Archive for the 'Kosher' Category
Mark Rosen Says: Smile (& Win Cheese!)
Sugar River Cheese Company’s gourmet kosher cheeses are a contradiction in terms. The Chicago based company makes handcrafted, hormone-free Cheddars and Monterey Jacks from the milk of pasture-raised cows. Each salty block is infused with a swoon-worthy combinations of jalapeno and cilantro, peppercorns, chipotle, garlic and green onion, or olive and sun-dried tomato. But (here’s the kicker) - they are also certified kosher.
While the world of ethical, gourmet kosher cheese is slowly gaining momentum (find the short-list here), it continues to lag significantly behind its non-kosher counterpart. Sugar River President, Mark Rosen, a technology man with an MBA, who traded weekly flights to New York for life as a professional cheese entrepreneur, considers it his personal mission to prove that while good cheese may be stinky, kosher cheese does not have to stink.
Below the jump, he shares his thoughts on happy cows and why he thinks a ham and cheddar sandwich is good for the kosher industry. He also shares his family’s recipe for Chipotle Macaroni n’ Cheese.
Want to win a gift basket of Sugar River cheese? Tell us your favorite cheesy dish below, and be entered into a drawing to win a delicious assortment of Cheddar and Monterey Jack from Sugar River Cheese Company. (Only one comment per person will be entered into the drawing - comment before Thursday, April 3.)
36 Comments »The Kale Haters
I admit it - I live in a bubble. A tiny, insulated bubble within which everyone cares about eating ethically, and while some people eat meat and some don’t, just about everyone can agree about the merits of garlic-sauteed kale. Inside my cozy world, I forget that a whole other world exists out there - but this week, my trip over to Midtown Lunch reminded me.
Midtown Lunch - an entertaining (and eminently useful!) blog that seeks out the dining gems within the culinary wasteland that is Midtown Manhattan - profiles a different Midtown employee each week. It asks them questions like, “favorite/least favorite foods,” and “if you could work anywhere in New York (just because of lunch) where would it be and why?” This past week I was profiled. I was pleased to have the opportunity to give shout outs to Hazon and The Jew & The Carrot and excited to share my dietary habits with a bunch of related strangers.
Turns out, Midtown is not the most veggie or kosher friendly place on earth. Here’s a smattering of the comments my vegetarian and kosher focused profile received:
The Great Seitan??
Cookbooks, Cooking, Food Writing, Humor, Kosher, Meat, On The Web, Politics, Rant!, Recipes, Vegetarian
“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.” - Anthony Bourdain, “Kitchen Confidential,” p. 70
Tell us how you really feel, Anthony!
Of course, vegetarians and vegan chefs were not about to take this crude, carnivorous cri de coeur lying down, and thus was born Hezbollah Tofu, a blog where vegan chefs are systematically veganizing chef Bourdain’s most celebrated recipes. They plan on selling the resulting compilation, and donating the proceeds to vegan causes (farm sanctuaries, public education, etc) in Bordain’s name. Take that, Anthony!
This topic brings up a whole host of questions for me, as a Jew and as a self-professed foodie who also strives to eat sustainably (although not regularly animal-product free):
March Meat Woes: Part I (Kosher)
Agriprocessors - the controversial kosher meat company - has recently been hit with a barrage of fines, citations, accusations and legal troubles, coming from all fronts including all three branches of the US government, as well as civil society.
Here’s a rundown of the latest:
Violations of Workers’ Rights. On March 20, the Iowa Division of Labor Services issued a $182,000 fine for 39 citations to the Postville, IA plant of Agriprocessors, the world’s largest kosher meat processor, for violations of worker health and safety regulations including labeling of hazardous chemicals, emergency response issues and programs for respirator use and blood borne pathogen issues. The company has 15 days to respond to the citations and fines. Although counsel for Agriprocessors said “any valid concerns raised by the Division of Labor Services have been immediately addressed,” the citations resulted from two inspections, one as recent as Feb 11, 2008.
Queen Esther the Vegetarian?
In this week’s Jerusalem Post, Dr. Richard Schwartz writes:
“Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, was a vegetarian while she lived in the palace of King Achashverosh. She was thus able to avoid violating the kosher dietary laws while keeping her Jewish identity secret.”
Well, sort of. As a vegetarian and a woman, I find Dr. Schwartz’s line of logic tempting. Hooray! Queen Esther, the sassy savior of the Jewish people, loved tofu! But he has the midrash backwards.
There are actually conflicting opinions about what Esther chose to eat and refuse in the palace (one commentator suggests that she was actually served pork!). But the midrash that stuck is that she ate beans and legumes. If this was the case, then Queen Esther avoided meat so as to not violate the kosher laws in her non-Jewish surroundings. Her intention would not have been to eschew all flesh, as Dr. Schwartz suggests, just the non-kosher kind.
Even if she wasn’t a card-carrying PETA member, Queen Esther’s diaspora diet gives us a glimpse into the strength of her character. She maintained her sense of self, even within a palace that was undoubtedly filled with temptations. The lesson to take away is not that all Jews should be vegetarians (though many could benefit from eating less meat!), but that defending one’s core values is the deepest form of heroism.
In honor of Queen Esther, here’s a recipe for Persian Stuffed Peppers by Chef Gil Marks, author of a mind-bogglingly comprehensive book of vegetarian Jewish recipes, Olive Trees and Honey.
Kosher Food: Made in China
The JTA reported this week about the growing push amongst Chinese food companies to get kosher certification. The companies, it seems, are eager to tap into the (also growing) $11.5 billion US kosher industry. Moreover, they seek the additional “stamp of approval” kosher certification provides, which they hope will calm consumer fears about Chinese imports after a string of recent recalls.
For the most part, the relationship between Chinese food companies and the kosher industry seems mutually beneficial. But I found it interesting to note the growing power the OU and other certifiers have over these companies. Author Alison Klayman reports:
Not everything runs smoothly in the kosher business in China.
Behold the Power of (Kosher) Cheese
True cheese lovers know the unbridled joy that a melty triple cream or aged Roquefort can evoke. They understand what it feels like to bite into a solid hunk of cheddar and sigh with complete satisfaction. Until recently, however, kosher cheese had never caused anyone to sigh. Some brands were…fine…alright…better than others - but nothing even began to reach the lofty state of cheese bliss known to the larger cheese-eating world.
Today, The Associate Press published an article by Julie Wiener that profiles 5 Spoke Creamery cheese company and notes an emerging trend towards - gasp! - delicious and sustainable kosher cheese. The Jew & The Carrot has sung 5 Spoke’s praises before for setting a new standard in the field. Here’s hoping other companies follow suit and that, before long, kosher-keepers will understand the true power of cheese.
Growth of Artisanal Cheeses Creates Niche for Kosher Cheesemakers
By: Julie Wiener
Associated Press - March 3, 2008
Natalie Portman in “Spicy” New Movie
New Yorkers visiting a certain patch of real estate in the East 20s known affectionately as Curry Hill know the secrets of kosher vegetarian Indian food - in fact, you can hardly throw a dosa without hitting Madras Mahal, Chennai Garden, or another Indian restaurant serving hecshered, meat-free fare.
Now, Israeli-born, vegetarian actress Natalie Portman will star in Mira Nair’s new movie, “Kosher Vegetarian” - exploring the interfaith romance between a Gujarati guy (actor, Ifran Khan) and Jewish girl (Portman).
Like Nair’s last movie (The Namesake), the love between these two characters will undoubtedly be fraught with disapproving parents and inter-cultural conflict. But at very least, the couple will know where to eat.
Posterboy of The New Jewish Food Movement
Animal Care, Blessings, Cheese, Eco-Kashrut, Farming, Jewish Learning, Kosher, Milk, Seasonality, Spirituality
The Jew & The Carrot {hearts} Aitan and Adva Dairy. Thanks to Nextbook for producing a wonderful podcast and feature one of our favorite Jewish goat farmers - yes, there’s more than one!
“Goat Days”
Nextbook 2.25.08
By: Jesse Graham
(Listen to the podcast)
There’s a growing movement among environmentally conscious observant Jews to rethink kashrut. Its adherents place less emphasis on the official kosher stamp, and more on where their food comes from. They want locally and organically grown produce, and if they are meat-eaters, they want to know that the meat they’re eating comes from farms that treat animals humanely.
One devotee of this movement is an unassuming thirty-year-old named Aitan Mizrachi, founder of the AVDA Dairy, a small-scale goat dairy farm in northwestern Connecticut that produces organic, kosher raw milk yogurt and cheeses.
Conscious Carving
Animal Care, Eco-Kashrut, Farming, Food Conference, Food History, Hazon, Jewish Orgs, Kosher, Meat, Notable Press, Vegetarian
Here’s the newest article about kosher, ethical meat…this one I wrote for American Jewish Life (Those of you who read this blog religiously might already be well-versed on the subject - but for the non ethical food-obsessed Jews out there, it’s definitely still hot news.)
Conscious Carving
American Jewish Life
By: Leah Koenig
February 25, 2008
Early on a Friday morning this past December, 70 Jews gathered in a frost-covered field in rural Connecticut. Some of them huddled in small groups, talking in hushed tones and blowing on their frozen fingers. Others stood at a distance, quiet with thought. They were all there for one reason — to witness three goats being slaughtered for meat, in accordance with Jewish law.
No, these people were not part of some underground Jewish cult. They were attendees of a food conference hosted by the New York-based non-profit, Hazon (which, for full disclosure, is my employer). The purpose of the ritual slaughtering, was to “enable people to have a more direct understanding of where kosher meat comes from,” said Hazon’s Executive Director, Nigel Savage. In this case, it would be the same meat that many of the participants would eat that night for dinner.
Yid.Dish: Cholent with the Enemy
“If an idolator gives a banquet for his son and invites all the Jews in his town, then, even though they eat of their own and drink of their own and their own attendant waits on them, Scripture regards them as if they had eaten of the sacrifices to dead idols…” - Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zarah 8:1
All this recent talk on the blog about choice and continuity in Judaism got me thinking about the Talmudic text quoted above. (Before I front like I’m too cool for school, I readily admit that Hazon’s staff just read this text* during a staff meeting, which is why it’s at the front of my consciousness.)
In my eyes, this - along with a few similarly prohibitive verses - sits as one of the more distressing texts in Jewish tradition because it implies that Jews should not eat with “non-Jews” (in the non-Jew’s home), even if the food they’re eating in that home is otherwise kosher. Why? Because eating symbolizes so much more than filling our bellies - it’s social, it connects us to other people, and it could, as they say, lead to mixed dancing…
More thoughts and a cholent recipe below the jump.
If you don’t enjoy your kashrut then shuck it; an older thread revisited
I never replied to the comments on an older thread from Bravo for liberated day school teacher: “Bacon’s delish” in January, but I intended to and it’s never too late to blog.
Isaac congratulated me but brought up that “Judaism is my religious field for reasons that transcend choice.” I disagree. Perhaps the odds are not in your favor that you’ll leave Jewish identity behind completely. It will surely leave an impression on your life permanently. But you can renegotiate its particulars anytime you want. Kashrut or no kashrut, the right is yours.
RivkaK was shocked that un-kosher friends pretend to be kosher for their parents, but perhaps this is food for thought for Isaac. Kashrut is often familial turf which, outside it’s religious value, endears or estranges some of us from home. I’ll get that in a moment.
It seems anarchist lawyer didn’t like what I said, challenging me by asking “Don’t you think we have an obligation to our forbears to respect the traditions of the past?”
The Rabbi’s Reject Shackle and Hoist Methods
Last week The Jew & The Carrot posted an article about the ”shackle and hoist” scheitah (kosher slaughter) methods used to produce much of the kosher meat imported to Israel. Yesterday, YNet reported the response from The Israeli Chief Rabbinate and OU Chairman. Thanks to The Jew & The Carrot reader, Joshua, for bringing this article to our attention.
Rabbinate: Import Meat Only if ‘Morally Slaughtered’
YNet - 2.20.08
By: Neta Sela
PETA and the Torah? Following the lead of The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to animals, which has long protested against cruel “lift and bind” slaughter techniques practiced in many United States and South American slaughterhouses, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has also decided to work to eliminate such techniques.
At a recent conference involving the Chief Rabbitate’s Kashrut Committee as well as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, a decision was made to only sanction meat imported to Israel as having undergone a kosher shechita (ritual slaughter) if the animal was killed utilizing the relatively more humane “boxing” technique.
Orthodox Union Calls Cloned Cows Kosher
Today, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an above-the-fold, front page article about our newest source of mystery meat - cloned cows.
In the article “Consumers May Not Be Able to Avoid Cloned Food,” the Chronicle reported that the Orthodox Union has publicly stated that food items derived from cloned animals are kosher. Rabbi Menachem Genack of the O.U. stated that cloned animals would be kosher as long as they belong to a single kosher species, such as cattle, sheep, and goats.
Given the highly uncertain health effects of eating cloned meat, and the biological manipulation necessary to create cloned animals, I call on rabbis from across the denominations to speak out on this issue.
How can an animal production technology, which is proven to be cruel to the animals it creates, be kosher?
Animals can be cloned from the tissue of a dead animal. Would that cloned animal be kosher?
The principle of Kelayim requires the separation of species - what does it say about the replication of species?
What about the fundamental notion of eating food in its natural state, as God brought it to us. Does the biological tinkering with the DNA of life disturb our respect and awe for the divine manifestation of the natural world - in the food we eat?
I think the O.U.’s statement is wrong - I’d like to hear what others think, particularly our Jewish legal scholars.
With Love for Hashem, and Love for its divine manifestation in Food.
Z
By the way, for more information, check out my previous post, “Is Milk or Meat from a Cloned Animal Kosher?“
