Sam Kass, White House assistant chef and Food Initiative Coordinator, wore a green tie – it was appropriate since the meeting was on St. Patrick’s Day. Twenty-eight community and faith-based organizations (CFBO) from around the country, including Hazon represented by yours truly, had gathered for a one-day meeting to discuss First Lady Michelle Obama’s ambitious initiative, Let’s Move, to combat childhood obesity in one generation. Kass and Jocelyn Frye, the First Lady’s Policy Director started the day by talking about the meaningful role that faith-based organizations play in their communities. The White House is seeking a comprehensive strategy to tackle the dual problem of hunger and obesity and they see faith-based organizations as uniquely positioned to do this work by allowing children to connect body, mind and spirit. Kass spoke of the need for simple ways for people to transform their lives and to then become leaders for others to make healthy changes, too.
A couple of times when I was a kid I was able to convince my parents to buy me a school lunch. I still remember the feeling of independence I had when I got those bills from my Mom and Dad, and the amazing taste of that beef taco. That’s right – a public school beef and cheese taco. With iceberg lettuce. A trayf-er thing I cannot remember eating…
When I was little, about six, seven years old, my favorite after-school cartoon was the Steven Spielberg-produced “Animaniacs”. I don’t know how many of you watched this charming variety show starring the pun-spewing Warner siblings Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, but this little gem of animation was the origin of such now-classics as “Pinky and the Brain”.
Many of the show’s musical numbers stayed with me for years and remain with me still, but this particular one, entitled “Be Careful What You Eat”, popped into my head the other day as I read the ingredients on a popular candy bar which shall remain nameless. Whenever anyone asks me why I avoid sodas or popular brands of chips, I direct them to this song. Watch it and reach for the vegetables.
Soda. Pop. Coke. S.S.B. (sugar-sweetened beverage). Whatever you wanna call it, it’s bad for you. Or so argues Mark Bittman, the New York Times‘ “Minimalist” columnist and prominent foodie in this Sunday’s New York Times. This phenomenal article poses the question of whether soda may be the next tobacco. He interviews proponents calling for a special excise tax on soda to fund obesity prevention programs, as well as other measures to curb the intake of these empty calories in a can (or bottle). The article comes after Michelle Obama’s appointment to lead a national campaign against childhood obesity, which some believe is linked to an excessive consumption of soda and candy.
Last November, I koshered my kitchen for the first time. I did so with the full understanding that my decision came with certain compromises, like giving up my favorite cheeses and my delicious but uncertified collection of vinegars. While a bit heartbreaking, these were sacrifices I was willing to make as I welcomed in my new lifestyle. If only I had known that I might have to give up salad, too.
Leafy salad greens, along with berries, asparagus and a variety of other produce, have come under serious scrutiny in the kosher world over the past decade. There’s nothing treyf about these particular fruits and vegetables, except that they have a tendency to attract insects, which are halachically forbidden. Once they are removed from a spinach leaf or the inside of a raspberry, the produce is theoretically fit to eat. But kosher agencies like the Orthodox Union and KOF-K argue that certain bugs (for example, aphids, thrips and mites) are too small to spot easily, but large and common enough to be compromising.
After eight days of Hannukah holiday feasting, I felt like something was needed to cut all that oil in the system. The edible wild greens that are now in season seemed just the ticket.
Edible wild plants have been an essential part of the local diet here in the Galilee going back to the stone age hunters and gatherers. I have learned from neighbors in the nearby Bedouin villages which plants are good to eat, where to find them, and how to prepare them. One of the staples, which is considered a seasonal delicacy, is wild chicory – known in Arabic as elet, and in Hebrew as olesh. It can be found around the edges of fields – a low-growing starburst of scalloped leaves. And it is considered to be extremely healthy – good for “cleaning the blood”, as my Bedouin friends have explained.
Going out and gathering is not as commonly practiced in the traditional Arab cultures of the Galilee as it once was – yet the taste for elet remains. Now enterprising farmers have started to cultivate elet and other edible wild plants, and sell them in the local Arab green grocers.
Cross-posted on From the Ground—the blog of American Jewish World Service (AJWS).
“Kitchen gardens in Kenya” is not a phrase we hear often, but for many people, that phrase is the key to survival. In a country of nearly 35 million people, malnutrition and hunger are staggering problems, particularly for Kenyan children, orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS. In the rural, western regions of Kenya, sustaining basic nutrition is a chronic struggle in the face of food insecurity. Too weak to walk long distances or stand in lines waiting for food aid, those who live in rural areas and subsist on less than a dollar a day do not have access to the basics needed to live healthy, dignified lives.
It’s sort of funny when two worlds collide unexpectedly, especially when one comes to the aid of the other. Take for example my recent search for the perfect milk alternative. I don’t dislike good ol’ cow’s milk, nor am I allergic to it. But as an observant Jew, I often find myself at odds with the fridge staple, usually after I’ve just enjoyed a delicious turkey sandwich. I am what some would call a Fleish-a-phobe: I rarely eat meat if I can avoid it out of dread for the five hours and one minute to follow, when I will be barred from my favorite treats: ice-cream, chocolate, cheese, milk-based pie, the list goes on.
And so I’ve spent some time searching for that perfect alternative, that wondrous, dairy-free concoction that will replace milk in my cookie recipe and help me whip up the perfect pareve pumpkin pie. Recently, my best friend and I (with both health and Halacha in mind) unofficially took it upon ourselves to taste-test every non-milk available to us, from various brands of soymilk to the less orthodox (and rarely Kosher) hemp milk, with varying results.
Recently I had the chance to speak with Noah Alper, founder of the eponymous Noah’s Bagels. Noah, who sold Noah’s Bagels in 1999, has been in the food business since the 1970s, when he started Bread and Circus, the East Coast natural food chain (bought by Whole Foods in 1992). He’s kept kosher since the early 1990s, and at one point Noah’s Bagels was the largest kosher retailer in the country. (For those on the prowl, there’s still one kosher Noah’s Bagels, in Seattle.) Nowadays, he’s committed to preaching the gospel of socially responsible business practices, and to that end he’s come out with a book called Business Mensch that aims to connect Jewish principles to good business practices and convince business leaders that community values are good for their bottom line.
I don’t wish to disappoint anyone, but this post does not contain any recipes or ideas for healthy snacks to give out to your trick-or-treaters this Halloween. Actually, it is an appeal for just the opposite.
I overheard an acquaintance telling someone how they would be giving out “healthy snacks” to young trick-or-treaters for Halloween. The other replied: “You know, that’s such a great idea. I should do that.”
Now, I know there are many foodies reading this blog (including myself), but I couldn’t help but find myself feeling a bit sorry for the kids who would be knocking on their doors expecting Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups this Saturday night, only to find a vegan oat-bran something-or-other dropped into their plastic pumpkin.
The other day my boyfriend and I were enjoying a Sunday walk in Brooklyn when we ran into his friend Ana, her partner and their adorable new baby. Among the introductions and pleasantries she mentioned that she was distributing her film FRESH. “Here, tell me what you think of it,” she said handing me a copy, knowing I was a food writer.
So, one night a while later my boyfriend and I tucked into the sofa and watched FRESH, the new film by Ana Sofia Joanes. As someone who has seen Food Inc and has read a lot of Michael Pollan, the material was not new to me, however I found the material’s presentation (forgive the pun) fresh. I had found Food Inc to be a good film, but heavy on the propaganda. I felt that FRESH got its message across in a far more even-handed way. The film invoked a pretty good discussion, and I was happy to see on their website they had some additional educational materials and even a call for recipes. But you don’t have to be a Jew and the Carrot writer or have chance encounters with the director to see this film. If you live in the New York area there will be a screening this Tuesday.
The Crossroads spirit was with me on Sunday. At 6 a.m., I headed down to the starting line of Washington D.C.’s Marine Corps Marathon decked out in my Crossroads Farmers Market shirt and fortified by a well-wishing card from the market’s director. (For anyone interested, my tummy was fortified by some organic coffee and a PB & J on sprouted grain bread–what I’ve found to be an excellent pre-race snack).
I went into this knowing that the campaign to rejuvenate the Crossroads’ Fresh Checks program for low-income shoppers through writing articles about it and running 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) had not actually reached its goal. My attempt at a charitable and world-healing act–an act of tikkun olam–had raised awareness and monetarily netted just shy of $700 ($698 to be exact) in donations. My goal was $1,000, but I was pretty sure I had reached my limit. The market managers had sent the ask to their supporters and shoppers, too, so together we had tried the best we could.
Thursday, October 8 at 3:00 pm the New York City Health Department visited the fruit stand on 89th and Broadway in Manhattan. Apparently his fruit stand was too big, extending a foot or so outside the designated area. The police were summoned as was a New York City garbage truck. The police proceeded to deposit crates of fruit and vegetables into the garbage truck. They threw perfectly good fruits and vegetables away! A homeless woman literally kneeled down begging for the food. The officers ignored her request. The bystanders were astounded. As pedestrians called various state and local officials, as well as news reporters, the garbage truck closed and the police ceased to haul any more crates of food into the garbage truck for fear of negative publicity. The supervising police officer said, “We are just following health department protocol.”
It seemed like a great way to kill two birds with one stone. Now I’m wondering if it’s killing—or at least harming—me.
Welcome to my water dilemma.
Last year, my concerns were mounting about both the evils of inherent in the privatization of water and the health risks of exposure to Bisphenol A, used to produce many common plastics. So the members of our household stopped using the Brita filter, and started toting straight-from-the-tap goodness with us wherever we went. Toting it in SIGG water bottles, which were sold as a plastic-free, all aluminum alternative to BPA-laden bottles.
