File under the good news heading: According to this article in Crains New York Business (I read it online - as in standing on line for my take out lunch. It beat reading about Jenna Bush’s wedding…),

New York City is one of the largest players in the burgeoning green restaurant industry. According to Boston-based non-profit Green Restaurant Association, 25% of all American restaurants that it has certified as “green” are in NYC! The article also mentions the specific efforts of Tavern on the Green, who are nervous about not being up to sustainable-snuff when ownership of the site reverts to the Parks & Rec dept., and New York’s first certified organic restaurant, Gusto Grilled Organics. Now New Yorkers can have their cake and eat it, too.

Welcome back to the land of bread! I had a realization on Sunday night, around 6:30 (i.e. T-minus 2 hours to carb consumption, when I was locked in a state of restless self-pity) that Passover would be a perfect time to try a cleanse. After the original spirit and kavannah (intention) of the seder wore off, you could at least still congratulate yourself for detoxing. Perhaps - but I digress.

Two days after Passover, however, is definitely a great time to wipe off the final matzah crumbs and get your finger back on the pulse of what else that’s going on in the world of food. Check out these tasty ideas from around the blogosphere. B’tai Avon!

Sacred Foods. Aleph: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal published a compendium of resources to help Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders educate about sustainable food and eating and make responsible food purchasing decisions in their congregations. The resource guide was created as part of Aleph’s Sacred Foods project. Find them here.

Carbon Side Dish. The New York Times reported this weekend on the strange-but-true phenomenon that it is not only possible but actually cost-effective to catch a fish in Norway, ship it to China to be processed into filets, and then shipped back to Norway for sale. oof - somehow, I’m not feeling all that hungry. Read it here.

Still Veggie After All These Years. Lilith Magazine talked with vegetarian guru, Mollie Katzen about the 30th anniversary of The New Moosewood Cookbook. (Unfortunately, the full story isn’t online, but you can purchase a copy the mag here.)

Drink Your (Raw) Milk. Harpers jumped on the raw milk bandwagon with a fabulous article on unpasturized dairy, its naysayers, and the converts who claim straight from the udder is the only way to go. Check it out here.

Sticker Shock. Grist offers a clear, concise analysis of the complicated issue of rising food costs. Read about it here.

It’s the week before Passover and the foodie blogosphere is ready. Like hand-grated horseradish, fluffy meringues and caramel-coated “matzah crack” ready.

The most exciting news (for us anyway!) is The Daily Green’s sustainable Passover story, which features tips from The Jew & The Carrot’s Healthy Sustainable Passover Resources. Check out their (gorgeous) feature here.

Below the jump, we’ve rounded up a number of other great Passover stories, ideas, and recipes from the Jewish food blogosphere. The creativity coming out of these bloggers minds and kitchens is truly inspiring - feel free to share more resources below.Also keep your eyes peeled for a chance to win Arthur Schwartz’s new cookbook Jewish Home Cooking - early next week.

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Are Passover snacks the new bees? Chametz-free noshes seem to be disappearing everywhere without a trace. First, TamTams disappear from the shelves, and now, the NYTimes reports about a historic New York social club that recently lost its source for the perfect macaroon.

It seems that the bakery which supplied the Century club with macaroons for over half a century has gone out of business, and this article describes the remarkable search by its members for a suitable replacement. I have to say, even as someone who disdainfully associates macaroons with those awful, sticky, cloying, calorie-laden chunks that come in the vacuum-sealed can, I can’t help but admire the passion and discernment by which Century Club members are conducting their search. Here’s how they lovingly describe the perfect macaroon:

“They had just the right amount of texture. They weren’t too crispy. They weren’t too gooey. You know, they didn’t flake or break. They kind of pulled apart. I would say they sort of had a nice elasticity. They displayed a particular combination of crustiness and tensile strength.”

Mmmm…tensile strength. Good luck with that. So much for Macaroons. The cheese(cake) half of this post is after the jump… Read more »

 What is it about Jews and Chinese food?This oddly-passionate obsession has inspired scholarly dissertations,  cookbooks, multi-cultural festivals, and even affected international relations [this last link, btw, about Asian chefs in Israel going on an eggroll strike over the elimination of foreign worker permits, is worth a trip to Jewschool to read in its entirety]!

So when this article appeared recently in the NYTimes about the history of the fortune cookie, I immediately thought, “hmmm…what’s the Jewish connection?” The answer? The long Jewish tradition of bibliophagy (eating the written word). Find interesting examples of Jewish bibliophagy after the jump:

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Does it pay to read blogs? Maybe if I hadn’t checked a few of my favorites this morning (metafilter.com, jewlicious.com, nextbook.org), I wouldn’t have come across these bewildering, highly amusing and slightly nauseating headlines:

• A talmudic analysis of a soccer player’s lament, as it relates to restraints made of kreplach
• An FBI plan to track Iranian terrorists in California based on monitoring spikes in falafel sales
• White Castle’s 2007 Recipe contest winner? Slider Latkes (only slightly less gross than last year’s winner -I think I’m gonna be sick)

OK, back to work, people. (Image via Jewlicious)

Pesach on our vegetable farm is a challenging holiday to pull off. We have had seders here, with everything home made, except the matzah. The menu usually included wonderful cinnamony Middle Eastern charoset balls made by a friend, an organic free-range kosher chicken soup, sweet potatoes, and a big salad. Sometimes, I would make roasted beets and potatoes. Anyway, my philosophy for Pesach, if there were to be one, is to just stick with simple whole foods. Whether that be fruits or veggies, or fresh cheese, meat, or eggs. I buy nuts, in bulk, and make a dessert of coconut milk, with frozen berries, cocoa powder, nuts (almonds) and some maple or agave syrup and call it a complete seder meal! None of the flourless, matzah meal stuff really appeals. I don’t like to imitate cakes and cookies with complicated, multi-step baked goods. I’d rather have fresh, home made sorbet. Or even fruit.

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• “The “crazy, crazy Jewish fun” of Kosherland looks a lot like the board game Candy Land, except gefilte fishing substitutes for visits to the Ice Cream Sea.” [AP]
• Genteel without being Gentile, circa 1846
  [The Jewish Manual or Practical Information in Jewish And Modern Cookery With a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette.]
• Holy Foods’ stock is on a downward spiral, losing 40 percent of its value in 06, despite paying their CEO a measly $1 a year salary. [SLATE]

• Sufganiyot, the new make-at-home treat. WaPo suggests they’re easy as pie. WaPo is so totally wrong. [WaPo]
• The Observer asks how much of a food geek you really are with a Foodie Quiz. 

A waiter says your lamb comes from New Zealand, you…

c) grab the waiter by his neck, shove him in a tiny crate, which you load into the hold of a plane bound for Auckland, while shouting: ‘How would you like it, you animal abusing spawn of the devil? ‘

[The Observer]

• Small farmers are “in” right now. Businessweek, cutting edge trend spotter, discovers locally grown produce.[Businessweek]
• Raw milk: unpasteurized poison or magic medical potion? [LATimes Magazine]
• Gary Hirschberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm yogurt, answers your organic questions. [ABC.com]