5-Spoke Creamery - As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, 5-Spoke Creamery is the place to look if you’re looking for raw milk, artisanal, amazingly delicious, and kosher certified (Kof-K) cheese. Now, it seems event the New York Times agrees. Hazon was blessed to have Alan, Barbara, and their kids serving up samples of their delicious cheese - including their recently released, Tumbleweed variety (see left) - at the Food Conference. Click here, to find out where you can get your hands on some.
Lantern Books Essay Contest - Lantern Books - publishers of books on animal advocacy, religion, social justice, and environmentalism announced its 2007 essay competition. The aim of the competition is to allow new thinking to emerge on the key subjects of Lantern’s publishing program and to encourage new voices to step forward to shape the debate for the future.
The first prize is $1000. There is no entry fee. Essays should be no longer than 1500 words. The deadline is December 31, 2007. For complete guidelines, as well as prior years’ winning essays, click here.
Last Sunday, I attended Kosher Fest, the yearly gathering of kosher food and beverage purveyors and other food professionals (held in New York City, naturally). Kosher Fest is no informal synagogue social – it’s a two-day mega event that features the newest, best, and flashiest in kosher food. Page 11 of the 84-page Kosher Fest program guide displays some “impressive facts” including the dollar value of kosher produced goods in the US - $10,500,000,000. In other words, if you make kosher food you’re either at Kosher Fest, or you’re missing out.
Precisely because it’s the “see and be seen” event of the Jewish food year, Kosher Fest serves as an annual barometer of the kosher industry – its health, its growth, and its trends. More interestingly, as I ambled down the aisles of shiny displays, I began to notice how the state of kosher food uncannily mirrors the state of today’s Jewish community.
Read more »
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…
Read more »
When my kids were younger we went through the annual battle that always concluded with someone (usually me) in tears. Halloween is a Jewish child’s enemy. Every year I tried to circumnavigate the whole situation by buying candy and renting scary movies. This was sort of a good solution though the idea of running wild through neighborhoods with friends dressed as batman, an army guy, or whatever the costume du jour was that year was all most too much. My youngest son (Jonah is 13) recently confessed to having “done it” last year. The conversation went something like this. “You know Halloween is not that big a deal Mom”, “I know, I have been telling you that for years. Ummmm, how do you know?” Read more »
I have not held back on my love of all things cheese on this site. Today is no exception. I’ve fallen head-over-heels in love…with 5-Spoke Creamery.
5-spoke cheeses are:
- handcrafted / artisinal
- made from raw milk of grass-fed cows
- pesticide and hormone free
- KOSHER! (Kof-K)
The best part is, they’re available to accept my love. You can find 5-Spoke at Whole Foods across the Northeast and at specialty food marts in NYC like Zabars, Fairway, Bierkraft, etc. Not in your neighborhood yet? Contact 5-Spoke and tell them to share the love in your community. As for me, I’m off to make some of my very own 5-Spoke Pasta with Arugula Pesto. ummm….cheeessseee.
