Thanks so much to Lailah Robertson for this great guest post about her experience and the Hazon Food Conference. Lailah is a San Francisco freelance writer who writes the blog In My Box about her CSA box and all the delicious vegetarian, gluten-free things she makes with it. This post is NOT intended to endorse any particular diet or agenda, e.g. to say that being vegan (abstaining from all animal products) is the only way to live, or that vegetarians are hypocrites. It merely hopes to be an exploration of one of the least considered aspects of our food chain.

Nigel Savage, founder of Hazon, asked us two questions during his keynote speech last night at the Hazon Food Conference. It felt like the beginning of one of those Jewish parables, the ones where the wise rabbi asks or tells us something that means more than it seems on the surface, where you ponder on the teaching and the world opens up in a new way.

“Stand up if you eat meat, but you wouldn’t if you had to kill it yourself,” Nigel called out. A number of people in the packed hall rose from their seats. I applauded them for their self-awareness and honesty, while of course maintaining a certain degree of vegetarian smugness.

Then he asked us another question. “Stand up if you are vegetarian, but would eat meat if you killed it yourself.” This time fewer people stood up, but it was still a significant number.

Then Nigel told us the story of the goat.

Thanks so much to Rachel Cohen for this great guest post.  Rachel is the Senior Legislative Assistant for energy and environmental issues at the Religious Action Center, the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism. Rachel works on sustainability and greening issues for the Reform Movement. She holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Washington University, and is an avid bike rider and farmers’ marketer. Rachel is staffing the new URJ Shulchan Yarok, Shulchan Tzedek (Green Table, Just Table) Initiative, and can be reached at rbcohen@rac.org or 202-387-2800.

As Jews, we have always cared about the food that we eat. Some of us choose to embrace traditional notions of kashrut – and many of us do not – but we can all agree that our food, and how we get it, plays an important part in our lives.

That’s why Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, opened one section of his 2009 Biennial Shabbat sermon with these words: “Jewish history begins with a Jew – a new Jew, the first Jew – saying to others: come, eat with me. And ever since this first Jewish meal, Jews have believed that eating matters.”

The Jew and The Carrot, Hazon’s blog about Jews, food and contemporary life.  The blog has a diverse and inclusive community, where we welcome readers and volunteer writers from across the Jewish denominational spectrum, and from all walks of culinary life.  Our aim is to ensure that The Jew and The Carrot community is a platform for vibrant discussion for anyone interested in food issues.

Late on Friday we received the following letter from Pete Cohon, founder and moderator of VeggieJews, an international, real-world and online, Jewish, vegetarian organization.  He has been a vegan and animal rights activist for 22 years and a vegetarian for 27 years.  A former San Francisco trial lawyer, Pete now lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Below his letter is the response from Hazon.  We encourage a vibrant debate, but please ask commentators to refrain from personal attacks on any views.  We reserve the right to remove  any comments that violate our Community Guidelines.

An open letter to Nigel Savage, Executive Director of Hazon, and the groups members:

The Hazon group claims that it works to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community, fight climate change and promote a more sustainable world for all.  I understand that the group even hosts vegetarian meals at which it promotes its programs.

That sounds great.  But I’m concerned that Hazon is not living up to the promise.

On Friday, Sholom Rubashkin, the former owner of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse, was convicted of 86 out of 91 fraud charges.  It has been over a year since the the Pottsville, Iowa slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors was raided by federal authorities arresting hundreds of workers.  Since the raid, vigorous debate has ensued regarding the treatment of the workers, the animals and even what it means to eat kosher meat.  The Jew and the Carrot hopes to continue this important debate.

Click here for the Jew and the Carrot’s coverage of the story including interviews, commentary and even a terrific video on the lives of the slaughterhouse workers.

The other day my boyfriend and I were enjoying a Sunday walk in Brooklyn when we ran into his friend Ana, her partner and their adorable new baby.  Among the introductions and pleasantries she mentioned that she was distributing her film FRESH.  “Here, tell me what you think of it,” she said handing me a copy, knowing I was a food writer.

So, one night a while later my boyfriend and I tucked into the sofa and watched FRESH, the new film by Ana Sofia Joanes.  As someone who has seen Food Inc and has read a lot of Michael Pollan, the material was not new to me, however I found the material’s presentation (forgive the pun) fresh.  I had found Food Inc to be a good film, but heavy on the propaganda.  I felt that FRESH got its message across in a far more even-handed way.  The film invoked a pretty good discussion, and I was happy to see on their website they had some additional educational materials and even a call for recipes.  But you don’t have to be a Jew and the Carrot writer or have chance encounters with the director to see this film.  If you live in the New York area there will be a screening this Tuesday.

Much is new over at KOL Foods, the country’s largest provider of kosher, sustainably raised meat. Founder Devora Kimmelman-Block has started a blog, which covers both news from the company and issues in sustainable meat production, written with a Jewish twist. KOL Foods has also started online ordering, to allow people from a wider range of locations to order ethical kosher meat. While there has been some criticism of this move, on the argument that this undermines KOL’s commitment to local meat, a counter-argument is that there are some areas of the country where local, ethical kosher meat simply isn’t possible: for example, Florida may have many Jews calling it home but no kosher slaughterhouse. KOL has also expanded its offering to include pastured poultry, the first time this has been available on a wide level (there have been smaller efforts in New York, Boston, and Ohio). From now until November 3rd, you can order a pastured turkey for Thanksgiving. All orders will be entered in a raffle to win a free turkey.You can read all about the turkey farmer and his birds on the KOL Foods website.

This was published on August 14, 2009 in the Cleveland Jewish News and was written by Arlene Fine

Ariella Reback and Amalia Haas, owners of a new pastured kosher poultry business, have a lot to cluck about. Their free-range chickens, ducks and turkeys are being raised to provide healthy fare for their clientele and to eventually feather their own nests.

Two years ago, Haas, 40, a Jewish environmental educator, planted the seeds of the women’s fledgling business they named “The Green Taam.” (taam means taste in Hebrew). Intrigued with the idea of raising her own poultry, she bought 14 ducklings online, allowing them to roam freely in her fenced Beachwood backyard. They fed on grass, clover, bugs, and organic feed and had access to fresh water.

Thanks so much to Marion Menzin for this great guest post.  Marion is co-director of LoKo, a non-profit organization bringing local, kosher, sustainably produced meat to the Boston area. She is the mother of three boys, an occasional freelance writer, and now a chicken plucker.  

Two years ago, I was one of many, many Jews frustrated with the lack of access to ethically produced, nutritious, kosher meat. By now it is common knowledge that the unnatural – there is no better word – conditions that prevail in industrial factory farming mean two things: cruel treatment for animals and corn- and soy-fed meat for humans, which leave us deficient in essential fatty acids and vitamins.  I firmly believed that our bodies, especially the growing bodies of children, are made to eat meat and need it to stay healthy, but I simply was not willing to feed my family industrially produced meat any longer.

There seemed to be only one alternative: find a shochet, convince a local farmer to work with us, and bring them together to raise, slaughter, and kasher some animals. A local Orthodox rabbi recommended a shochet, and I was lucky enough to find Dave, an extraordinarily open-minded small farmer in central Massachusetts, who agreed to let the shochet do the shechita and kashering in his barn with the assistance of his farm crew. Another family joined us, and together we weathered the difficulties that arose during the first experimental batch of chickens.

Bustling with tall, lean, small, and stout people hovering about the baked goods, the cider, last year’s apples or this year’s first peaches, the NYC farmers market on Columbus Avenue at 79^th – 77^th street, displayed its early summer harvest – especially greens, berries, shelling peas and young onions. The children placed the fresh organic milk into the cloth bag that hung over my shoulder. The sun danced friskily with the cool breeze, and we grabbed onto our hats as we headed arms around arms to the cheese stand. It felt so right, so connected, so sustainable.

Then, my son remembered a camp bus conversation. Tenuously, he asked, “Do you make your cheese with rennet?”

Thanks so much to Rachel Bergstein for this great cross-post from the Green Profit.  Since her summer camp counselor explained in detail to a 14-year-old Rachel how the dairy industry ravages the environment, she has been awkwardly obsessed with sustainable food.  Today, Rachel and dairy are in a complicated relationship, based on a simultaneous love of cheese and concern for sustainability and environmental justice.  Rachel is a 2009 graduate of the University of Maryland, a New Israel Fund 2009 Social Justice Fellow, and a contributor to Green Prophet.

Photos courtesy of Jamie R. Liu

Noah Dan has not forgotten the tastes of his childhood.  He remembers eating brara, the fruits and vegetables bursting with incredible flavor but too “ugly” to package for sale in the cities, on Kibbutz Givat Brenner, where he was born and raised.  He also remembers eating creamy, homemade gelato in Trieste, Italy where he spent summers with his Italian grandparents.

Now a resident of the Washington DC area, Noah is the founder and CEO of Pitango Gelato.  Pitango, whose namesake is a variety of cherry that grows wild in Israel, recently opened two new shops in Washington, DC and Reston, Virginia after a successful first run in Baltimore, Maryland.  In his attempt to reproduce the gelato of his childhood, Noah has found a way to build a business that is sustainable, conscientious, and produces a very high-end product without the use of chemicals or artificial additives.

Thanks to Richard H. Schwartz Ph.D. for his latest guest post.  His previous post on not eating meat can be found here.   For a long time, Richard has been trying to start a respectful dialogue in the Jewish community about his views on vegetarianism, but has had very little success.  Below is a fictional dialogue that he hopes readers will use it as the basis of similar dialogues with local rabbis, educators, and community leaders.  Richard would also welcome an actual dialog with a rabbi.

Jewish Vegetarian Activist: Shalom rabbi.

Rabbi: Shalom. Good to see you.

JVA: Rabbi, I have been meaning to speak to you for some time about an issue, but I have hesitated because I know how busy you are, but I think this issue is very important.

Rabbi: Well, that sounds interesting. I am never too busy to consider important issues. What do you have in mind?

JVA: I have been reading a lot recently about the impacts of our diets on our health and the environment and about Jewish teachings related to our diets. I wonder if I can discuss the issues with you and perhaps it can be put on the synagogue’s agenda for further consideration.

Darkhei Noam’s Scholar-in-Residence program with Rabbi Daniel Sperber is hosting a Shabbat luncheon this Saturday May 16, 2009 from 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM in New York City’s Heschel School (270 West 89th Street between West End Avenue and Broadway.)

Join Rabbi Sperber, Milan Roven Professor of Talmudic Research at Bar Ilan University, rabbi of Congregation Menachem Zion in the Old City of Jerusalem and Darkhei Noam’s halakhic adviser, at a lunch and learn program following services.   Rabbi Sperber will be speaking on the topic of “Kosher & Food Ethics: Exploring vegetarianism, meat production, fair labor and other food related ethical issue.”

Thanks so much to Richard H. Schwartz Ph.D., for this great guest post.  Richard  is the author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, and Mathematics and Global Survival and over 130 articles at JewishVeg.com. He is President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV) and director of the Veg Climate Alliance. He is associate producer of the documentary “A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World.”

Thou shalt not eat meat? Have I gone completely crazy? Am I not aware that the Torah gives people permission to eat meat and goes into some detail in discussing which animals are permitted to be eaten and which are not? And that the Talmud has much material on the laws of kashrut related to the preparation and consumption of meat? And that various types of flesh products have been strongly associated with Sabbath and festival celebrations?

Yes, but I still think that it is necessary, actually essential, to argue this case because our modern meat-centered dietary culture is doing great harm to Jews, Israel and, indeed, the entire world and is inconsistent with several important Jewish values.

In case you hadn’t heard, Molly the cow, destined to die at a  Slaughterhouse in Queens, broke through a fence and fled for a mile through city streets while being pursued by slaughterhouse employees.   Was she returned to the slaughterhouse? No!  See here. She has been adopted by some organic farmers in Calverton, Long Island.  We all get it, right? Shabbat Shalom, Molly!