By Audrey Sasson, cross-posted on From the Ground—the blog of American Jewish World Service (AJWS)

I recently attended an event promoting Eric Holt-Giménez’s new book (co-authored by Raj Patel), Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice. Eric is the executive director of Food First and a powerful advocate for transforming our broken food system. His presentation unpacked the causes of hunger worldwide and promoted a reinvestment in local food systems as both a just and effective solution.

Eric began by outlining the rise of the industrial food system, starting with how the Green Revolution of the 1960s displaced local food systems and imposed an industrial model of food production from the North to the Global South. With the rise of Structural Adjustment Programs in the 1980s and what he dubbed “Free trade mania” in the 1990s, local food systems worldwide have been compromised and abandoned. The results? Countries in the Global South used to produce $1 billion in food surplus. Today, those same countries have an $11 billion food deficit.

One of the more illuminating moments for me came when Eric described the process by which the UN published the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The biggest study of its kind ever conducted, the IAASTD was published in 2008 and was meant to put corporate agriculture at ease by proving that the industrial model, including widespread use of GMOs, can and does effectively feed the world. Instead, the study concluded that small-scale farmers and organic, agro-ecological methods are the way forward to solve the current food crisis and meet the needs of local communities.

Eric made a strong case for fighting poverty through rebuilding local food economies and he pointed to the food sovereignty movement as paving the way. Interestingly, he connected the fight for food sovereignty worldwide to local food justice efforts here in the United States and elsewhere. The explosion in CSAs, school gardens, urban farms in low-income communities – to name a few – is part and parcel of the effort to reclaim control over our global food system and intentionally participate in a more just and sustainable model.

I haven’t read his book yet, but if it’s anything like the talk he gave I’m sure it’ll inspire. You can find out more on the Food First website. And if you’re looking for ways to plug into food justice efforts in New York, check out the AJWS-AVODAH Partnership’s new initiative, the Brooklyn Bridge CSA!

Avi Rubel is the North American Director of Masa Israel Journey, the umbrella organization for immersion programs in Israel for young adults (18-30). When not sending people to Israel, Avi can be found making cheese, bread, kombucha or fermenting or pickling all kinds of goodies in his Brooklyn apartment and recording his adventures on his food blog, Make Cheese Not War. In the weeks after the Hazon Food Conference, he shared some of his thoughts about his experience with Hazon in California.

Click below to read his posts:

• Preserved Lemons from Joan Nathan
• The Food Conference

Other posts of interest, especially to Brooklynites like me might include:

• Kombucha the Brooklyn Way
• The Bees and the Bees
• Women in Cheese in NYC

Enjoy! and thanks, Avi, for sharing.

Since it is so near Valetine’s Day we thought we’d share this cute website dedicated to writing Valentines to food.  According to the website:

My Food Valentine is a Collective Storytelling project where you can come and express your love for food by writing them a love-letter.

It is [Yaminie Patodia's] thesis project for NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication Program. I was interested in exploring the deeper connections people had with food, but in a fun way.

As of yet there is no Kosher or Jewish food categories as of yet.  And if you are at a loss of what to do for your sweetie this Valentine’s Day weekend, you could always write and send a little poem about his or her favorite food!

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.

Straight out of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in 1988, I went to work for Jasper White, the Boston chef who would become my mentor. I still remember how he told me that Atlantic salmon were commercially extinct. We were beginning to use a new salmon raised in a Canadian aquaculture operation that was a cross-breed of farmed Norwegian salmon, and wild Atlantic salmon. “Better half wild than not wild at all,” he quipped.

Since that time, the New England rivers that provided genetic stock for that ‘80s hybrid have suffered the excesses of the salmon farming industry, and the American public has been exposed to the pollution, pesticides, artificial colorants, and epidemics that salmon aquaculture has brought to our shores. We’ve lamented the megaton hauls of wild “feeder” fish dumped into the insatiable maw of the big salmon business, which built salmon into the most consumed fish in America.

While most consumers seem content to keep on buying factory-farmed salmon because it’s cheap, reliably fresh, and inoffensively mild in taste, some eco-savvy Americans who are concerned about the decline of ocean fish, river biodiversity, and humane treatment of animals rail against fish farming as an environmental disaster. Mention farmed fish to them, and they’ll say that wild is the only choice for fish-eaters with a conscience. Fish farming, after all, has done such damage. But there’s a problem with their argument too.

At current rates of consumption, wild stocks could not meet demand. And demand is growing. Sure, Alaskan fisheries that provide most of our wild salmon are among the best-managed in the world. And yes, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has closed salmon fisheries on the Sacramento, Klamath and Copper Rivers to protect stocks from overexploitation. But those fisheries are either tightly managed or closed to prevent their subspecies from annihilation, not to keep them productive enough to meet all US (let alone worldwide) demand. For fish to have a future, consumers must do two things: Consume fish less frequently, and choose the most ecologically sound farmed and wild varieties at market:

Tilapia: A mostly herbivorous species, tilapia from Nile waters have adapted phenomenally well to pond aquaculture. While it takes about three pounds of fish meal to add one pound to the weight of a farmed salmon and for cod the feed-to-flesh ratio is five to one, tilapia, at below 2:1, have the best feed-to-flesh ratio of any animal species. They naturally school tightly together, alleviating the problem of confinement, and their waste can be used as natural agricultural fertilizer. Tilapia fish is an excellent culinary choice, with resilient white fillets, and an ability to retain juiciness under most cooking methods. It is delicious and mild whether fried, roasted, baked, sautéed, or broiled.

Striped Bass: When I was cooking in Boston in the 1980s, my chef conscientiously boycotted wild striped bass, which was at the brink of extinction due to overfishing. In the ensuing years, several states banned the harvest of this toothsome fish, and elsewhere, aquaculture operations sprung up to farm-raise it. Both efforts, I’m happy to say, were successful. The farm-raised fish are a hybrid of wild striped bass and white bass which, while lacking the deep fish essence of the wild, offer the delicate flesh and pleasing savory flavor characteristic of “stripers.” Thousands of ponds and tanks cultivate these delicious food fish throughout the United States, making them not only an excellent culinary choice, but a sustainable domestic industry for small-scale and large scale growers alike. Thanks to responsible fishery management, wild striped bass has rebounded from its 1980s lows, and is now permitted as a limited catch. It’s excellent grilled, baked in a salt crust, and steamed whole.

Catfish: Once derided as poor man’s food, catfish native to the American south were fished from streams and channels in and around the Mississippi Delta and other bayous. That type of “channel cat” is still found in the region, but the catfish most Americans see in their markets was farm-raised in ponds, either in the southern states, or overseas, particularly in Southeast Asia. Farmed catfish is vastly superior in flavor and texture to wild. And domestic producers employ far higher environmental standards in producing this clean-tasting, firm-fleshed fish than do most fish farmers in Asia. American catfish is an exceptional fillet that takes well to marinades and rubs, and retains a buttery juiciness when blackened, fried, stir-fried, or stewed.

Arctic Char: Like salmon, there are both fresh water and sea running subspecies of char, both of which share salmon’s variably pink flesh and profound fish flavor. Canada has led the way in cultivating char in land-based re-circulating fish “raceways,” which enable the fish to maintain their naturally fast-swimming behavior, while protecting waterways from pollution and escapes of non-native fish. The raceways also protect the fish from disease transfer and allow markets to buy fish that have been pulled from the water literally the same day as they are to be served. This higher degree of freshness is one of the advantages of aquaculture, as opposed to wild-caught fishing that often delivers fish to market days after they were caught.

Barramundi: American fish farmers now cultivate this fast growing Australian native in closed, land-based systems that protect natural ecosystems. It’s raised in Massachusetts, where its wastes are donated to local farms for use as fertilizer. High in omega-3 fatty acids, barramundi is an especially healthy fish choice, and chefs love it for its delicate, buttery white flesh and its edible skin, which crisps exquisitely in both the sauté pan and on the grill. Domestic barramundi is rated as a top choice by all the major ocean stewardship organizations because of its eco-friendly cultivation methods and its high feed to flesh ratio. Its diet is largely vegetarian, making it a sustainable, delicious fish option.

Wild Winners: The striped bass fisheries on the US east coast have rebounded, so they are a good wild catch. Smaller fish like mackerels, sardines, herrings and smelts are low on the food chain, so they are both populous and fast-reproducing. It’s much better for us to catch them for fresh fish on our own tables than to grind them up for livestock feed, wasting up to four pounds of them to yield one pound of some other fish. Wild arctic char is also plentiful and faster-reproducing than its cousin, salmon. Black cod from Pacific waters has the same pleasing richness as the overharvested Chilean sea bass but is not under as much pressure from fishing fleets. And Atlantic mahi-mahi is caught by pole, rather than long-lines, resulting in lower bycatch.

The best eco choices remain mollusks like clams, oysters and mussels, whose cultivation not only thrives without negative impacts on wild populations, but actually helps keep coastal waters free of oxygen-depleting algae blooms. With a balance between responsibly raised aquaculture fish and select varieties from the sea, we can continue to go half wild.

I love cooking big dinners especially when they come with interesting dishes or new culinary challenges.  Thanksgiving has been a favorite of mine for a long time, since I have in part not been celebrating the Jewish food holidays for all that long.   Even when I was college I was whipping up elaborate meals despite limitations to space (one year it was a dormitory kitchen in the basement of the building) or even supplies (I forgot to buy aluminum foil so I improvised by covering my chicken, not a turkey, in applesauce, which by the way kept the meat moist and gave it a slightly sweet flavor).

Living in New York City poses its own set of advantages and challenges.  I mean in New York, you can get anything and usually get it delivered (at least in Manhattan).  I’ve found that mostly to be true – that was until I tried to serve venison for Thanksgiving.

A couple of years ago I decided that Thanksgiving was all about traditions.  Whether or not the legends of Pilgrims and Indians was anything like what we used to represent out of construction paper, glue and paper bags, my Thanksgiving table was going to be full of indigenous and local produce.  That was remarkably easy to procure in New York City.  I ordered my Heritage Turkey at The City Bakery and gathered my veggies at farmer’s markets.  But venison is hard to find in NYC and the clock is always ticking.

Perhaps here is where I should point out that I start planning for this holiday weeks in advance.  I am totally a list maker and once the menu is set, I plot and plan on where and when I will procure what is required.  I dash around the City often picking up specialty items from various locations.  My grocery list is set by date and location.  But even with the best of planning there are always obstacles.

I had previously found venison at the 125th Street Fairway market, but around Thanksgiving they don’t restock specialty meats (like game) in favor of more room for turkeys.  This year, I played phone tag with “Raymond” the Meat Department manager for a week until he rudely told me no, they didn’t carry venison and would not special order for me despite previously telling me that he would do so if I would only call back later.  Apparently this is a stressful time of the year for Meat Department managers.

Not having much luck with any other grocery store I called, I made my case to the next obvious choice – Facebook.  “Mia Rut still needs venison. Fairway has been giving me the run around for a week only to hang up on me now. Very annoyed,” said my status update.  Remarkably there were some good suggestions including my uncle, who as a hunter apparently has a bunch of venison tucked away in his freezer.  Too bad he doesn’t live any closer.

So the search continues.  Time is running short, my money is running out and I think that our menu may have to be adjusted.  However, despite the lack of deer meat on our table, we have a slight variation to our theme this year.  We typically host a Thanksgiving Shabbat dinner, foregoing a big meal on Thursday in favor of a more communal Friday night (friends often share Thanksgiving with family, but will come over for Shabbat dinner the next night).

This year we are shaking things up by using traditional Thanksgiving ingredients placed into a traditional Ashkenazi Shabbat dinner – traditional flavors presented in surprising ways.  So instead of matzo ball soup and gefilte fish we are starting out with fish consume.  I even started testing out the more experimental dishes, and thus far they have had rave reviews.  Everything is homemade, even the cranberry pasta for the kugel (use cranberry juice concentrate instead of water) which was another feat of scouring the city for a pasta machine (that didn’t cost an arm and a leg). But feel free to weigh in how this menu sounds:

Corn Bread Challah
Fish Consume
Cornish Hens Roasted in Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash Gravy
Seared Venison Sashimi
Cranberry Sauce Kugel
Chestnut and Sage Stuffing in Baked Apples
Roasted Pumpkin in Soy and Crushed Sesame
Green Bean Gelee
Mashed Japanese Sweet Potatoes with Kimchi
Tzimmis Sorbet
Shoo-Fly Pie
Chocolate Cake

Recently, acclaimed bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer appeared on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about his upcoming book, Eating Animals. As Julie Steinberg details in her post below, Foer, being both Jewish and a vegetarian, explores issues of food choices and eating meat in a personal narrative that helps shape a larger argument about vegetarianism.

Foer writes and talks about the challenges of ethical eating, and often from a Jewish perspective. The issues Foer discusses in the interview and raises in his book are just some of the topics that will be explored further at this year’s Hazon Food Conference.  Join Hazon December 24-27 on the Northern California coastline for four days of workshops and programs celebrating The New Jewish Food Movement.

This year’s Hazon Food Conference will cover many subjects, including Jewish food education, food justice, sustainable food systems, health and nutrition, Israeli agriculture, and Jewish traditions and food. Register today, we hope to see you there!

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.

With the tragic closing of the iconic publication, Gourmet, the already struggling world of food journalism got a bit grimmer.  Fortunately, a few quality food magazines are still up and running – like Saveur, a magazine dedicated not only to delivering delicious recipes, but sharing the food traditions, people and stories behind them.

Well, The Jew & The Carrot must be on an upswing too because recently, Saveur added us as a “Site we Love” on their website!  In other words, Saveur’s editors are handpicking the “best of the food web” to share with their readers – and we got the golden ticket.  Or, rather, the red stamp of approval.  Well Saveur, consider us flattered – and consider yourself invited over for tea any day.

p.s. In related exciting news, be sure to check out my forthcoming, bi-weekly column about seasonal ingredients on Saveur.com.  Coming soon to a browser near you. :)

I’ve been writing lately a lot about what we in the local foods movement need to do in order to make the next leap. I tell you this, the opportunity is there, and anyone who thinks it is inevitable that we win this war is wrong. We have to work for it, we have to use our resources, we have to muster our numbers and show the true power and force of a people powered, bottom up movement.

The Community Consists of:

-farmers reclaiming poisoned land and healing it with their holistic approach to growing produce and raising animals, restoring heritage breeds of animals, and enriching rural communities

-chefs making it their mission to source their produce locally, educating their patrons with seasonal dishes that that work with nature and the rhythm of the seasons, even bringing a little glamor to farmers markets all over the country

-Artisinal cheese makers, bread bakers, granola makers, chocolatiers, coffee aficionados and wine makers heralding a renaissance in traditional American food customs and rituals

-Policy wonks, journalists, nutritionists and advocates working tirelessly to untangle the web of government subsidies, unintended consequences and insane governmental policies that have distorted the free market, made us fat, ruined our food heritage, decimated the land and turned our food into the cheapest commodity possible

-Foodpreneurs finding innovative ways to connect capital with sustainable business opportunities

And then there are the bloggers. Yes the bloggers. And guess what? We are important! Like, really important. The amatuer cooks, chefs, farmers, writers, foodies, recipe mavens, podcasters, video makers. All of us. We SO matter.

I’ve been writing for a the past few months about some of the things we, as amateurs, need to do. We need to play our part. I’ve talked about finding good leaders, and I’ve talked about banding together. I’ve talked about forming community blogs, overcoming our differences, marginalizing people who allow “perfect to be the enemy of the good.”

And yet the one thing that we haven’t done to date, at least with any kind of coordination and organization, is work out a social media policy. And the truth is that we haven’t done this because its been staring us in the face all along. Many of us have been slowly incorporating the tools of social media to broadcast our message, share our expertise and connect one another. The wisdom I have accumulated about social media, its tools, its philosophies, its best practices have been some of the most rewarding aspects of my experience as a blogger, writer and editor of others.

So what does a social media policy look like?

Well for one, it doesn’t involved techno-gimmickry, something I decry personally and see no reason to incorporate professionally. The web is awash with SEO gurus who will pump your site in order to attract the higher traffic. I prefer organic traffic, traffic that I have worked for. I prefer to concentrate on content first and I’ve found that traffic follows consistent production of quality content. Blog consistently for three months and it will come.

A Group Blog: I’ve already written that I think the local foods movement needs a group blog as a way to maximize our traffic. I won’t lie, I want my writing to get in front of your viewers. But I also want my viewers to see you! I’ve received commitments from almost 30 people to contribute to the blog. That means we could have fresh content multiple times a day. We could also take on other features like podcasts, videos, interviews and leverage our larger networks to grow the community from there by giving them a unique landing space with the authority to positively their further experiences.

Twitter: Probably the best marketing tool ever created, and that is because we are only too happy to help out people we share interests with, people who we have gotten to know through conversation. The follower/ following aspect is also ingenious. We should make a study, but I’ve got to believe that if you took the follower count of the most active local food twitterati, the numbers would be in the tens of thousands, even counting for overlap. Now THAT’s a number! If the community rallied around 1 or 2 stories a day, we could drive some serious traffic around the web. We need to encourage this, and we need to find a way to make this equitable, so that one blog or story is continually getting hundreds of RTs and links.

Facebook: How many FB groups do you belong to having to do with local sustainable food? Have you organized lists on FB to separate out foodies from non-foodies? I personally have a Farm to Table list with over 250 people in it. I check this list most often for status updates and blog posts. But really, its SO disorganized, and the noise is overwhelming. How can we get more organized on facebook? The days when I have had the most traffic on my site are days when influential players on Facebook like Cooking Up a Story or Michael Dimock have linked to my pieces. I am always so grateful for that, but there has to be a better way to coordinate this influence.

FriendFeed: Friendfeed is one of my favorite services and really encapsulates the aggregating and real time aspects of the social networks. It is where I push a lot of my information, blog posts, and other content into the streams of Twitter, Facebook and other sites. But more than that FriendFeed has amazing real time chat capabilities that far surpass Twitter. We have 3 ProFood rooms up that are each geared to a specific audience and weekly profoodchat’s in one of the those rooms that is open to the public. This is one of the best ways that the community has come together to discuss things without limitations of character limits etc…I strongly urge you, if you want to get more involved, to join friend feed and subscribe to this room. Here is the link: http://friendfeed.com/profoodchat We already have 81 subscribers and if you are not already a member, you will definitely recognize some familiar faces in there.

Delicious, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon: Personally, I only use Stumble Upon on a regular basis and it is a wonderful driver of traffic to my blog. I love discovering new sites, and the algorithm that runs Stumble seems to be getting better every day. When I stumble through Food/ Cooking I see fantastic sites, amazing recipes with gorgeous photos, and all sorts of ideas and opportunities to share. So honestly, please go join Stumble Upon now and then let us know in the comments section so that those already using it can add you to our friend list!

It behooves the entirety of the local foods movement to get a stumble account, and start using it. This way, we can create our own group. If one or two pieces a week gets anointed by the community, we can use our numbers to thumb up those pieces allowing not just ourselves to see them, but to drive it in front of people who never would have in the first place. From there its only a hop, skip and jump to a whole new level of RSS subscribers, blog readers and eventually more community members.

But what am I missing? How do we coordinate this? Can anyone speak to Delicious, Digg or Reddit with any kind of authority? If so, leave your input in the comments section and I’ll elevate it to a post if its really helpful!