Did you ever wish that you could create an energy bar with just the right nutritional ingredients, that tasted great, and was (mostly) kosher and organic? How about if the company that made them gave a percentage of their profits to a local foodbank? How about if the company was a mother and son who started out in the kitchen of their synagogue? 

Check out this great story in the NYTimes, and head over to youbars.com if you feel like creating (and naming!) your very own Powerbar.   

Valentines Day is coming up this Thursday - and while it’s not a Jewish holiday per se, it’s as good a day as any to remind the people in your life that you think they’re pretty freaking awesome.  To help you express your loving sentiments - the sustainable way - The Jew & The Carrot offers our newest resource list:

Kosher Sustainable C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E

All of the chocolate bars included on the list are kosher-cerfitied and some combination of organic, fair trade, cane-sugar sweetened, and vegan.  (sweet!)  If you want to put that chocolate bar to even better use, check out Chef Laura Frankel’s amazing recipe for chocolate mousse.  And if you’re looking for something a little bit more risque, the company Green Knickers is offering a Valentine’s day special: a bar of chocolate from Divine with every pair of organic cotton, fair trade boxers or briefs you purchase.  (I can’t find anything on Divine’s kashrut status, but this was too cute not to include.  Thanks to Grist for the hat tip.)

Chanukah starts next week - don’t let the opportunity to give meaningful, sustainable gifts to your loved ones pass you by.  Check out The Jew & The Carrot’s Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide for creative, eco-friendly gift ideas for *nearly* everyone on your list.

And - as thanks to our wonderful readers, The Jew & The Carrot teamed up with Thou Shall Snack to offer a special Chanukah gift to you - the chance to win a free gift basket filled with delicious and healthy goodies from Thou Shall Snack.

Click here  and enter by December 5th for your chance to win.

Chanukah, Hanukkah, or Hanukah - however you spell it, it’s on it’s way. The festival of lights starts early this year on December 5th.

The Jew & The Carrot offers you the opportunity to give sustainably this year with the Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide!

If you’re not into giving Chanukah gifts, make all your own gifts, or a die hard re-gifter, more power to you. But if you’re looking for something special and sustainable for your friends/family/CSA farmer/yoga instructor/pet etc. this is the list for you.

*As if you need another reason to buy sustainable - for every gift purchased through The Jew & The Carrot’s sustainable gift guide, Amazon will make a donation to the blog!

Shop for Chanukah today with the Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide.

What do you get when you cross: 

-A blend of 28 cocoas (including 14 of the most expensive and exotic around the globe)
- 5 grams of edible 23-karat gold, served in a goblet lined with edible gold
- 18-karat gold bracelet at the bottom of the goblet (with 1 karat of diamonds)
- Whipped cream covered in more gold and a side of La Madeline au Truffle, which sells for $2,600/pound?

The Frozzen (yes two zs) Haute Chocolate, a $25,000 desert from Serendipity 3 in New York City.  Here’s my question, why would you want to EAT gold?  Yes, yes, there’s the whole “you are what you eat,” thing, but would you really want to be an inert mineral that probably causes serious indigestion?

Let’s just say The Frozzen Haute Chocolate doesn’t top my Chanukah gift wish list this year - but if you want to get me something from The Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide…

The Jew & The Carrot presents a sustainable Chanukah gift guide, which features earth-friendly, meaningful present ideas for (just about) everyone in your life. 

• A vegan cookbook for your sister?
• A sturdy bike basket for your cycling buddy?
• A kosher, organic tea set for your boss?

Find these great gift ideas (and many more) at The Jew & The Carrot’s Sustainable Chanukah Gift Guide

Walking down the streets of Brooklyn, you will inevitably run into some cobwebs - not the kind actually made by spiders (that’s asking a little much for our concrete jungle).  Instead, you’ll find manufactured, cotton candy-like cobwebs that people drape on their bushes and pile on their stoops (along with winking pumpkins and smirking cardboard witches) for Halloween.  Before too long, those pumpkins will be replaced by plastic Santas and reindeer dotted with little, white lights.

What does all this have to do with The Jew & The Carrot?  It means the holidays (the “high” version) are over and the holiday (Chanukah) is not that far away.  Don’t stress - Chanukah isn’t about gifts anyway -  it’s about the lights and miracles and delicious fried foods.  But, if you’re looking for 1. a great gift 2. that will benefit a great cause 3. and help you stay on track with all the Jewish holidays, look no further.

The Jewish Farm School has created an absolutely gorgeous 5768-5769 Jewish Farms Calendar that pairs food and farm photography with a 16-month (Sept 07-Dec 08)  calendar.

The Jewish Farms Calendar features:
• All Jewish holidays
• Intimate photographs of freshly harvested produce and livestock that Jewish hands helped to cultivate (see attached preview)
• Dates for special Jewish food events (e.g. The Hazon Food Conference)
• Jewish/agricultural quotations
• 100% post-consumer recycled paper

How to purchase the calendar
The calendar is $18 dollars ($14 if you purchase 10 or more) and proceeds benefit the educational programs of the Jewish Farm School and Hazon.  Each purchased calendar makes a huge difference!  To purchase a calendar, email Robert Friedman or visit The Jewish Farm School’s website. 
 
 

Check out these great excerpts from a photo essay entitled, What the World Eats, from the book, Hungry Planet, by photographer (and fellow tribesman?) Peter Menzel.

And if you’re ever confused about what blessing to say when encountering a new food, you can use this new handy gadget, from The Jewish Learning Group!

Looking for the perfect gift for an eco-friendly, garden-obsessed (perhaps even going to Adamah?) graduate? Look no further! Food, gardening and dirt are *very* hot topics in the craft world these days.  Many beautiful options, like the one below, await you at www.etsy.com (search keywords: “garden” “farm” and “food” for great gift options)

1. Beautiful Tomato Print (great for decorating dorm rooms!)

* A ramp is a wild onion (Allium triccocum), found in eastern North America. It has flat leaves, and rounded clusters of white flowers. It can be eaten raw, or used in cooking. It is in season right now in the Northeast. Ramps are also referred to as wild leek.