Thanks to everyone who commented, and congratulations to Hilla (proud member of Hazon’s Forest Hills CSA), whose recipe for carrot top pesto won her a copy of Farmer John’s cookbook! Check back this Thursday for The Jew and the Carrot’s next contest.
Don’t forget – our cookbook contest closes tomorrow! To enter, just leave a comment telling us your most creative use for your CSA veggies, and you’ll be entered to win a free copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.
Books, Community Agriculture, Contest, Cookbooks, CSA/Tuv Ha'Aretz, Food Writing, Seasonality, Vegetables
So you’ve just opened your CSA box to an unfamiliar sight—a strange-looking bulb with long leaves sprouting every which way. After asking Google, your hippie aunt, two of your neighbors and a guy in line with you at Trader Joe’s, you finally figure out that the mystery plant is called kohlrabi. Great… now what do you do with the giant bag of it in your fridge?
Over the last few weeks, Rabbi Jill Jacobs has shared her thoughts on the 1917 Food Riots, fair labor practices and even a personal story about cookies. But you can keep reading her thoughts by winning a copy of There Shall Be No Needy.
Today is the last opportunity to share your experiences in tzedakah (financial support for the poor) and chesed (acts of loving-kindness) to enter to Simply leave us a comment about how you have given tzedakah or performed chesed and you will be entered to win her book. Did you intentionally give your CSA share to someone in need? Have you volunteered at a soup kitchen? Tell us about it.
Food writer Michael Ruhlman has issued a very intriguing summertime challenge: make a BLT from scratch. No, really from scratch. This means curing your own “bacon,” (more on the airquotes in a minute), baking your own bread, growing your own lettuce and tomato, and making your own homemade mayo!
The level of commitment and self-sufficiency required to produce a single sandwich would be compelling enough, but Michael takes it one step further by opening the contest up to foodies of every stripe. To quote from the writer’s own rules:
This is the first of a three part series. Click here to learn how to win her new book There Shall Be No Needy.
I was recently invited to participate in a panel discussion (along with Nigel Savage of Hazon and Nell Geiser of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) following the June 10 performance of Give Us Bread, a new play about the 1917 New York food riots, which were largely led by Jewish immigrant women.
Wartime food prices had reached levels that few families could afford, and thousands of women throughout New York took to the streets in protest. These women knocked over and set fire to pushcarts, while the police struggled to gain control of the crowd. The New York Times reported that, during a community meeting, “a woman appeared in the meeting room, followed by five little children, and forced her way to the speakers’ platform. She cried out that her husband earned but $8 a week as a tailor’s helper and that she was unable to buy enough food for her babies.” (“Pushcarts Burned in Riots over Food,” Feb. 20, 1917)
What social justice issues do you care about? Being a Jew and the Carrot reader one would imagine you might think about food justice, hunger, fair trade or local and sustainable food systems – and often through a Jewish lens. So if we care about food issues, but how do we share that with others? Over the next three weeks, we are very fortunate to have Jill Jacobs, the Rabbi-in-Residence for Jewish Funds for Justice offering her insight and thoughts on contentious challenges facing America today.
Not only that, but Jew and the Carrot readers will have the opportunity to share their experiences in tzedakah (financial support for the poor) and chesed (acts of loving-kindness) to enter to win a copy of Rabbi Jacobs’ book There Shall Be No Needy. Simply leave us a comment about how you have given tzedakah or performed chesed. Did you intentionally give your CSA share to someone in need? Have you volunteered at a soup kitchen? Tell us about it.
Don’t forget, the Jew and the Carrot is running a raffle for FREE tickets to see Give Us Bread. Just send us your favorite bread recipe at contest@jcarrot.org (please cite the source of the recipe as we will publish the contest winner) to be entered into a raffle for two free tickets to select shows of Give Us Bread, a new play that tells the remarkable stories of immigrant women during the 1917 food riots in New York City.
All entries must be recieved by Sunday May 31 (winner will be announced the following day) The performances are June 5-21, 2009, at the Milagro Theater at CSV (107 Suffolk Street) New York, NY.
Food prices shot up overnight. Starvation threatened families from Williamsburg, Brooklyn to the Lower East Side to the Bronx. The city did nothing. A group of women came together to demand action. Boycotts accelerated into riots.
The year was 1917.
America has provided the chance for freedom and new life to the immigrants of Orchard Street in New York City. Yet fear moves through the community as food prices begin to rise. When it becomes impossible for a group of “everyday housewives” to feed their families, they must unite, because standing together, no matter how terrified you are, is more important than suffering alone. Using original text and source materials, Give Us Bread tells the remarkable stories of immigrant women, who provide a lens with which to examine today.
And the Jew and the Carrot readers have to opportunity to win FREE tickets to the show!
Coming back from a bit of a blogging hiatus, I have recently discovered what seems like an explosion in a new type of foodie event:
The cooking/eating competition for a particular food item. Case in point:
The results are in! Over the last several weeks, the Jew and the Carrot has been running its first ever Matzah Diorama Contest and a Solar Cooker Recipe Raffle. We appreciate everyone who participated in both contests, but the results are in.
Congratulations to Jaki Levy who, with his “Pluralistic Obama Seder” (pictured above) is the winner of the JDub Records Afikomen Prize Pack! According to Mr. Levy:
The scene is a family portrait of an American Seder. It was inspired by Obama’s first seder at the White House. With such a pluralistic seder, I thought it only appropriate to recreate. Guests at this re-imagined seder include the Obama children, the Bidens, Roger Kamenetz (author of Jew and The Lotus), and many other guests.
The materials used in my art: Matzah. Figurines collected over time, including a mini ballerina I collected when I lived in Wiliamsburg. The silver item used to support the matzah table is a question mark emblem given at my friend’s Bat-Mitzvah in 1991. The opposite side of the metallic item says “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”
Also congratulations to Diane Vautier the winner of the Solar Cooker Raffle. See her recipe for Solar Chicken Stir-Fry after the jump.
Just a reminder that tomorrow is your last chance to win a JDub Afikomen Prize Pack! Got a little extra matzah still lying around? Send us your funny pictures (like my roomate’s matzah, which is apparently a Yankee’s fan) for our Matzah Diorama Contest!
Just a quick reminder that we are still accepting enteries for the Jew and the Carrot’s Matzah Diorama Contest! It’s so easy to enter – just send us some photos of your matzah in a scene – and you could win a JDub Records Afikomen Prize Pack!
The photo above (not an official entry) was taken by Erik Trinidad of his matzah in Paris (as seen on Jewcy.com). Not in an exotic location this Pesach? No problem! Dioramas are three-dimensional models that typically showing historical events, nature scenes or cityscapes. So make your matzah do something crazy, funny and/or sustainable (how well can your matzah garden?) then take a picture and send it to us (at contest@jcarrot.org) before Wednesday April 22!
No, I have not yet gotten around to making my Matzah Diorama yet, but I have been thinking a lot about matzah this week.
Hungry the other night, my boyfriend and I whipped out a couple of sheets of matzah, layered on some shredded cheese, spooned out a chunky salsa and slid our snack into the toaster oven to melt while we sliced up some avocados. The “matzah quesadillas” (pictured above) were quite tasty, although it got me thinking about all the other tasty Passover treats one might be able to enjoy.
