How does a farmer celebrate Passover? For California-based farmer Emily Freed, the seders offered the chance to celebrate both the Exodus from Mitzrayim and also the first glorious tastes of spring. Check out her beautiful photo journal below the jump.

Freed’s journey from began with her transportation of chametz to a friend’s house around the corner - by bicycle of course!

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I’ve only had my copy of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family for a few weeks, and already the book is stained and a bit worn. I think that’s a good sign.

As the title might suggest, this book is a family affair. Author Judy Bart Kancigor beautifully describes how the book came into existence, stemming from a desire to pass on her family’s food traditions. As a result, almost every recipe has a story, which can be a bit overwhelming at times, but ultimately brings the recipes to life. It’s not just a cookbook; you feel invited in, as though you’re taking part in the Rabinowitz family tradition by making this food. And the pictures are great – a time-capsule of American Jewish life opened to reveal many embarrassing hairstyles and equally embarrassing bar mitzvah pictures.

More and recipes for banana bread and sesame crusted chicken below the jump.

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But it sure is good to be home. For those readers who missed my series of posts about eating in Vietnam, here’s a reminder:

Dog. Cat. Porcupine. Deer.

The ‘Lonely Planet’ Guidebook describes the Vietnamese people as “fiercly omnivorous,” and I couldn’t think of a more apt description. We are not uploading photos so I can’t illustrate this post properly but today we took numerous photos of a skinned pig’s head, pig’s feet, live goats tied to a back of a motorbike, same with live chickens in a mesh cage, pigs tied in tortuous ways, the list goes on.

Greetings from Vietnam, the most unkosher place on the planet (kosher-keepers, never, ever come here, unless you plan on packing a month’s supply of canned tuna).

Below the jump, I’ve posted a few photos that give you a taste of our (for us) shocking food experiences in Viet Nam. Warning - they’re graphic, so look with caution.

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Between luscious bites of pomegranate or dutiful bites of carob, why not surf over to hoarded ordinaries, who are hosting this month’s festival of the trees -

“a monthly blog carnival for all things arboreal. Like other blog carnivals, the Festival of the Trees is a collection of links to blog posts and other spots on the web, hosted each month at a different blog.”

Thanks to the mysterious random number generator, The Jew & The Carrot reader, Larry Lenhoff is the winner of The Jew & The Carrot’s birthday raffle:  He will be sent a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.   Congratulations Larry!

Want to purchase a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook? click here. 

Read other entries from the birthday raffle, here.

Another Chance To Win!

Win a print of the stunning photo above, taken by Karl Schatz.  Simply purchase a $5 raffle ticket (or two, or seven!) to be entered in the raffle. All proceeds go to Hazon, and the winner will be announced on January 8th, 2007 at Hazon’s New York Ride Launch Party.

Buy your ticket here.

There are a lot of opportunities to win things around here at The Jew & The Carrot. In this case, you can win a print of the stunning photo above, taken by Karl Schatz.

Karl is one half of the husband and wife duo who, along with his wife Margaret Hathaway, left New York City to embark on a cross-country research adventure on sustainable living and goat farming, and wrote a book about it called The Year of the Goat.

Karl kindly donated this beautiful print to be raffled off - the very print that will be sent (framed) to a lucky winner.

Simply purchase a $5 raffle ticket (or two, or seven!) to be entered in the raffle for Karl’s photo. All proceeds go to Hazon, and the winner will be announced on January 8th, 2007 at Hazon’s New York Ride Launch Party.

Buy your ticket here.
Read the exclusive interview with Karl and Margaret here.
purchase a copy of The Year of the Goat here.

This photograph was taken by Sabrina Malach at The Hazon Food Conference.  Aside from just being gorgeous, I think it perfectly captures the essence of the conference.  Note the snazzy glass mug every participant received when they arrived.  Also note the bicycle menorah.  Pretty rad.

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