Hazon’s friends Devora Kimelman-Block, founder of Kol Foods (a kosher, organic, grass-fed meat company) and Rabbi Morris Allen, Director of Hekhsher Tzedek, joined American University Radio to discuss the situation at Agriprocessors and explore the questions:

“If food meets the strict rules elaborated in religious texts, does it matter how food arrives at our plates? And where do workers’ rights and other ethical considerations factor into kosher food production?”

Listen here.

On the same page, you can also find a segment featuring Jennifer 8 Lee, author of the Fortune Cookie Chronicles which was reviewed on The Jew & The Carrot.

The JTA reported today that after last month’s raid on Agriprocessors, production has “slowed to a crawl” and kosher meat is in short supply across the country. The frenzy of media coverage has slowed down some too, though the issue is still very much on the minds of Jewish individuals and organizations struggling to grasp what lasting impact a raid of this proportion might have on the Jewish community.

In the midst of a confusing time, I had the chance to speak with Zalman Rothschild - a former mashgiach (kosher supervisor) at Agriprocessors. Rothschild represented an insider’s voice - someone who worked in the plant, spent Shabbat meals at the Rubashkins’, and could offer a perspective on the raid that I had not yet read. I was excited - and also terrified by the opportunity. Would he be incredibly defensive or hostile? Would he embody the mythic “Agriprocessors monster” that has been uncovered (or created, depending on one’s perspective) by the media? And most importantly, could he impact my views - a progressive, vegetarian Jew who is wary of industrial food in general and the kosher industry in particular - on the situation in Postville?

The short answers are no, no and yes, respectively. For the complete version, check out the full interview below the jump.

Read more »

The New York Times’ Minimalist Chef, Mark Bittman, wants you to eat less meat. Or, rather, he wants to help you eat less meat:

“Let’s suppose you’ve decided to eat less meat, or are considering it. And let’s ignore your reasons for doing so. They may be economic, ethical, altruistic, nutritional or even irrational. The arguments for eating less meat are myriad and well-publicized, but at the moment they’re irrelevant, because what I want to address here is (almost) purely pragmatic: How do you do it?”

In theory, Jewish tradition is way ahead of the “eat less meat” curve - traditionally enjoying meat dishes for Shabbat and holidays only. In a post last year, for example, The OU’s head mashgiach, Seth Mandel said, “You have to understand, the Torah did not envision us to eat as much meat as we do. Rambam in the Mishneh Torah says that Jews should eat meat at most two times a week.” As Mandel’s quote suggests, what happens in practice is vastly different than the Rambam’s ideal - as highlighted in a Shavuot lunch I went to this week where the hosts served meat-filled soup, two platters of brisket, fried sole, and beef-stuffed cabbage leaves. The idea of Shavuot as the “dairy holiday” flew out the window at that meal!

Can Bittman - whose suggestions include “Forget the protein thing” and “buy more vegetables and learn how to cook them” get us closer to the meat in moderation ideal? Find out here.

I found this in my inbox today - a little note from Kosher Today (the kosher industry’s spokes-organization) that indicates exactly how little they care about anything except whether “its good for the Jews.” Be forewarned, gentle readers - if you have a sensitive stomach or any sort of soul, the following passage will leave you feeling queasy.

Kosher Community Looks Beyond Agriprocessors Raid

“New York…For most retailers around the country, the recent raid at the Postville Agriprocessors plant is about supply and price, but otherwise they do not see any repercussions for the industry as a whole. For the most part, retailers say the supply has been virtually uninterrupted and prices have stayed the same. Agri products are featured in many ads in advance of the holiday of Shavuos (June 9-10) and most retailers say that they have not seen any change in consumer habits as a result of the federal raid in Postville. There is no evidence of any boycott of Agri products whatsoever, they say.

Mendy Bauman of Glatt Mart in Flatbush told Jewish journalists that virtually none of his customers even bothered to ask which of his meats were from Agri. Sources in Postville say that Agri has been adding laborers and stepping up production with every passing day.

Read more »

Yesterday, Hazon organized a conference call with Rabbi Morris Allen for our staff, board, and volunteer leaders of our food programs. Rabbi Allen is the founder of Hekhsher Tzedek, and and just came back from visiting Postville, Iowa along with his daughter, fellow Rabbi, Harold Kravitz, and his daughter, and the chair of Allen’s synagogue’s social justice committee.

We asked him to brief us on the current situation with Agriprocessors, the mood in Postville, and the Jewish response - from an on-the-ground perspective.

This is what he saw and reported: Read more »

Here’s a roundup of the latest from the Agriprocessors scandal:

Take a hike, son. Amidst the recent flurry of calls from Jewish communal leaders to boycott Agriprocessors’ products (including the Uri L’tzedek boycott, which Hazon is supporting), the company’s founder Aaron Rubashkin started looking for a new CEO to replace his son, Sholom. Read the full story at The JTA here.

Dancing with Sholom. One of the most interesting articles I’ve read since the raid is writer Ben Harris’ account of his personal interactions with Sholom Rabushkin, as noted on The JTA’s blog, The Telegraph.

Uri L’tzedek. Read the full text of Uri L’tzedek’s call for boycott below the jump. It’s pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

Read more »

While visiting my sister in Virginia this past weekend, I had the chance to sample some fair food at her local Memorial Day festival. Keeping in mind that the motto of fairs seems to be a perverse Pollan paraphrase (Eat “Food.” Way too Much. Mostly Fried.) I feel lucky that my latest passion that I stumbled upon is something relatively (at least compared to fried oreos and coke) healthy: The Giant Turkey Leg. Vegetarian Spoiler Alert: I’m about to spend the next 350 words waxing rhapsodic about a big hunk of meat.

Before I relate how this deliriously-delicious drumstick brought a family and neighborhood closer together this Memorial Day weekend, let me first echo that sentiments of blogger Bobby McMahon: “One bite, and I knew that I had made a grand, delicious decision.” Tender, smoky, juicy, meaty. And that was just the first bite. If a pastrami sandwich from Katz’s Deli led a good and decent life, it would come back to Earth reincarnated as a State Fair turkey leg. It was that good.

But this turkey leg’s mere deliciousness is not why am I bothering my fellow Jewfoos (Jewish foodies) with this poultry panegyric. Let me tell you the rest of the story: Read more »

In response to a previous post, which asked how readers are personally responding to the Agriprocessors balagan, one reader commented:

“My extended family as well as many members of our synagogue community will not boycott Agriprocessors unless the Rabbinic Assembly(RA),the USCJ, and/or their rabbi say so… Without strong and active leadership from the RA and the USCJ, passive communities like mine will continue to allow the worker-abuse and animal-abuse horrors of Agriporcessors to continue.”

It seems that several Jewish organizations and individuals are starting to provide that much-needed leadership, calling for boycotts on Agriprocessors’ products that go beyond the Conservative Movement’s wishy-washy advisory.  They include:

Read more »

The Conservative Movement, which has publicly announced its support of Rabbi Morris Allen’s Hekshsher Tzedek initiative, seems hesitant to call for a full boycott on Agriprocessors after last week’s raid.

The JTA reported on Wednesday that: Calls this week by activist rabbis for a limited boycott have been muted out of concern that a boycott could be actionable and might discourage Jews from keeping kosher because kosher meat would be harder to access. Like KRG on Jewschool, I personally find that stance to be pathetic and frustrating. What sort of mixed up priorities must we have to turn an embarrassed eye from a very real and very serious affront on human rights because it might lead to someone to eat non-kosher meat. Ach…

But then yesterday, The Conservative Movement came out with a different statement that, while shrouded in somewhat vague language, seems to be calling for something like a boycott:

Read more »

Here are three tidbits about two big food companies from the Jewish food blogosphere. Dig in and b’tai avon!

Save Money. Buy Local? Walmart is jumping on the local bandwagon in Maine. The mega-corporation is partnering with the Maine Potato Board, Bushwick Potato Company, and Guerrette Farms to bring “the freshest tablestock potatoes to Maine consumers.” Judging from Walmart’s clumsy and damaging foray into organic food, Walmart’s “Get Real, Get Maine.” campaign is either a step in the right direction or the end of local food as we know and love it. Read the full story here.

The Agriprocessors Fallout. Tension levels remain high in Postville, Iowa a week after the raid on illegal immigrant workers at the kosher meat plant, Agriprocessors. The biggest toll, many say, has been on the workers. The JTA reported: The raid has decimated the local Spanish-speaking population, which went underground in the days afterward. Children were absent from school, friends mysteriously disappeared and many sought refuge in one of Postville’s three churches.” Read the story here.

Read more »

Earlier this week, The Jew & The Carrot posted about the raid of Agriprocessors kosher meat processing plant. Thanks to Josh Frankel for this guest post (originally on Jewschool) and an opportunity to help.

The Rubashkin’s raid made big news earlier in the week, and we were angry. We were furious, filled with righteous indignation, ready to destroy the kosher meat industry, to throw out kashrut, to bash Orthodoxy until the last black hat disappeared from Iowa. But, now, it’s time to help.

With hundreds of worker’s arrested, thousands of their family members are now in limbo. They have no money, no income, and no resources. They are frightened to apply for work, frightened to go shopping, and their kids aren’t going to school. Charities in Postville are pitching and do what they can to help these people, and unfortunately not-surprisingly, Agriprocessors isn’t helping out. I don’t often ask people to give tzedakah, and if I do, it’s a casual request. This is different. Anyone who has ever eaten kosher meat in this country has benefited from the hard, poorly compensated work these people have done, and now that they are in desperate need it is our turn to help.

Find out how below the jump.

Read more »

Here are three tasty tidbits from the Jewish foodie world - btai avon!

Agriprocessors raided. The Des Moines Register reported that US Immigration officials raided the kosher meat-packaging plant, Agriprocessors with search warrants for aggravated identity theft and fraudulent Social Security numbers. This is not Agriprocessors’ year - my question is, how many lickings can they take and keep on ticking? Read the story here.

Gordon Ramsay wants his carrots local! Reuters reported that British Chef, Gordon Ramsay - the infamously pugnacious celebrity chef - stated that restaurants should be fined for neglecting to serve in-season fruits and veg. “‘I don’t want to see asparagus in the middle of December. I don’t want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home-grown,’ he said after raising his concerns with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.” Ramsay, who generally resembles other ego-maniacal chefs like Anthony Bourdain rather than ethical-eating chefs like Dan Barber (see below) is a strange champion for local food.  But, hey - we’ll take it.  Read the story here.

Dan Barber…um…also wants it local. The New York Times published an op-ed by local foods chef (and The Jew & The Carrot hero) Dan Barber calling for more local food from more local farmers: “Regional systems will work only if there is enough small-scale farming going on to make them viable…In order to move gracefully into a post-industrial agriculture economy, we also need to rethink how we educate [and support] the people who will grow our food. Read the story here.

The incredibly talented visual artist, Mat Tonti, created a beautiful rendition of the controversial goat schecting at last year’s Hazon Food Conference for PresenTense Magazine. It captures the event, the mood, and the whole experience perfectly. Kudos, Mat - and thanks :)

View the full image here.
For more about the schecting, click here.

Save the date: This year’s Food Conference is happening December 25-28 on the Monterey Penninsula, Califorina. Registration opening SOON - check Hazon’s website for more details.

The Jew & The Carrot blogger, Tzimmes Maker, told me that a guy she knew in college wanted to start an organization called J-PETA: Jewish People for the Eating of Tasty Animals. Well, Hannah and Phillip Schein would definitely identify as “J-PETA” members, but not in quite the same way as the carnivorous college kid.

Last week, The Forward profiled the Scheins, a kosher-keeping couple that was responsible for taking undercover videos of Agriprocessors‘ slaughter houses on behalf of the PETA. Ever wondered how PETA and other animal-rights organizations get their hands on all that incriminating footage? Check out the article below the jump:

Read more »