightly short of “Super Bowl Snack Nirvana.” It’s still really heavy, pretty much void of vegetables, and relies on lots of processed foods. Wouldn’t a better solution be vegetarian sub sandwiches piled high with veggies, hummus, and artisanal cheese? Or - if you want something warm and savory - how about spicy two-bean chili with cilantro garlic yogurt? Or guacamole with home made pita chips (okay, it’s not the most seasonal food ever, but it’s better than a corn dog). However you chose to celebrate the “chag of football,” make sure you don’t leave healthy food on the sidelines.
This Super Bowl Sunday, try this recipe for spicy two bean chili from Bon Appetit, and this one for cilantro garlic yogurt sauce from Gourmet. B’tai Avon!
