Fermentation is the foundation of warm sourdough bread, crunchy pickles and cold micro-brewed beer.  And Sandor Ellix Katz is, in our humble opinion, the rebbe of fermentation. 

Two weeks ago, Naftali posted a review of Sandor’s book Wild Fermentation.  Now, you can read the exclusive (and incredibly inspiring) interview with Sandor, and answer the following question for a chance to win a copy of his book:  What is your all-time favorite fermented food? 

Interview with Sandor Ellix Katz

Who is Sandorkraut?

Sandorkraut is an affectionate nickname I was given by friends thanks to my love of sauerkraut, my constant production of it, and more broadly my evangelical zeal about fermentation. My name is Sandor Ellix Katz. I’m a queer Jew born and raised in New York City who has been homesteading in rural Tennessee for the past 15 years.

My interest in fermentation developed out of overlapping interests in food, nutrition, and gardening. My book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods has propelled me into a mission of what I call cultural revivalism, spreading fermentation skills and fermentation fervor.

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Oh Jewschool, you all are so sweet! :)  We feel exactly the same way….

Jewschool’s Picks for Best of 2007
by Kol Ra’ash Gadol · Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Best JBlog
Despite actually having been founded in 2006, we’re still giving our vote to The Jew and the Carrot. It’s really taken off this year and there have been so many themes they’ve covered that we wished we thought of, but now can leave it to he experts. Maybe we just love Hazon.

Topic of the Year: Food
From the schechting of the goat at the Hazon food conference, to the growing eco-kashrut movement, from increasing awareness of the necessity to eat local and organic to “kosher” being the most popular claim found on product labels in 2007, (beating out “All Natural” and “No Additives or Preservatives,”), and let’s not forget the triumphant return of the 2nd Ave Deli, yep, we Jews know what we like, and as usual, it was food

“You can trace the recent history of Tu B’shevat seders like branches on a tree.”  - Nigel Savage, Jerusalem Post, 2004

The Jew & The Carrot Presents: Healthy, Sustainable Tu B’shevat Resources

Click here to peruse The Jew & The Carrot’s Tu B’shevat Resource List, for helpful tips and ideas to create your own Tu B’shevat seder, or celebrate the holiday of the trees in sustainable style.  If you have any ideas or tips you’ve picked up from a Tu B’shevat past, please share them below.

(x-posted from Lilith)

We’ve made it to the final stretch of the “holiday season” (read: the inclusive euphemism for Christmas and New Year’s Eve). Despite Nigel’s insistence that, “no one says Merry Christmas in America” (he’s from England where supposedly everyone says Merry Christmas as if they have a tic), the holidays – and particularly Christmas – can literally be felt, regardless of one’s religious beliefs.

This phenomenon holds particularly true with food. No matter that Chanukah celebrations peaked half a month ago - holiday food is ubiquitous. From late November through New Year’s Eve, red-and-green wrapped chocolates seem to pop up out of nowhere. Alcohol, cookies, pie, and heavily salted snacks also take on “how-did-that-get-into-my-hand?” properties. And whether you spent Christmas dinner with friends or celebrated the “Jewish way” with Chinese food and a movie, holiday foods have a tendency to find their way, often in excess, into our mouths.

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In Va-Yechi, our creation story culminates with Jacob on his deathbed blessing his sons. (Gen. 49.) He highlights characteristics that are unique to each of his twelve sons, the fathers of our twelve tribes. According to Rashi, five of these blessings focus on the agricultural specificity of each tribe’s territory in the Land of Israel.

For Zevulun, Jacob promises that he “shall dwell at the edge of the sea. His will be a shore for ships…” (Gen. 49:13.) The Talmud Megillah tells how the beaches of Zevulun were home to the molluscs from which techelet dye (for the blue tallis thread) could be extracted. (Talmud Bavli Megillah 6b.) His territory was agriculturally poor but a lucrative resource for snail-farming.

Jacob’s blessing of Judah describes a land of vines and garments dyed with wines. (Gen. 49: 11.) For Issachar, “He saw a resting place, that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant,” (Gen. 49:15.) Rashi writes, “He saw that his part of the land was blessed and would produce good fruit.” (Rashi, Gen. 49:15, s.v. vayar minucha ki tov) Issachar, whose tribe’s destiny was immersion in Torah learning, was bestowed a place where fruits grew in abundance, making the food life easy and devotion to study practical.

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Somewhere during the flurry of the Food Conference and the final shift from autumn into cozy “wintery-mix” weather, The Jew & The Carrot turned one year old.

This first year was a biggie - mentions in the Wall Street Journal and
New York Times, two awards (best new blog and best kosher food/recipe blog from The Jewish & Israeli Blog Awards), interviews with food experts like Michael Pollan and Joan Nathan…phew. We hope that our second year will continue to bring growth to the blog, as we continue to bring you the best news, writing, recipes, and resources from the new Jewish food movement.

In celebration of this milestone, we have two gifts for readers. The first is a recipe for my mom’s “Moistest Chocolate Cake.” This is the best chocolate cake (no, seriously) and a birthday staple in my house growing up. I’ve written about this recipe elsewhere, but couldn’t resist sharing it with you all in honor of The Jew & The Carrot’s birthday. Get the recipe below the jump.

The second is a chance to win a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables! Farmer John is a CSA farmer based in Illinois. He’s got a serious farming heritage and one of the most entertaining personalities in the fields (note the red feather boa accompanying the coveralls on the book cover.) His cookbook offers seasonal recipes, photos, and stories from his farm Angelic Organics. Answer this question to be entered into a raffle for a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: What is your favorite birthday food tradition? (It can be wacky or sweet - but it has to be something food-related that you do for birthdays. Only related comments will be entered into the raffle.)

Cake recipe below the jump… Read more »

Below is the full text of Friday night’s keynote at The Hazon Food Conference.  The keynote was given by Nati Passow, co-founder of The Jewish Farm School.  It’s a long post, but definitely worth the read - even if you have to print it out (on recycled paper of course!) and take it home.

(Nati’s on the right, next to Simcha Schwartz.  Photo by Sabrina Malach.)

Hazon Food Conference
December 6-9, 2007
Keynote Address: Nati Passow 

Thank you Nigel. Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach. It is a great honor to be here with you all tonight. Nigel suggested that I begin by sharing my story with you, my connection and relationship to food, which I think is a great way to begin this talk, because one of the things I like most about food is that sitting down to a meal is a great excuse to spend time with friends and listen to each other’s stories. So here is a little bit of mine.

Seven years ago I took a Sabbatical. I left university for the year and traveled in Israel. I studied in yeshiva, toured the country and then settled into an apartment in Jerusalem. After having little success finding a job, I decided to enjoy my sabbatical for what it was time to just be present. This was when I discovered good coffee, which for any honorable coffee drinker is a moment you never forget. An older friend of mine sat me down and said that if I was going to drink coffee everyday, I should make it good. Buy whole beans, grind them myself and brew something delicious.

The coffee was my gateway drug to the world of slow food.

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In this post, Leah spoke about the shechting of the three goats.  Towards the end, she writes,  “I began to wonder at what point during the process did the beautiful goat transform into “meat?”  I am not sure that I can answer that question any more conclusively than Leah, but I want to pick up the story where she left off, as I had the privilege to witness the entire process needed to make the meat kosher, and how it was prepared for cooking.  I also was able to discover what happened to all of the parts that we did not eat for dinner - bones, skin, and the rest of the meat.

As one can imagine, this process involved a lot of work.  Many people asked me about the details, which I am happy to provide here.  At time however this description can be a bit graphic.  Continue below the jump for those that want to read on.

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My previous post laid out the reasons why – while the tzedek hekhsher and ethical kashrut are wonderful intentions – the business practicalities beg answering. Indeed, it’s an open question if our little 2% of the meat market will make an impact on the greater meat industry.

But this post is hopefully “the other hand,” and at the very least inspiration as to how working with kashrut authorities might indeed yield a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community — one which leads to a healthier and more sustainable world for everyone.

Our shochet was amazing. Rabbi Yehuda Benchimhoun, an Algerian-descended French Jew of Lubavitch conviction, is a reluctant but intense shochet whose story and words impressed us all here, but above all his kavannah, his incredible intentionality with the animals he shechts. More than just being a six day a week vegetarian, he impressed us all with the seriousness with which he approached his duty to honor the life of animals. He was deliberate, he was careful, he was precise. And his respect for the letter of the law alongside its intent was phenomenal.

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In all honestly, I’m not completely sure I’ve fully digested the goat schecting enough to talk coherently about it, but here’s a first attempt.

About 70 people gathered at 7:00am, bleary-eyed and shivering (this time, because of the cold), to catch one of the shuttles down to the sadeh (Adamah’s field) a mile away from Isabella Freedman.  Once there, everyone huddled into small groups, wiggling their frozen toes and talking about the goat.

The shochet –dressed in shirtsleeves and a furry hat - prepared his knife.  Meanwhile, the mashgiach explained the process and answered participants’ questions, stopping to check that the knife was sharp enough by running it lightly along his fingernail. 

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The sun is waning quickly - actually, it’s fully concealed behind the grey clouds as a soft blanket of snow falls on Isabella Freedman.  Still, I’ve been running around all day and Shabbat is only a few minutes away, so a full post of today’s conference highlights will have to wait.

But today was, in a word, incredible - from the truly holy experience of the goat schecting this morning, to a talk about Congress’s role in the Food Bill, to a hands-on session where participants made their own urban-worm composting bins, to a discussion of the shmitta year from the farmer’s perspective, to a presentation of the changing symbolic role of bagels in American Jewish life, to a keynote presentation by Chef Dan Barber (yep, my fave ethical celebrity chef) about food miles and changing the way we eat from the community outward.

Now, as the snow continues to fall, the energy is shifting - the Chanukah candles are coming out (for those of you who want a visual, imagine four long tables lined with foil and covered with an assortment of glowing, flickering menorahs), and people are readying themselves for Shabbat and two more days of delicious food for thought.

Thanks to everyone for your comments on the first Food Conference post - I look forward to updating you tomorrow night!

Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom!

What does healthy and sustainable Jewish food look like?  

We asked participants of the 2007 Food Conference (and other flash-popping foodies) to submit their original photos for a special showcase at the conference.  The submissions ranged from gorgeous zoom-ins on dinner, to political statements, to celebrations of life on a farm.  It is a truly delicious collection. 

Here are four photos from the exhibit to whet your appetite.

Photo Credits: 1. Miriam Rubin 2. Ian Hertzmark 3. Dory Kornfeld and Leah Koenig 4. Jackie Topol

Prints are available - contact editor@jcarrot.org for more information

This is the first of a series of updates from the Hazon Food Conference today through Sunday.

I spent much of tonight shivering.

Part of that has to do with being up in the Connecticut Berkshires, in December where 17 degrees is a normal morning temperature. But the shivering started in earnest when I walked into a conference session called, “Lifting the Cellophane Veil: Shecting a Goat.” The session was mandatory for anyone who is thinking about attending tomorrow morning’s schecting.

The Food Conference is, of course, not simply about the goat - we have four days crammed with sessions and a collection of 240 amazing people here at Isabella Freedman. But the schecting tomorrow will be - for me, and many participants - a once-in-a-lifetime and emotionally-charged event. The hope for tonight’s session was that, by introducing the key players (the goat farmer and caretaker, organizer, shochet,-ritual slaughterer, mashgiach-kashrut supervisor, and lead educator), the participants would be able to enter the space tomorrow morning aware of the process and feeling prepared (as much as possible anway).

I think the session served it’s purpose. The educator, Dr. Shamu Sadeh, and goat farmer, Aitan Mizrahi started off the conversation explaining the importance of getting a closer to our food choices - particularly where meat comes from, giving a history of the goats and explaining logistics. By the end of the night, about 70 of the 100-ish people in the room raised their hand to indicate they would wake up early tomorrow, get on a shuttle van, and weather the cold to witness the schecting.

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Multiple people have raised the idea that schecting goats, as Hazon plans to at the Food Conference next week, doesn’t really expose participants to the true horrors of conventional animal slaughter. What would really be effective, they say, is to show a film that conveys the brutality of factory farming.

They have a point - the way in which the Food Conference schecting will happen is not by any means a mainstream practice. But that’s exactly the reason why we’re doing it and also why showing a film just isn’t enough.

Factory farms are one of the worst and most infuriating things I can think of, and they’re a huge part of the reason I’m a vegetarian.  And Hazon has no intention of hiding the realities of the conventional meat industry during the Food Conference.  Quite on the contrary, in fact.

But there are people - including a growing number of people in the Jewish community - who are seeking out the ethics and practices of responsible and ethical meat eating.  They are certainly not mainstream, at least not yet.  But to say that the work they’re doing is not part of the “real world” denies them the potential to - God willing - influence the larger Jewish community to eat less meat and to eat it with more kavvanah (intention) and respect. 

Perhaps its time to move beyond our outrage towards factory farms and start ”being the change” we want to see in the Jewish community - or at very least, supporting the people who are.

Below the jump, Adamah Program Director, Shamu Sadeh, talks about the realities of “Animals, Life and Death on the Farm.”

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