“I know it’s your day, but it’s not all about you…Why have a wedding if you’re going to be like that [serve only vegetarian options]?  Just print a bumper sticker.”

Did this article that concluded with this choice comment in today’s NY Times Sunday Styles section annoy others as much as it annoyed me?  Of course weddings should reflect one’s values, so if you’re kosher, or vegan, or vegetarian, why wouldn’t you serve kosher, vegan, or vegetarian food?  As the vegan Kathleen Mink quoted in the article said, it was  a “no brainer” to have a vegan menu at her and her husband’s wedding.  But another vegan pastry chef served meat at her wedding because she was afraid celebrity chefs like Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud would think she and her husband “were crazy” if they didn’t serve meat.  Yes, it’s important that the couple be good hosts and make their guests feel welcome, and it’s hard for a guest to feel that way if there’s nothing they can eat at the wedding banquet. Vegetarian guests or those with others with dietary restrictions certainly appreciate their hosts’ thoughtfulness in offering them options they can eat. But since when is it a hardship for omnivores not to have everything they can and will eat on the wedding menu!?

There’s an underlying assumption here that somehow vegetarian, vegan, and I would extend this also to kosher food cannot be prepared deliciously for discriminating palates.  If vegan, vegetarian, or kosher food is not appealing to non-vegans, non-vegetarians, or non-kosher folks, it’s the failure of imagination and skill of the chefs, not that these foods can’t be tasty.  These cuisines have come a long way from the bad old days of “rabbit food,”  as the readers and contributors of the Jew and the Carrot know well.  In Jewish tradition, the wedding banquet is a se’udat mitzvah, a meal celebrating the performance of a mitzvah, which has a moral connotation. As does veganism and vegetarianism for many of their practitioners. But there doesn’t need to be a divide between morality and aesthetics.  In Judaism, we have the concept of hiddur mitzvah – the “beautification of a mitzvah”.  Good food at a wedding can, indeed should reflect both our moral and aesthetic values.

But that point is made only to the extent that indeed our guests enjoy themselves. That’s the proof of the pudding (as it were)!  Indeed, I know from my own experience that weddings are a chance to prove to our family and friends that keeping kosher can be no less fulfilling than eating lobster and pork belly, even as vegetarians “see their weddings as a chance to prove that they are eating more than tree bark and lettuce.”

About a month ago I received an assignment for my business writing course. We had to compose a letter as an angry parent and PTA member, protesting a hypothetical high school’s deal with a well-known soda manufacturer. The deal would require that the school stock only this brand’s soda and snack products in its vending machines (we assume no healthy alternatives), in return for sponsorship from this manufacturer. My letter went:

To Mr. Anonymous Soda-Junkie:

As a member of the PTA and a concerned parent, I urge you to vote against the contract that would install (brand name here) vending machines in our schools. With teenage obesity reaching epidemic levels, we must do all we can to discourage the consumption of the unhealthy, calorie-rich foods sold by such machines.

Statistics show that teenage obesity can have long-term effects and lead to asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and depression. As parents, we are supposed to protect our children from these dangers, not encourage them. We cannot pretend to want the best for our children if we surround them with foods which are so detrimental to their health.

The school board claims that this deal will fund our sports programs and after-school activities, but I believe the cost will ultimately outweigh any gain. Kids who want to pursue sports will do so whether or not our gym is updated. Further, there are other ways to raise money for extracurriculars: performances, fund-raisers, etc. These would also encourage teamwork among teens and help build a community environment.

Please remember that we are preparing our children for life. I trust that you will choose what is best for them.

Sincerely, etc.

My professor told us to assume high school kids weren’t mature enough to make decisions about what was good for them. There was no possibility in our minds that the hypothetical students just wouldn’t buy these sugar-laden, caramel-color-infused products. The likelihood was that we had consumed these treats back in our high school days (guilty). But were we that much wiser now?

It barely merits mentioning that most of my classmates had Snickers bars and bags of Lays stashed under their desks as we held this very discussion. My mind drifted to a recent experience I’d had with campus food.

Our college cafeteria has about a dozen different food concessions, but only one Kosher stand for a student body that is roughly 30% Jewish. This particular Café is infamous for offering two options: pizza and pasta. The other possibility for us Jews is the ever-present vending machine. We, like the high school in the letter, have no healthy food available to us. So imagine my delight when I read on a well-displayed campus ad screen that “Vegan option, Farmer’s Market now open in the cafeteria!”

Finally! No more would I have to stare at the cafeteria’s greasy entrees. I hurried over, spotting several more flyers announcing this mythical, healthful, long-awaited option along the way.

I found a foot’s worth of counter space between the napkin baskets and (you guessed it) potato chips. It was contained three baskets of produce. One was apples, one was pears. The third was onions. An index card-sized marker before it indicated Farmer’s Market.  I looked up at the cashier.

“Where’s the farmer’s market?”

“You’re looking at it.”

“This is the one on all the signs?”

“Yup. Dunno who would want an onion.”

I could just pack a lunch. I know this. Sometimes I do. Other times I wake up late, or I forget. On those days I’ll wait until I get home to eat. Sometimes I’ve given in and gotten the pizza. I spoke to the college food director’s secretary (ah, bureaucracy). Several of my friends sent in complaints. I’ve been told so many students complained about the lack of healthy food that the Kosher Café started serving wrapped turkey sandwiches. But in the meantime, most of the student body, even non-kosher-ites who have the healthy (treif) vegetarian stand and other options, still crunch on their sour-cream and onion chips and down their Cola by the quart. Have we really learnt anything since high school?

I’ve been told to stop complaining and just bring my own friggin’ food. But I can’t help mourning this hold the ever-present vending machine has over us. Just this morning I left my winter class, stomach growling so loud I couldn’t concentrate. Of course the cafeteria was closed, and that left only the vending machine. I could feel it laugh as I slipped in quarters for an overpriced chocolate bar. Should I refocus my homework letter to the college? I know what they’ll say. That we should be old enough and smart enough by now to know NOT to center our diet on cans of cola and candy bars. And they’re right, but what about those who live on campus, who have no other options? Those are the ones who eat pizza every day, whether they like to or not. It’s the easy option.

I know I’m in no position to complain, but the thought of the eating habits they’re promoting by not caring makes me thank G-d I live at home. I look at the vending machine with vengeful eyes. Next time, I think, I’ll get the better of you. Next time, I’ll bring hummus and celery sticks, and then we’ll see who’s laughing.  

My dear friends The Wandering Jew and David Levy over at Jewschool, sick with envy that they couldn’t attend the Hazon Food Conference this year, produced this tongue-in-cheek video to vicariously participate nonetheless. Please enjoy their playful snark as we consider how the hell this product fits into the eco-kashrut movement.

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.”

The following facts abut this incident have been confirmed to be true: 1) While the health inspector claimed that the food was spoiled the people who had just purchased fruits and vegetables demonstrated that the produce was fresh and edible; 2) The proprietor of the stand has had other violations for the size of his stand; 3) The proprietor has a long history in the neighborhood of generosity toward the poor and homeless; 4) There is a school on the block whose parents and children are glad the healthy snack alternative exists steps from the school’s doorstep. I am shocked the NYC has a policy of destroying edible food, particularly fruits and vegetables.  Additionally, given Scott Stringer and Mike Bloomberg’s sustainability agendas it seems shocking that such a policy would be tolerated.  Is sanctioning a fruit and vegetable proprietor really in keeping with Stringer and Bloomber’s health agenda? Finally, this guy is well-liked and respected in the neighborhood, and earns meager wages from this job. It is hard to imagine what the city gained by sending 8-10 police officers and a city garbage truck to dispose of edible food.  So far, no comment from either Stringer or Bloomberg’s office.

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.

Trust the Swiss their website said.

Yeah, trust the Swiss . . . to sell you out to the Nazis.

Turns out, SIGG bottles were manufactured for years with BPA liners, something the company has until recently denied.  Now their story is that the liners, though loaded with harmful Bisphenol A, were never “proven to be leaching” BPA.

Yeah, well, no one has ever proven that I ate the last of those brownies, either.

Now SIGG is saying that they stopped using BPA in its liners—which ironically, are now manufactured in China, which has become synonymous in the minds of many American consumers with chemical exposure (both for Chinese workers and for U.S. consumers)—last August.  But the SIGG I bought in October had the liner, at least according to the handy illustration over on Treehugger.

And in the months since, that liner has chipped away, as the handy illustration at the top of this post shows.

Wonder how much of it I drank down?  Yeah, so do I.

SIGG’s response to customers like me who are outraged at being concurrently lied to AND exposed to a carcinogen?  Well, if I want, I can send my SIGG bottle back to them at my own expense, and they’ll send me a new one.  Which I’m sure I’ll want to wrap my lips around some time soon.

If I hadn’t broken my Jewish mother’s heart by becoming a writer instead of an attorney, I’d be filing a class action lawsuit right now.  And if anyone out there hears of one, please be sure and let me know.

In the meanwhile, please drink to my health.  Just make it tap water, sipped out of a nice, old-fashioned glass.

For some reason, I get stopped all the time in the produce section at Whole Foods. I don’t know what it is about me that suggests why I would be able to explain the difference between lacinato and regular kale, or whether golden beets are as sweet as red ones (especially since neither of these vegetables were part of my diet as recently as a year ago), but there must be something.

However, I’ve had an encounter that I can’t shake. I was standing by the grape tomatoes, trying to decide between the organic ones from Florida (but were they the product of slave labor?) and the local greenhouse tomatoes from Connecticut (fewer food miles, but what about pesticides?), when a woman about my grandmother’s age began talking to me out of the blue. You could tell she was in a bit of sticker shock at the Whole Paycheck prices, and she said to me, “You know how much these are at Shoprite? 99 cents.”

I tried to explain to her as simply as I could about my concerns about pesticides and GMOS, and she just kept saying “But how do you know it’s not in there? How can you be sure?” Then she turned to me and said, “You know, my husband last year planted tomatoes with the pesticides already in them. They were wonderful!” I knew that conversation was over.

As an activist, I have many “aha moments.” That moment in Whole Foods hammered home for me that if we wait for consumer choices to save our food system, we’re going to be waiting a long time. We have to stop thinking like consumers and start thinking like citizens.

I feel like we’re trying to consume our way to olam habah (the world to come)—if we just buy enough of the right organic, environmentally friendly products, then eventually they will trickle down to everyone and bring about tikkin olam. Many of the things we do as members of the food movement (and Jewish food movement) are about changing our own behavior. And that has merit. But all the kosher grass-fed meat and CSA produce in the world is not going to bring about food sustainability and food justice.

Don’t get me wrong, those things are important. We need to take responsibility for what we consume. Can you really eat a tomato that is probably the product of slave labor or eat an egg from a hen that has never left its cage? But we are mistaken if we think that replacing one form of consumption for another will bring redemption. To save our planet will require less consumption, not just smart consumption. And we’re going to have to engage with the political and economic systems that are based on ever-increasing consumption, sustainable or not. Consuming more sustainably is not a form of tikkun olam, and if we thought about it, neither are many of the ways that we try to bring about food justice. Do I really think that buying a fair trade banana is an adequate representation of a mitzvah?

The food movement has a long way to go. I think it is telling that the first time I heard Simon Greer (of Jewish Funds for Justice) explain how unsophisticated most synagogue social justice programs were, he said “They are all the equivalent of bringing in a can of food.” Are we actually going to solve the hunger problem in this country (and around the world) through food drives on Yom Kippur? No, we aren’t. But we’ve been trained to think that if we brought in enough cans, people would stop being hungry.

And yet, no matter how many cans we bring in, unless we engage with the root causes of hunger, such as job insecurity, food deserts, and food being treated as a global commodity, it’s just a bandage. You could argue similarly about the environmental damage done by agriculture or the dangers overly processed food. The choices we make are important, but we can’t rely on our choices alone. We have to put our political influence (not just our consumer power) together to reform the American and global food systems.

Because the second day of Shavuot falls on Shabbat, we will read the laws of shmita (found in Deuteronomy 15) in synagogue this coming Saturday. At the Shmita Project session at the 2008 Food Conference, I quoted from the laws of Shmita and their injunction to take heed of the needs of the poor even during times of God’s blessing. The laws of seem to contradict each other. Verse 15:4 suggests that there will be no needy among you—if only you follow God’s laws. But verse 15:11 adds that there will always be needy among you, which is why you must open your hand to the poor.

I think verse 4 describes an ideal world, the one we should strive for, while verse 11 describes reality. The juxtaposition of the two verses reminds us we have to deal with realities of poverty in our midst (bringing in that can, using our dollars to support fair trade) while also never losing sight of our obligation to strive for a world in which there are no needy among us.

At the Food Conference, I issued the following challenge: “The call to food justice cannot be theoretical. We have to advocate for change, we have to take action. I think this is an obligation for us as the Jewish Food movement. If we don’t take steps to reform the American food system from the top-down, then we have not heard the cry of those in need.”

My challenge is still there. This Shavuot, as we celebrate the giving of the Torah, we should remember that the moral imperative of our tradition is not based in consumption, but in tzeddakah, tzedek, and care for the most vulnerable members of our society. The food movement must do its part.

I presume the days when people don’t know they’re on a parody show are past, surely Steir knew what he was getting into. Presumably he thought this was the only way to get a hearing out there. But the entire segment me cringe. How embarrassing:

I’m going to state the obvious that his wearing a kipah doesn’t help after Agriprocessors, and so I’d like to publicly say for anybody reading out there: this man does not represent my people. He represents a lobby. Possibly it’s just his job. I don’t want to assume too much (the economy has been hard on everyone, after all). But not only has Steir seriously stretched food health logic to an extreme, he’s openly made a mockery of himself and his lobby. (All for the better, I suppose.)

But has he also made a mockery of his people? Has Jeff Steir opted to become a modern court Jew? Can we get the Anti-Defamation League on the phone — maybe “Abe Foxworthy”? — and defend our good name?

Good God, what a shande.

Buffet lines, questionable vegetarian options, overly sweet danish and endless cups of coffee…

You know what I’m talking about folks- the closest things grownups have to school cafeterias and the reason why we often come home from meetings and seminars with worse stomach aches than those brought on by hours of gaping at Power Point presentations alone…Conference Food!

I’ve broken down my many conference food experiences into three major categories.  Let me know about your experiences and check out this amazing journalism conference I’m running on Sunday, May 3rd in NYC (where the food will be, I think, quite delicious)..!

The Good: Some conferences make food a priority and hold the event in a nice venue or hire a caterer.  In these cases, you might have been asked to let the organizers know in advance if you are a vegetarian, a vegan, or even a celiac!  Key to the good conference food experience is an array of freshness: fruit, salad, and bread, complimented by desserts that are well-worth the sugar low which will inevitably occur during the second half of the session following lunch.

The Bad: Some conferences get a decent caterer, but no thought is put into the balance, health, or freshness of the meal.  In this situation, the food tastes good but doesn’t make you feel good, or, alternatively, the food tastes good but since the meal isn’t balanced between its carbs, proteins and veggies, you end up eating way too much.  Another common problem with this scenario is that the desserts are mediocre and yet you feel compelled to eat them anyway in an attempt to make up for your dissatisfaction with the actual meal.

The Ugly: Some conference organizers allow the interns to plan the conference meals, keep the food budget super low, or simply wait to the last minute to make arrangements.  Common occurrences in these situations include being served pizza (cold by the time you get to it), a lack of vegetarian options (ahem, a side of mashed potatoes and a roll does not make a decent meal, ahem), super processed breakfast and dessert options, and a lack of non-sweetened beverage offerings (I’d prefer not to drink Coke, Sprite or Ice Tea, thanks).

There is so much more I could add, but hopefully you’ll share your experiences and keep the conversation going.  Don’t forget to check out the National Jewish Student Journalism Conference on May 3rd.

What’s the most iconic symbol of peace? Chances are you immediately thought of the dove and olive branch. Doves were long ago exposed as white pigeons – not particularly peaceful or gentle birds, if the truth be known. And olive trees have lately been at the heart of the conflict in between Israel and its neighbors.

 It would only be stretching the truth a little to claim that olive trees are the equivalent for most traditional agriculturalists in this part of the Middle East and of buffalo for Native Americans or yaks for Tibetans. To my knowledge, no one’s ever worn any part of the olive tree, but olive oil is an important source of fat in a cuisine that’s heavy on vegetables, legumes and grains. It was burned for light, is still used in soap and cosmetics, and it’s valued for its medicinal properties. Olive trees are precious property, passed down through generations. A family might sell its land but still retain rights to the olive trees on it, returning year after year to harvest the fruit.

It’s no surprise, then, that the “olive battles” on the West Bank have been particularly contentious. The army was among the first to uproot trees, claiming that terrorists hid behind them. Further trees were destroyed to make way for roads and the security fence. Within Israel proper, olive trees that stand in the way of such “progress” are often replanted elsewhere, but this consideration was not extended to the owners of trees on the far side of the green line. The most recent to destroy and damage olive trees have been a small group of belligerent Jewish settlers, who have not only uprooted and damaged trees in their battles against their Palestinian neighbors, but physically prevented the tree’s owners from harvesting their olives.

As one who’s seen the precarious side of agriculture up close, my heart goes out to farmers who have had their livelihood stolen from them, for little reason. And as a life-long tree-hugger, it hurts to see beautiful living things, which give us so much more than food, destroyed. If we want to run around killing and maiming each other, that’s one thing, but must we drag innocent trees into our wars?

The tiny shining light in this story is that I’m not alone. A coalition of kibbutzniks, rabbis and other concerned Israeli Jews called the Olive Tree Movement has been actively opposing this phenomenon in the past few years. They have gone out to the West Bank to replant trees, and during the olive harvest they come in carloads to help with the picking and try to prevent the violence.  

Next: Olives on the kibbutz

I knew better than to expect local strawberries at this time of year. (Although I wondered if maybe that guy’s hometown was in Mexico… I really want to believe people). I was just trying to find potatoes and greens for some brunch dishes.

Unless I’d been dreaming over the past few weeks, locally-grown root vegetables, squash, and apples did exist in the D.C.-area winter. I bought them regularly at the farmer’s market near where I live. Greenhouse-grown kale, Asian mix, and tatsoi were also available. The problem was that I needed the veggies now, so I could get down to cooking. Unable to use my familiar venue, I had headed downtown to a weekly market that featured produce vendors among jewelry makers, antique sellers, and purveyors of fancy cheese.

A man who had been selling vegetables across the way suddenly appeared next to me. He had the ruddy look of a farmer, but he proceeded to give me the same story as the reseller.

I explained my understanding that farmers can keep potatoes and such in cold storage for quite a while, and that greens actually like the cold weather. The red-cheeked man shook his head. “If they tell you it’s their potatoes, they’re lying to you,” he said. “That over there is the last of my squash for this year. I’ve been farming for 47 years and I’m telling you–there’s no way they still have potatoes.”

I didn’t know what to do. I almost cried right then and there among the fruit and vegetable and craft sellers.

Have they been lying to me? I thought. Have I been enjoying my tasty Yukon Golds, sweet red onions, and golden rutabagas based on a lie? Or have I just stepped temporarily into the Twilight Zone?

I didn’t stick around for the farmer’s opinions on greens. Instead, I headed to a health food store for some organic vegetables. Their stickers said they were from California, but at least I knew for sure.

The following week, I headed back to my beloved market and picked out my regular collection of potatoes from the bushel crate. The friendly woman on the other side of the table weighed them and I paid. Then I hovered there for a moment, not sure if I should move on or ask what I both wanted and dreaded to know.

“Um, are these your potatoes?” I inquired. “That you grew this fall?”

“Of course,” the woman replied. Her smile faded a little, perhaps with the surprise that I’d ever doubt her. “To sell here, they have to be.”

Yay! I thought. It was all I could do to keep myself from leaping over the table full of scales and bottles of cider to hug her. Later, I checked the farm’s website—just to be completely sure—and confirmed that it was a producer-only market.

I’m still not sure what was going on with that blanket-draped vegetable seller and the veteran farmer. One day, I’ll go back and tell them I found what they insisted did not exist. And I’ll tell them that those local winter potatoes were darn good – and sweeter than any February strawberry.

Here’s a recipe for the wonderful days of (local) root veggies ahead.

Potato Kugel with Rosemary and Caramelized Onions

Makes 6-8 servings

Note: instead of dividing the onions and caramelizing one, you can simply grate both onions and throw them in with the potatoes.

•    2 Tbs. olive oil
•    2 medium yellow onions, one grated and one diced
•    8 medium potatoes, grated (peeling optional)
•    2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
•    6 eggs
•    1 Tbs. sea salt
•    ½-1 tsp. ground black pepper
•    ½ cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Heat 2 Tbs. oil in a skillet on med-high and add diced onion. Reduce heat to med-low and continue to cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they caramelize (become golden and cook down). This should take about 20 minutes.

While onions are cooking, grate the potatoes and remaining onion. Let sit in a colander for about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, salt, pepper, rosemary, and ½ cup oil. Squeeze out excess moisture in the grated potato and onion, then add to the egg mixture along with the caramelized onions. Mix thoroughly. Pour into greased 8×8 pan (9×9 or 9×12 will also work. Baking time may be reduced, so check often).

Bake at 375 for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until outside is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with your favorite main dish. It’s also good cold the next day!