Wise Organic Pastures – The Processing Plant

This Article is Cross-Posted on KosherEye.com

Our Bubbie and “grand” Bubbies may have known how to make a famous roast chicken and of course, chicken soup, but certainly did not face the same chicken challenges that the kosher shopper faces today. Most chicken is no longer raised in the back yard! The consumer is now faced with numerous choices in quality, type and price.

Chicken has become a multi-billion dollar industry in America. Kosher chicken is no exception, but is somewhat more complicated. There has been extraordinary growth in kosher poultry sales in the last few decades. Along with observant Jews, many non-Jews and Jews who don’t necessarily adhere to kosher laws now purchase kosher poultry. Why? There is a perception that kosher certification adds a layer of clarity and transparency to poultry purchases. In addition to the FDA and government regulatory agencies, the processing plant must adhere to the specifications of a supervising kosher agency and rabbinical authority. Many consumers welcome this extra layer of inspection.

Kosher shoppers have choices to make. Our goal is to understand and to explain some of them to our readers.

Recently, as part of the KosherEye “kosher” summer road trip through Pennsylvania and Maryland, we were invited to tour both The Wise Organic Pastures processing plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania and a Wise Organic Poultry Farm, which is a 50-mile drive out into the Susquehanna Valley.

In Scranton, we had the pleasure of meeting Moshe Fink, founder of David Elliot Chicken and owner of the processing plant used by Wise Organic Pastures. He answered many of our technical kosher “processing” questions and provided background information.

According to Moshe, for poultry to be considered kosher, they must be in good health when slaughtered. The shochet must use a sharp knife and no stunning or electric shock is permissible before “shechita” (slaughter). Kosher poultry may not be heated, and blood must drip freely from the bird after slaughter. The knife must be sharp, the killing respectful, and the resulting blood symbolically “buried” under a floor covering – in this case a layer of sawdust, coal and ashes. The processing method is cold and no heat is ever applied.

Following slaughter, non-kosher poultry may be scalded with hot water. A natural occurrence from the use of hot water is that feathers just “slide” off. The result of kosher slaughter and cold processing is an unwelcome problem: residual feathers. If consumers are asked the one negative of kosher chicken, it is the feathers!

The David Elliot processing plant uses the “Cadillac” of defeathering machines, the LINCO, made in Sweden. But even with this mechanical wonder, which can be adjusted to the average size of the birds, due to the cold water processing system, feathers must be removed manually at the end of the processing line.

At the David Elliot plant, teams of workers stand with defeathering razor sharp knives and manually remove feathers after the machines have completed the initial process. Yes, this extra step of manual defeathering adds to the price of the poultry, and therefore, it is understandable that value priced poultry has more feathers when delivered to the consumer.

One positive aspect of the “kashering” process is very welcome. All kosher birds are soaked in fresh cold water for 1/2 hour, are than covered in salt for one hour, and then washed in fresh running water 3 times. This is done to follow the biblical prohibition to eating blood. Because of the salt “bath”, most consumers applaud the taste, which taste similar to culinary brining. Kosher chickens have won numerous taste awards including a contest held by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. In this contest, a main rule is no seasoning is allowed on the chickens. Empire Kosher Poultry has won several of these prizes and Moshe Fink attributes the consecutive awards to the kosher process – specifically salting!

Our poultry facility visit began with the gracious invitation of our host Issac Wiesenfeld, president and owner of  Wise Organic Pastures.His mother, Rachel Wiesenfeld started Wise Organic Pastures in 1992. She founded the company after the family faced a financial setback. According to Mrs. Wiesenfeld, there was “a need in the kosher poultry market for wholesome chicken raised the old-fashioned way — free range, organically fed, hormone-free — and processed according to strict kosher standards. At the time, there was organic chicken and there was kosher chicken, but no one was offering chicken that was both organic and kosher.”

Her son, Issac, the fifth child of 11 siblings, was the only sibling to join the company! The offices are based in Brooklyn, but the plant and farms are in Pennsylvania. The family has had a thriving business relationship with Moshe Fink for the past 18 years. Although the Wise Organic Pastures started 18 years ago, the company could not add the official organic label until the legislation was passed in Washington in Oct 2001. The Wiesenfelds are truly organic kosher pioneers! And, timing is everything. Since USDA established the National Organic Program officially in 2002, the organic food market has grown by almost 20 percent annually.

KosherEye was given a full tour of the entire David Elliott  processing plant. What did we see?

The sanitation and efficiency we observed at the plant was impressive. Before we were permitted to tour, we had to dress from head to toe, (including boots and hats) in sanitary cover. The shechita atmosphere was antiseptic. The Rabbi inspects each bird for blemishes or problems, and then skillfully and quickly cuts through the neck with a slash of his constantly sharpened knife. The job must be both holy and professionally precise. From the off-loading dock to the packaging area, the plant appears clean, well run and intense in purpose. Certainly the atmosphere is not for the squeamish; however it was a realistic view of how the chickens we eat are slaughtered, kashered, cleaned and packaged.

Both the Organic and Kosher poultry market has grown over the years. The economy certainly affects the consumer’s ability to buy the higher priced organic chickens- but, conversely, the number of organic buyers is growing.

For more information about Wise Organic Pastures, visit WiseOrganicPastures.com. To learn more about David Elliott poultry, call 570-344-6348.

This list, from Consumer Reports, of Common Industry Chicken Terms, is very informative.

Fran Hawthorne is the author of The Overloaded Liberal: Shopping, Investing, Parenting, and Other Daily Dilemmas in an Age of Political Activism (Beacon Press. 2010), which discusses the new kosher hekhsher and many other issues.� Thanks, Fran, for sharing your thoughts!

Jews like me, who care about animal welfare, could always feel a little smug about our dining habits — even if (also like me) we aren�t vegetarian. Pigs are particularly intelligent animals? Well, we don�t eat them. Shrimp-farming destroys delicate swamps in Thailand? We don�t eat shrimp, either. And the meat we do eat is killed according to the laws of kashrut, which everyone knows is a more humane method than other types of slaughter. (Isn�t it?)

Still, many of us have been nagged by lingering guilt. Kosher slaughter is fine as far as it goes, but it does nothing to improve the treatment of animals while they�re alive � the tiny �battery cages� into which egg-laying hens are crammed, the gallons of dangerous antibiotics pumped into chickens and cattle, the reek of ammonia in their dark sheds. Nor do the laws of kashrut guarantee decent wages and working conditions for the humans who tend and slaughter these animals. There�s also nothing in kosher practices about protecting the environment from animal wastes and �factory farms.� The last straw came in May 2008 when federal agents raided Agriprocessors, a huge kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, accusing it of abusing its largely immigrant work force, making them work 12-hour stretches without proper safety equipment or overtime pay, and hiring children to boot.

As Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, said to me, �Is it appropriate for us to call something kosher if it meets the ritual demands of the Jewish people but is produced in a way that people are exploited?�

So, later in 2008, Conservative Judaism�s Rabbinical Assembly approved a new, voluntary kosher certification, called the hekhsher tzedek, which Rabbi Allen had championed. In addition to traditional requirements, this certification sets standards for workers� pay and safety, environmental impact, corporate behavior, and animal welfare.

Now we guilt-ridden Jewish carnivores who want to protect workers� rights, animal welfare, and the environment finally, legitimately could feel smug about our meat. To make it easy, the new hekhsher even does our research for us. It�s an all-in-one seal of approval. Who could argue with these noble goals?

Actually, people on both sides of the debate could.

On one side, animal rights activists like PETA say the hekhsher tzedek is too weak, because it doesn�t ban the battery cages and other horrible conditions. They have a point: The animal welfare section praises the standards of the respected Humane Farm Animal Care organization � but also those of industry groups such as the Animal Meat Institute and the National Chicken Council. Forgive my cynicism, but I doubt that Big Agriculture trade organizations worry very much about animal suffering or overuse of antibiotics.

Nevertheless, I think PETA and its colleagues ought to give the new rules more credit. They�re a huge improvement over traditional kosher laws.

To me, the more troubling criticism comes from the other side, from those who argue that the hekhsher is too strict. Is it really practical to demand that a single piece of meat fulfill all of our values? �You want organic, free-range, kosher blah blah, and it will cost you four times as much,� says Rabbi Paul Plotkin of Temple Beth Ann in Margate, Florida (who opposed the new certification as chair of the Rabbinical Assembly�s kosher-laws subcommittee).

That conflict �trying to juggle too many values�doesn�t occur only when keeping kosher. Do you get locally grown, nonorganic apples or imported organic varieties? Do you choose recycled paper from a big chain store or virgin-cut paper from a small neighborhood merchant? Moreover, almost any special effort — buying organic, recycled, free-range, pesticide-free, union-made, artisanal, unprocessed, whatever — costs more than doing things the standard way. And keeping prices affordable, especially for low- and middle-income consumers, is an important ethical value, too.

Thus, even the hekhsher tzedek doesn�t solve the guilt-ridden Jewish consumer�s problem with one easy label. We each have to make our own, case-by-case decisions about which foods must have the new certification and which are �good enough� without it.

But at least we have good choices to agonize over, rather than bad ones.

I eat in a pretty healthy manner. I cook most of my own meals, and even when I eat out or at other people’s homes I’m careful what and how much I eat. [I also keep kosher, so I guess by definition I think a lot about what I eat or don't eat, but it's rote by now--I've been doing it most of my life.]

Over the past few years, I’ve developed a host of food intolerances/allergies (still not sure which they are yet, still working on that part) and in addition to making sure I eat healthily, I also have to make sure I don’t eat things that make me sick.

I’ve gone through fits and spurts of eating organic, cage-free, preservative free, artificial flavors & ingredients free, home-grown…you get the idea. It’s not that I don’t care about environmental sustainability, or even the fact that organic, cage-free, or local produce is more expensive or not as accessible; honestly, for better or worse, it’s just not in my frame of reference. I buy things without thinking how far my bananas have traveled to get to me, or how the field workers who picked my grapes were treated.

Having food allergies has made me infinitely more mindful about what I’m putting in my body because of the ill effects certain things can have on me. But it has also made me think a lot more about food sustainability and food ethics in general, and how the choices I make about food impact others. Sure, I’m only one person, and what kind of environmental impact am I really having by buying bananas that have been shipped from Chile? What point does it make if I buy ethically raised meat? But if everyone thinks like that, then everyone is contributing to problems rather than helping to solve them.

At this point in my life (and budget), I can’t commit to completely changing the way I shop and eat; I know it wouldn’t stick. But I’m taking small steps to buy more local produce, ethically raised meat, and free trade items, and hope to incrementally adapt my habits in the long term.

Food allergies have made my life complicated, but they’ve also opened my eyes to how the choices I make about food can have a significant impact on more than just me. Silver lining, I guess?

Do you have food allergies or intolerances? How have they impacted your life?

Gluten or dairy free? Check out my food blog for some recipes!

Trans fats,�an invention of the 20th century, permitted the development of such synthetic�food-like products as margarine and coffee whiteners.� Neither of these products�existed around the time my great-grandparents caught their first sight of the Statue of Liberty.� Nevertheless, as a result of focused, sustained, and wildly successful marketing campaigns to gain their recognition and acceptance,�they became an integral part of what is now considered �traditional� kosher cooking.� In 1912, for example, after Procter and Gamble of Cincinnati launched a nationwide campaign for Crisco, its new vegetable shortening,�it enlisted the support of American orthodox rabbis, notably Rabbi Moshe Zevulun Margolies (the �Ramaz�) of New York, to endorse Crisco as ritually pure.� P&G advertised that �the Hebrew Race had been waiting for 4,000 years� for a solution to its shortening problems.� Mazola worked with the Hebrew Ladies� Aid Society in Fargo, ND, to teach interested parties how to use their product, and made contributions to the local women�s burial society for every unit sold.� Other examples abound.

I went to my local supermarket to check out the ingredients in�pareve margarine and coffee whitener.� Mother�s lists �liquid and partially hydrogenated soybean oil� first. �Fleischmann�s lists partially hydrogenated soybean oil second, after liquid corn oil.��The first three ingredients in original Coffee-Rich are, in order,�water, corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil.� The first three ingredients in fat-free Coffee-Rich are, curiously, identical.� �Partially hydrogenated� means trans fats.

What’s wrong with trans fats?� The problems are numerous, diverse, and well established.� Trans fats cause heart disease.� They increase insulin resistance, which causes diabetes.� Trans fats decrease good cholesterol and increase bad cholesterol. �They suppress the immune response, interfere with reproduction, and decrease the nutritional quality of milk.� They alter the properties of cell membranes.� They enhance deposition of abdominal fat.� In a famous study of 85,000 women conducted by Harvard University,�individuals with heart disease were found to have eaten significantly higher amounts of trans fats.

Trans fats have been banned in other countries, and in several cities throughout the U.S., but they have yet to be banned across our nation.� What the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has mandated is that food containing less than � gram of trans fat per serving may be advertised as�”trans-fat free.”� That�s not good enough.� In the case of Coffee-Rich, a serving is 1 tablespoon.� This morning I felt like making my�coffee extra light, so I put 4 tablespoons, or � cup, of milk into�the mug.� If I had used Coffee-Rich, that would have added up to almost 2 grams of trans fat.� Just for the first cup.� So it would be easy, on any given day, to consume quite a bit of trans fat solely from trans-fat-free food.� That�s a problem.

What are our alternatives?� First and foremost, skip the coffee whitener.� Drink your coffee black, or choose tea with honey or lemon.� Try coconut, almond, soy, or rice milk if you�d like.� Bake pareve as our foremothers did for a thousand years, with coconut oil, which stays solid below 75 degrees Fahrenheit.� Decline to make�recipes that call for pareve margarine.� Don’t use it in place of butter; make different recipes.� We vote every time a bar code passes over a scanner, so don�t buy margarine or coffee whitener for your home, office, or synagogue.� There is no place for synthetic trans fats in a healthy community.

The iridescent colors reflected off an oil slick are like a twisted and distorted rainbow.

There is a special correlation between this week�s Torah portion and the rainbow covenant of Noah�s time. And there is a foreboding contrast between the rainbow covenant and what�s happened in the Gulf of Mexico. The tension between these dynamic relationships in many ways defines the predicament of our time.

Just as this week is the week we read about the central covenant of the Torah encoded in the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, it is also the week when the anniversary of the rainbow covenant falls. It is no random happenstance: the covenant represented by the Jubilee is in many ways a response to the covenant with Noah and the animals.

How so? The covenant of Noah�s time�the first covenant recorded in the Torah�includes the land and the animals as covenant partners with God alongside the human family. This is also the case with the Jubilee covenant: the land is promised her Sabbaths as a condition for the Israelites to settle upon the land, while the people are required in the Sabbatical year, when the land is resting, to open their fences to allow the wild animals in to eat their fill.

The first condition�to let the land rest�is a fulfillment of the promise in the rainbow covenant that God will no longer destroy the land because of humanity: here God promises to exile humanity in order to save the land from being destroyed. The second condition�allowing the wild animals into the fields�is a tikkun for what happened after the rainbow covenant: even though the animals were partners in God�s covenantal promise not to destroy the earth, they afterwards became fodder for the humans (�like green plants I give you them all�).

Instead, here, in the Sabbatical year, the humans are required to allow their agriculture to go wild and to invite the wild animals to share what grows. This is not only a tikkun for the permission granted to human beings to eat animals. It is also a return to the Garden of Eden, where animals and human beings shared the same food.

And the Gulf of Mexico? In the rainbow covenant God promised not to destroy the Earth because of us, but God did not promise that we wouldn�t destroy the Earth. As the oil laps at the shore and threatens vast ecosystems, important food sources, and endangered species, we must realize that God�s covenant is not enough to save us. The iridescent colors reflected off an oil slick are like a twisted and distorted rainbow. The tragedy and horror of this accident remind us that we have reached a point where we can undo God�s rainbow covenant at the expense of our own lives and the lives of other creatures.

These are the worst of times, because the threat is that close and that enormous. And these are the best of times, because we can wake up to our potential for love and righteousness and create a sustainable world, a world that reflects the rainbow covenant as it was meant to be: a promise to honor and cherish all beings, as God does, and so to act in God�s image.

Then, to quote a medieval prayer (from Pri Eitz Hadar), may we be privileged to see �the whole return to its original strength�and to see the rainbow, joyful and beautified with his colors.� Yashuv hakol l�eitano ha rishon, v�niratah hakeshet, sas umitpa�er b�govanin.

David Seidenberg is the creator of neohasid.org and a teacher of Judaism and ecology.

On April 18, my co-steering committee member Sylvia Frankel and I were invited to speak to the congregation of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon, a nearby city most famous for being the home of Nike. It was an opportunity to address the congregation for one of a series of learning and study sessions; this one was called Food and Spirituality from a Jewish Perspective.

About 25 people attended, including Lead Pastor Mark Brocker and Associate Pastor Robyn Hartwig, and members of the St. Andrew Green Team, a group of congregants who work on sustainability issues within the St. Andrew community.

My co-presenter Sylvia is a Professor of Jewish Studies at Lewis & Clark College and also teaches at the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School in Portland. She spoke first, talking about the ancient Biblical connections between Jews, the land, and food, as well as the practice of gleaning. I talked about social justice in Jewish faith and practice, and how that relates to food, fair treatment of farm workers, and environmental stewardship as a Jewish ethic.

The group was very receptive, commenting on aspects of our talks, and asking provocative questions, including how to preserve the dignity of poor people in need. I mentioned Maimonides‘ eight levels of charity, the highest form of which is self-empowerment of the poor.

This was a great opportunity to do interfaith community engagement; both Sylvia and I really enjoyed the interaction and hope we can participate in other interfaith discussions about ethical and sustainable food. We’d like to thank Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, an interfaith nonprofit based in Portland, which hosted an Earth Care Summit in February, where we met members of the St. Andrew community.

Anyone else have similar experiences, within a Hazon CSA or otherwise? Please share!

Listen to our new PODCAST, Episode 5 by clicking here!

Co-Founder Julie Wolk sits down with me on the latest Hazon Podcast. Listen to what Wilderness Torah is doing to revitalize the American Jewish Community. Also, don’t forget you can subscribe on iTunes by searching “Hazon”.

Also, don’t forget that it is Earth Day this week, so check out all the options going on in your area. For a good listing, check this website out

They have a map where you can choose where you live and find out what is going on near you!

And finally, for those in the New York area, come see “Tapped: The Movie,” a documentary about water usage and safety in America. It is screening at 5 pm at the Cowin Center at Columbia University (between 120 and 121 streets on Broadway). If you are one of the first 100 people to arrive at 4 pm, you can exchange a plastic bottle for a FREE Klean Kanteen! So look into your recycling bin and grab a plastic bottle. If you come after the first 100 people, you will get a great discount on Klean Kanteen.

Check out this new special Ride Edition Podcast! If you haven’t heard, Hazon is allocating funds raised from the Bay Area Ride a bit differently than past rides. It’s pretty exciting and really putting the power in the hands (or cycles) of Ride participants, who will get to decide where to allocate the funds they raise.
Also, if you didn’t hear about last year’s NY Ride engagement story, Marc tells us what he was thinking the day he proposed on the Ride.

Check it all out by clicking here!

You can also subscribe to the podcasts through iTunes! The last episode has listeners all the way near the Philippines, so join the global community!

Happy passover!

I am lucky enough to live in Eugene, Oregon. I’ve got it pretty good here – great weather, great outdoors, great Jewish community, great abundance of local organic food. But Chinese food? Not so much here in Eugene.

As a Bay Area transplant, I crave Chinese food. I often feel like I literally NEED it. After months searching for something that would quench my Chinese food tastebuds – and realizing that to keep my version of kosher (which is eco-kosher: less about what is and what is not treyf and more about eating only meat that is ideally organic and pasture-raised – and if not, is absolutely free-range, never given hormones or antibiotics, and was humanely slaughtered) – I came to the conclusion that I’d have to make it myself. For both taste and my personal kashrut reasons. Which is some kind of a life lesson right there, I’m sure.

I stumbled upon a recipe for Cashew Chicken from the inimitable Martha Stewart and decided to give it a whirl – and my own flair. And to tell the truth, it is delicious and happily graces our Friday night Shabbat table pretty often.

Cashew Chicken & Snow Peas
Adapted from Everyday Food magazine

Serves 4

• 3/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• Kosher salt and ground pepper
• 2 tbsp high-heat vegetable oil, such as sunflower
• 6 cloves garlic (or more, depending on your preferences – we like a LOT of garlic in my house), minced
• 12 – 16 scallions, white and green parts separated, each cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups snow or sugar snap peas, trimmed
• 2 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Rooster (Sriracha) sauce
• 1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• White or brown rice, for serving (optional)

1. Spread cashews on a baking sheet, and cook in an oven heated to 350 degrees until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Your nose will tell you when they’re done!
2. In a medium bowl, toss chicken with cornstarch until chicken is coated; season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
3. In a large iron skillet (or other non-toxic nonstick pan), heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Cook half the chicken pieces, without moving them at first so they can brown a bit, and then tossing often, until browned on all sides, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
4. Add remaining oil and chicken to skillet along with the garlic and white parts of scallions. Cook without moving them at first so they can brown a bit, and then tossing often, until browned on all sides, about 3 minutes.
5. Return first batch of chicken to pan along with snow peas. Add vinegar; cook until evaporated, about 30 seconds. Add Rooster sauce and soy sauce and toss to coat chicken and snow peas, allowing it all to cook a bit, about 1 minute. Add hoisin sauce; cook, tossing, until chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat. Stir in scallion greens and toasted cashews. Serve immediately over rice, if desired.

Can the Jewish Deli be sustainable? Can a retro cuisine be part of the avant- garde?

Local, organic VS. the externalized costs of cheap, industrial food and . . . collective memory and food traditions?

Deli is at a crossroads. In New York, only a handful delis remain from hundreds. Across the country, beloved Delis continue to disappear. Popular expectations of “real” Deli conflict with today’s economic realities. And these expectations conflict with environmental sustainability.

For example, towering pastrami sandwiches once signified success, security and abundance, an immigrant’s celebration of the American Dream. At “real” Delis, the meat is piled so high it topples. But given the realities of meat production in America today – 99% is factory farmed – how can we continue to stand by this as an icon?

Meat at the center of the plate is gradually losing ground in the American diet. Innovative chefs and new farm-to-table restaurants draw informed, activist eaters, ready to pay for the true cost of food, and celebrate carefully prepared vegetables at the center of the plate. Young Jewish foodies re-examine Kosher, going back to the land. And vegan/vegetarianism has become the paradigm for many Jewish foodies concerned with sustainability and humane treatment of animals.

Meanwhile, Deli mavens come to Saul’s with a hankering for a huge pastrami sandwich to relive cherished taste memories. Deli is part of the grand tradition of secular, cultural Jewish identity. So people come to Saul’s for many different reasons. Eating sustainable, local food doesn’t always top the list. Some changes to Deli that have made Saul’s a battleground over the years:

• No more Dr. Brown’s – housemade, seasonal soda instead
• Non-mammoth-sized pastrami sandwiches
• Artisanal, fermented, brown, organic old-world style rye bread
• Seasonal, local produce moved to the center of the plate
• Chilled borscht only in summer and when beets are in season . . . .

How can a popular Jewish deli, working to become more sustainable, keep the goodwill of its most traditionally supportive customer base?

To open this conversation, Saul’s Restaurant and Deli in Berkeley, CA is hosting a referendum on the Jewish Deli menu with three Saul’s regulars:

Michael Pollan, Willow Rosenthal, and Gil Friend. Evan Kleiman will moderate. Questions that might guide the discussion:

Even “authentic” cuisine can obstruct progress towards more just, sustainable food. How does a business committed to being part of the solution persuade traditionalist customers of the importance of change?

What taste memories and flavors of The Deli have been provided by an industrial food system? How can we look at our nostalgia and expectations critically?

How might we evolve a shared cuisine together? How can we bring our people along with us – away from grieving the disappearing deli, into the conversation and into the future?

Referendum on The Deli Menu Can a Retro Cuisine be Part of the Avant-Garde?

To accomodate demand:

**Venue has been changed from Saul’s to JCC of the East Bay around the corner**
1414 Walnut Street
Berkeley, CA 94709
Directions to JCC of the East Bay

6:30 pm Tuesday, February 9
Doors open at 6pm
Registration/Will Call check-in from 5:30 on

Tickets $10 in advance, $15 at the door

Proceeds benefit The Center for Ecoliteracy

Panelists:
Michael Pollan, Journalist, Author: The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food
Gil Friend, CEO of Natural Logic, Author: The Truth About Green Business
Willow Rosenthal, Founder, City Slicker Farms
Karen Adelman, Co-Owner, Saul’s Restaurant and Deli
Peter Levitt, Co-Owner, Saul’s Restaurant and Deli
Moderator: Evan Kleiman, Host, KCRW’s Good Food, Owner-Chef, Angeli Caffe