A long-time reader of The Jew and the Carrot, it’s easy for me to see the importance and power of conversations within the Jewish community regarding eating, nutrition, food politics, and sustainability. However, the Jewish imperative for justice does not allow us to stop at environmental or personal levels. Rather, we have to continue our pursuit of justice to ensure that everyone has access to fresh, seasonal produce, healthy food options, and the skills to prepare healthy meals. The Nourishing Kitchen of New York City is an organization working to do just that for the East Harlem community.

Founded in 2008 as a “healthy soup kitchen,” The Kitchen is the only emergency food organization providing nutritionally balanced food for immune-compromised individuals struggling with diabetes, obesity, and malnutrition. East Harlem has one of the highest rates of hunger as well as the highest rate of obesity in New York City, with 62% of the population reported overweight or obese. The East Harlem community also has the densest concentration of diabetes in any borough. These apparent contrasts can be explained by the heavy presence of affordably-priced yet nutritionally void fast food and the scarcity of affordable fruits and vegetables.

The Nourishing Kitchen has expanded its mission in an effort to incorporate healthy eating into clients’ everyday lives. In addition to a hot meal service, The Kitchen offers a food pantry, produce distribution, nutrition classes, and yoga classes – all free and open to the community.

A foundation stone of The Kitchen is not just providing food for low-income clients, but connecting an otherwise marginalized and underserved community with the green movement. As the only certified green soup kitchen in the country, The Kitchen does this primarily through the use of a number of community garden plots. The produce harvested in these plots is served in our hot meals and distributed in our Urban Free Produce program. The Kitchen also runs educational programs and events that expose the community to recycling, composting, seasonal eating, and growing their own produce at home.

One of The Kitchen’s most important projects is the Junior Chef program, a summer program that takes kids ages six to thirteen and gives them hands-on culinary and nutrition workshops. This program was created to connect underserved and undernourished youth to the culinary arts while educating participants and their families on issues of nutrition and wellness. In addition to direct training, participants receive ingredients and recipes to prepare meals at home with their families, plus a local gym membership to engage in physical activity. Through this curriculum, participants learn how to protect themselves and their families from the threat of diabetes and obesity raging in their neighborhood while having fun and gaining comfort in the kitchen.

I’m writing about this organization today because The Nourishing Kitchen (specifically the Junior Chef program) needs your help. The Kitchen is currently a finalist in the national Post Grant for Good Health for $25,000 to support and expand the Junior Chef program. The catch is that it all depends on votes. Each person can vote once per day until July 12 and the winner will be announced on July 22. It takes less than a minute of ‘e-volunteering’ a day, just one click and you are on your way to pursuing food justice for all. Click here once a day to help.

See those blue ribbons? My challah (and my husband’s bagels) won those at the county fair last year. Both recipes always turn out reliably scrumptious, which should be enough for any baker, but there is something undeniably, down-home country-satisfying about serving your family and friends “blue-ribbon” baked goods.

Folks looking for Jewish food and culture might not head for the county fair; as Jewish pig farmers, pole benders and log-rolling lumberjacks are rarities in most parts, yet the lure of competition, fancy ribbons and yearlong bragging rights might make you wish to consider participating. That’s right, I suggest you get your apron on and whip, bake, pickle or jar up your Jewish delicacies and head to your county fair. Trust me, your homemade kosher dills will taste even better adorned with a Best of Show ribbon. All you need is a copy of your local fair’s open-class entry form to start planning your submissions.

Make great challah? Babka? Rugelach? Matzah? Bagels? How about hamantaschen? Home economics class B baked goods can be your proving ground. County fair food preservation judges have had plenty of pickles cross their palates, why don’t you see if they can gauge what makes a good gefilte fish?

Fascinated by fermentation? Budding oenologists and zymogurists can bottle up and enter their best kosher wine, beer, or hard cider. If you’re more of a drinker and designer than distiller, see if your county fair has a category for labels. Either way, bring some Jewish flavor to your county fair and bring home some blue ribbons! But don’t forget your cowboy boots; there is nothing to win with open-toed shoes in the livestock halls.

Last week, I wrote about how I, dressed as “Chris P. Carrot,” had led the Veggie Pride Parade in New York City under my dual Jew-carrot identity. Now you can vote for a photo of Chris P. Carrot (with his “wife,” Penelo Pea Pod) from the event as the cutest photo in a PETA contest!

A post on PETA’s blog announced, “Calling all connoisseurs of cuteness: We need your help deciding which of the following pics from recent PETA demonstrations is the most aww-inspiring.” (Note: Although PETA owns the costume that I borrowed, the event was not a PETA demonstration.)

The other photos feature a little kid protesting against the cruelty of the dairy industry and someone in an elephant costume educating people about the abuse of elephants in circuses. Kids are formidable opponents in a cuteness competition, but I hope that I can count on The Jew & The Carrot readers to vote for the Jew and the carrot (i.e., me).

If you regularly read this blog it’s probably safe to assume you are interesting in food activism and maybe you’ve read Michael Pollan or seen Food Inc.  And if that’s the case you are probably excited to go see FRESH in the movie theaters.

The Jew and the Carrot has the hook up for you!  You can win two free passes to see FRESH in the movie theaters this week in New York.  Just leave an appropriate comment on my previous post and one name will be randomly selected to win the passes.  Good luck!

Photo credit:  Specialty Studios/Ripple Effect reprinted with permission

When I was very little, my dream job was to be a farmer. The small family farms in rural Pennsylvania where I grew up romanticized the idea of farming.  We didn’t have enough land to have anything but a small vegetable garden, but I dreamed about someday having chickens, cows and maybe even a horse. But farming never became a reality except for my window-box herbs and my predilection for playing Farmville.

So last week, Ana Joanes, director of Fresh offered me the opportunity to hear Joel Salatin give a lecture.  Being a big fan of Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Inc, and of course Fresh, this Jew was beyond thrilled to be able to spend Easter Sunday listening to this rockstar sustainable farmer explain how we can afford local artisanal food and how we could really feed the world with it.  Fascinating discussion.  His passion and dedication to the subject is undeniable.  I can’t wait to buy his book Everything I want to do is Illegal.

I got the chance to chat with Joel right before his talk.  Although the food movement is anything but new to him, I asked him what changes he has seen in the last several years.

[See post to listen to audio]

So what changes in food have you seen over the last five years?  What positive changes have you made?  Are you eating differently?  Are healthy sustainable foods more readily available today than they were before?

The good people at Fresh were kind enough to give us two free passes to see the movie being shown at Quad Cinema in New York City April 9-15.  For a chance to win the tickets, leave a comment on this post about your thoughts on how the food movement is making changes to our lives.  Drawing will be held on Wednesday April 7 – so leave us a comment today!

Joel Salatin and Mia-Rut at Columbia University

Every year come Passover there is the great dessert dilemma. Do I try to fake the cake using matzo meal, or forgo carbs and make meringues?  A few years back I put out fruit with a dark chocolate fondue, but you can really pull that rabbit out of the hat just once.  Invariably, I would pause on almonds, which are delicious, protein filled, fragrant, and fraught with biblical meaning.  Many scholars believe that Moses’ rod was an almond branch, as was Aaron’s.  It is also believed by some that the staff of the messiah will be an almond branch.

But until recently, almonds eluded me, having found scant recipe resources and remaining confused about how to prepare them. Enter Elana Amsterdam, her blog (Elana’s Pantry), and her book, the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.   Amsterdam follows a year round gluten free diet to help her and her son manage their celiac disease.  She has done extensive research on gluten alternatives and emerges a triumphant advocate of the almond. I reached out to Elana for some more details on her research, choices, and best practices.  She writes, ”I am one of those people that has a lot of fun researching food, products and issues.  While I had always been curious and inquisitive, I truly learned the crafts of research, analysis and writing when I attended Columbia College at Columbia University (I was in the 3rd co-ed class!). I like almond flour because it is tasty, easy to use and super nutritious.  It didn’t take long for me to take a real shine to this product.”

The proof is in the pudding.  And matzo balls.  And vegan pastry cream.  And parve coconut cream frosting (no shortening!). And pancakes. And banana bread.  Amsterdam has come up with amazing, gluten free, generally parve, delicious recipes for year round, but of course are especially useful for Passover. Amsterdam is Jewish, and describes her food philosophy as ‘eco-kosher’.  She admires the work of Arthur Wasko, and tries to maintain an even handed, open approach to food and eating.  ”I think eating is a very personal choice and do not find it to be part of my process to judge how other people eat –it is so very individual.  I do have quite a few different types of people with an affinity for my website –whole food advocates, vegans, etc. My eating choices are shaped by my idea that we are all bio-chemical individuals and there is no “one size fits all” eating plan.  Therefore, I have done a lot of experimentation in terms of eating and my own constitution.  In my 20′s I taught yoga and studied Ayurveda which had a tremendous impact on my views surrounding health and healing.”

When you read her recipes, there are a few common ingredients including almond flour, grape seed oil, agave, baking soda, and dark chocolate.  You will see eggs, but very little dairy.  Occasionally she experiments with coconut flour.  ”All of my cookie recipes are dairy and egg free.  I do this so that more people can partake in the recipes I create –my goal is to make delicious food tasty enough for everyone and for people on restricted eating plans to be able to break bread with family and friends again.  I especially limit the use of dairy in my recipes because many people that are gluten intolerant cannot digest dairy either.”

Elana also advocates for more careful shopping and food choices.  ”I purchase organic produce, wild sea food and organic poultry.  When it comes to poultry, “natural” is really not so great.  ”Natural” livestock is fed pesticide laden food, I do not view this as natural.” All of this comes together in her home kitchen, where she, “make(s) a delicious Shabbos dinner every Friday and we have huge feasts at the Jewish holidays with friends and family.  Recently my son’s Hebrew class came over for Purim and we made Hamantaschen and Shaloch Manos.”  Imagine what this woman can do for her seder, and yours.

Want to win a copy of the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook?  Leave a comment below about your Passover cooking adventures below. Last date for entries is April 4th.  Winner will be notified by email on April 5th.

Recipe – Double Chocolate Orange Torte

Courtesy of Elana Amsterdam

½ cup dark chocolate 73%
½ cup blanched almond flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon celticseasalt.com” href=”http://celticseasalt.directtrack.com/z/14/CD47/&l=1″ target=”_blank”>celtic sea salt
3 eggs
½ cup agave nectar
½ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon orange zest
½ cup dark chocolate 73%

1. Place ½ cup chocolate chips in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground to the texture of gravel
2. Pulse in almond flour, cacao powder and salt and process until well combined, about 10 seconds
3. Add eggs to food processor and pulse again, then add in agave, grapeseed oil and orange zest
4. Pulse all ingredients together until smooth
5. Remove “bowl” from food processor and stir in second ½ cup of chocolate chips using a spoon or spatula
6. Transfer batter into a well oiled 10 inch springform pan
7. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Photos by Phil Mansfield

Every once in a while I feel sorry for myself because my kids won’t eat my lovingly prepared meals; for comfort, I seek out one of my fellow mom’s, specifically those with teen-agers. Invariably they look at me with a withering ‘well let me get you the violins and a stiff drink fast, your poor thing’ stare, reminding me that I am a mere amateur at kitchen rejection. When I hear their tales of trying to feed their teens, my load somehow seems lighter, more manageable. Snarky, picky, and sometimes downright nasty, it is no easy task to manage teens at the table.

Enter Rozanne Gold and her new book, Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs. I sat down with the author and discovered that the book’s appeal to teens is as organic as its recipes. Gold recently adopted a teen-ager and for the past few years they have been coming together as a family, in and out of the kitchen. Her daughter was one of five teen chefs engaged to prepare and test each recipe. Their collective industry and obvious enjoyment is evidenced throughout the book with hands-on pictures depicting their efforts.

“Something a little quirky is that everyone, everyone is talking about childhood obesity and overeating and diabetes and getting back to the table – no one wrote a book. Someone forgot to write the book.” She correctly assessed that the literature includes many books about cooking, kids, and healthy eating, but few if any that feature well known chefs who have cross referenced their work with a nutritionist in order to serve the teen audience. This gap as well as her family changes prompted her to write the book and have nutritionist Helen Kimmel review and validate the recipes. Coupled with her teen chefs’ participation and stamp of approval, the book has a tremendous sense of leading-edge authenticity.

“I like being the first to do things”, says Gold. A food pioneer, she graduated  from Tufts and and did graduate work at NYU. With no formal culinary training, Gold beg, borrowed, and stole experience, and at 23 became the Executive Chef at Mayor Koch’s Gracie Mansion. “I catered the first seder ever at Gracie Mansion. It was a great experience. The Mayor told me to put Perrier (instead of seltzer) in the matzo balls which I had never done before. I did a traditional seder for his family. Holiday favorites included anything with garlic, as well as brisket with vermouth, onions, and a bay leaf.” Many books and restaurants later, she has become a well known force in the food world.  Just this week, she broke boundaries by having her book referenced in the New York Times Health blog, as well as featured in the Science section for its unique approach.

Gold does admire others in the industry attempting to improve school and home meals for children, including Bill Telepan, Ann Cooper , and Lynn Fredericks. But for this book, she felt she had to pave a new path.  “Setting criteria for what eating fresh food means was a process. Working with the nutritionist, we definitely decided not to go the route of calories or counting, but to come up with some broader way of expressing healthy food. The original title was Ketchup Ain’t A Vegetable.”, laughed Gold.  “I’m not doctrinaire about this at all. There is so much discussion about good food and bad food. My solution, my definition is eat fresh food. Which is also a way of saying no processed food or very little processed food. That became my benchmark. The basis of every recipe is that a vegetable or a fruit has to be the star of the dish. You will find this in every recipe. That is my bottom line. The fact that there is very little meat in there is cognizant of the fact that kids are serious about wanting to be vegetarians; 80 – 90% of the book is suitable for vegetarians.”

Gold is very interested in sourcing.  As a restauranteur (The Rainbow Room) as well as a home cook, she is very aware of the power of purchasing. “I am interested in local but fresh is more important. We had the best peach we ever had in our life 2 years ago in March from Costco. I don’t know where it came from, I don’t know how it got there, but it was extraordinary. I’m not sure that is a bad thing. I understand the eco-system of farmers and sustainability and fresh, and we need to be very supportive of that. But I shop in a variety of places. I shop at Key Foods sometimes out of necessity. We have a wonderful farmer’s market here on Saturdays, and we’re always there buying wonderful things. And I am always in the city on Wednesday at the Union Square market.”

“It’s really exciting to be there at the farmer’s markets; if you are interested in trends and what’s happening, that is where the trends are happening today. That is so different than 20 years ago when trends happened from fancy chefs and from kitchens. Today, trends are happening by what you see at the farmer’s markets and that’s fabulous. Just to see the micro-greens…what the farmers are doing now, that’s where most of the creativity is coming from. I remember just a few months ago I walked by one of the stands at the farmers market and there were 10 different colors of radishes. 6 different colors of carrots. It was just breathtaking. Chef’s are very inspired by it.”

That being said, she also recognizes the challenges of urban life and trying to grow your own food.  “I do have a window box. It is hard to run a kitchen and run your garden. If a home cook has land to grow a garden, that is wonderful. I always grew up in and around the city, so it was never practical. I remember once when I was in college I was at my boyfriend’s house and I looked out the window and said, ‘Look, someone threw an eggplant out the window.’ Little did I know it was growing in his mother’s garden! I knew nothing about farming or sustainability – it was not the language at the time. I think it is exciting that it is now.”

The majority of recipes in this book are vegetarian, but there are few vegan offerings.  I asked Gold for her perspective on the movement. “I believe in culinary history and gastronomy.  My religion is much more in classic cuisine and less about anything doctrinaire. I believe in doing everything and eating everything and trying everything. In balance. Vegans would have to work really hard to have a well-balanced, nutritious, healthy diet. And that’s OK because they believe in something else like not eating animals of any kind – that is a different belief system.”

The book reads nicely with lush photography. It includes interesting and fun recipes such as sweet carrot jam, ginger scallion brown rice with scallions, fish tacos, and mac and cheese with cauliflower and red pepper sauce. And of course olive oil chocolate chip cookies, below for you and your teens’ enjoyment.  Who knows, you might end a meal with a smile, or at least a nod.

Want to win a copy of Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs.? Leave a comment below about cooking for/with teens. Last date to post comments is 12/21/09. The winners will be notified on 12/22/09.

Courtesy of Rozanne Gold. All rights reserved.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24

2 cups self-rising flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 extra large eggs
½ cup olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
6 ounces miniature chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Put the flour and sugar in the bowl an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. The mixture will be slightly crumbly and a little oily.
3. Knead several times on the counter. Form into 24 balls and then shape into small ovals that are 1 ½ inches long and ¾ inch wide. Roll the tops in miniature chocolate chips. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat pad. Place the cookies 1inch apart. Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan. Remove with a spatula.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the 4th Annual Manischewitz Cook-Off!” said Chef Pépin. “I always encourage people to experiment with new types of ethnic cuisine and products.”  As the Manischewitz Company announced the launch of the 4th Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off, a cooking contest designed to encourage home cooks to challenge themselves in preparing a kosher meal using the new Manischewitz Broth. The contest encourages home chefs to experiment with different ethnic foods and to think of preparing a Kosher inspired meal as part of that experience, in the same way people enjoy preparing Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Chinese and other popular ethnic cuisine.

Entrants will compete for a chance to be crowned the “King or Queen of Kosher” and win the $25,000 grand prize package including GE Profile kitchen appliances, cash and more. Five finalists will win an all-expense paid trip to NYC to compete live on March 18th at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan.  The contestants will be judged by an on-site cooking panel consisting of food media and other culinary experts.

This year the cook-off will be bigger and better than ever with legendary acclaimed chef, Jacques Pépin as the celebrity guest of honor who will act as MC, head judge and award prizes. Pépin is one of America’s best-known chefs, widely recognized as the host of eleven acclaimed public television cooking series and the author and publisher of twenty-six cookbooks. He is also a founder of The American Institute of Wine and Food (WIWF) and has been the Dean of Special Programs at the French Culinary Institute (New York) since 1988.  As an added bonus, this year’s event will benefit Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), a national  month of recognition of the more than 350-year history of Jewish contributions to American culture.

How it works The Manischewitz Cook-Off invites U.S. residents 18 or older to submit an original, easy-to-prepare entrée.  All recipes must be original, kosher, include a new Manischewitz Broth product, have no more than a total of eight ingredients and be prepared and cooked in one hour or less. For official contest details log onto their website and complete the official entry form and submit your recipe online.  All entries must be received by January 31, 2010.  For more information, prize details, rules and regulations, log onto www.manischewitz.com.

Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals is not for the faint of heart. His recent article in the New York Times (excerpted from the first chapter) includes stories of his grand-mother, a holocaust survivor, which he uses to define himself as well as frame his book. The Jew and The Carrot’s Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus wrote a nice post about it, including:

“But I what I found most moving was the way he connected his own ethical commitment to vegetarianism to his grandmother’s commitment to kashrut, even under the most extreme circumstances. She gets the last word in the dialogue he recalls,

“The worst it got was near the end. A lot of people died right at the end, and I
didn’t know if I could make it another day. A farmer, a Russian, God bless him,
he saw my condition, and he went into his house and came out with a piece of
meat for me.”

“He saved your life.”

“I didn’t eat it.”

“You didn’t eat it?”

“It was pork. I wouldn’t eat pork.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“What, because it wasn’t kosher?”

“Of course.”

“But not even to save your life?”

“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.”

Foer spends the length of the book trying to explain why eating animals matters, and searching for a way we can save ourselves. The book is exceptionally effective in illuminating the horrendous practices of the industrial fish and meat industries. In some cases, he relies on other people’s research (especially government sources), and then effectively channels this into relatable paradigms. For example, Foer takes on the fish industry, explaining the extensive loss of sea life (in some cases 80 – 90% of the total haul) that accompanies each intended catch, also known as ‘bycatch’. He writes, “Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might have to be be five feet across.”

In another section, Foer goes undercover to see poultry farms for himself, and witnesses first hand the cruel conditions, deliberate breeding of weak (even ill animals), and lack of sanitary practices. He weaves in narratives from interviews with animal activists, farmers, businessmen, processors, and even PETA. Like many before him, he was unable to get into a cattle slaughterhouse, but he attempts to construct the experience in graphic detail based on third party accounts and research. At one point, Foer visits a pig processing plant and observes the operation closely. In the end, they invite him to sample the fruits
of their labor, a plate of ham. Foer writes,

“I don’t want to eat it. I wouldn’t want to eat anything right now, my appetite having been lost to the sites and smells of the slaughterhouse. And I specifically don’t want to eat the contents of that plate, which were, not long ago, the contents of a pig in the waiting pen. Maybe there is nothing wrong with eating it. But something deep inside me — reasonable or unreasonable, ascetic or ethical, selfish or compassionate — simply doesn’t want the meat inside my body. For me, meat is not something to be eaten.

And yet, something else deep inside me does want to eat it. I want very much to show Mario my appreciation for his generousity. And I want to be able to tell him that his hard work produces delicious food. I want to say, ‘Wow, that’s wonderful’ and have another piece. I want to break bread with him. Nothing — not a conversation, not a handshake, or even a hug — establishes friendship as forcefully as eating together.

‘I’m kosher’, I say

‘Kosher?’ Mario echoes as a question.

‘I am.’ I chuckle. ‘Jewish. And kosher.’

‘Kind of funny to be writing about pork then.’

‘Kind of funny’, I echo.

But it isn’t.”

Foer is as flawed and torn as any of his readers. Reading this and other candid passages about his own personal ethics is refreshing, and the larger implications are profound. Foer strives throughout to personally reframe the stories in an effort to make us conscious of his painfully obvious conclusion. ”When we eat factory-farmed meat, we live, literally, on tortured flesh. Increasingly, that tortured flesh is becoming our own.” It’s a compelling argument, and extends to our environment, health, and humanity.

Foer goes further to inquire if there are any circumstances that would make it acceptable to eat meat. For himself, the answer is a firm no. But he also acknowledges that people do eat meat, and that there are farmers and business people who are sincerely trying to satisfy these demands while creating a more humane, effective process. So much so that he, a practicing vegan, has actually gone so far as to fund a slaughterhouse for one farmer friend, whose food he will not eat but endeavors he views as worthwhile.

There are not many references to kosher meat practices in this book, nor to the Jewish philosophies on eating or not eating meat. Foer seems to imply that most meat (99%), kosher or otherwise, is industrial and therefore subject to the same problems outlined earlier. Coincidentally, on the same day that I finished reading my review copy, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster posted a piece about a new grass fed, organic, kosher meat service. Kol foods seems to have many of the qualities of the non-industrial meat farmers Foer interviewed in his book. They also seem to struggle with the same dilemnas, including the demise of local kosher slaughterhouses. I spoke to the owner, Devora Kimmelman-Block about the book and asked for her perspective on the business of eating animals.

“In order to make an effect on the kosher meat business, they have to see that there is a strong consumer interest in sustainable, ethical meat. The only way to illustrate that interest is for folks to have consistant access to non-industrial meat – not just for special occasions, but for whenever they cook it.

Everyone has to come to their own conclusions (about their comfort level with eating meat); it’s a very personal issue. However, it’s key to be open minded about solutions to the issues with industrial meat (including the environment, the consumer’s health, the people who live and work in communities housing industrial meat companies, animal welfare, and even taste). It’s important that folks have multiple options to combat those issues. Being a vegetarian or vegan is not the only solution, although it is important to consume meat sparingly.

From a Jewish perspective, if we eat meat, we must be conscious of the act, know where it is coming from and make it special. The Rabbis had to encourage people to eat meat on the holidays because they lived in a society in which eating meat was rare luxury. It isn’t special if you eat it at every meal. Take a breath, say a blessing before eating. It’s important not to swallow your ethics.”

Foer does not swallow anything in this book. He takes his readers on a journey that is alternatively funny, angry, bloody, thoughtful, sympathetic, judgemental, confrontational, conciliiatory, and wholly unexpected. The tone and the tale often seem uneven and erratic. In his works of fiction, this dissonance enhanced an incredibly compelling story. In this work of self described journalism, it seems less effective, and I often longed for a more consistent narrative. Moreover, this highly ambitious book attempts to be a memoir, an investigative news piece, and a philosophical inquiry – a broad brush for any one volume. It does not neatly fit into any one category, and perhaps this is its greatest strength and weakness.  All told, it is well worth the read. Regardless of your current views and practices, you will learn much and undoubtedly re-think your own role as an eating animal.

Want to read the book? Enter our contest for a free copy by leaving a comment below about your thoughts on eating animals. Last day to leave a comment is 11/7 – the winner will be contacted the following day.

___________________________

Note (10/31/09): Here is a link to a very interesting, recent OpEd piece in the NYT by Nicolette Hahn Niman.  She and her husband Bill Niman were interviewed by Foer, who had positive feedback about their contributions (with some reservations).  

Note (11/02/09): I got the green light to give away 5 copies.  So please comment away.  Last day of the contest is 11/7.

Note (11/04/09): Thanks to Hannah Lee and Jeff Shapiro for this video link on Foer.

The deli has been in the spotlight these days thanks to the work of  David Sax.  You  may have read Joan Nathan’s piece in the New York Times about David’s upcoming book, Save the Deli, a call to action to revive deli culture.  Deli has been in most newspapers and on the radio now and is  the talk of the town in a way it hasn’t been since its golden years thanks to one man with a mission.

Early on for the Jew and the Carrot Leah Koenig wrote a post about David’s deli zeal during David’s journey to eat at delis around the world (which he also chronicled on his blog), and now the Jew and the Carrot is eager to announce a deli contest in the book’s honor. The winner will receive a free copy of Save the Deli.

Just leave us a comment on this post about your most memorable deli meal or experience and your name could be drawn to win a copy of his book.  Last day to leave a comment is Thursday October 22nd and the winner will be contacted the next day.

And while we’re on the subject, the Save the Deli book launch will be held this Monday at Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen.  It will be a great time with remarkable deli kitsch.