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. 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.

Can anyone hear fava beans and not think of Anthony Hopkins?

“I ate his liver with fava beans and a nice chianti.” (The movie is Silence of the Lambs, in case you missed it, and the infamous line was said by Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.)

But references to cannibalism aside, our Tuv Ha’Aretz has started here in Berkeley, and we’ve got more fava beans than we know what to do with. Which, when you get down to it, really isn’t that many at all. Read more »

I am beyond mortified. I think I missed out on my chance to join a CSA this year.

For three years, I ran Hazon’s Jewish CSA program, Tuv Ha’Aretz. During that time, CSA-related thoughts (vegetables yes, but also spreadsheets and volunteer coordination, and organizing Shabbat potlucks, and donating leftover produce to soup kitchens, etc.) dominated vast swaths of my brain, crowding out other important information like friends’ birthdays and the need to wash my bath tub.

I would complain regularly - even daily at certain times of the year - about people who could not get their act together in time to register for a CSA. Outwardly I was compassionate, of course, but inside I had no sympathy for those people who would send me frantic emails the night before vegetable pick ups started asking, “Is it too late to sign up?” What did they think this was, Fresh Direct?

After all that experience, you’d think I’d be a pro at signing *myself* up for a CSA. The first gal to send in her check, right?

Ehh..well…no. Read more »

Counting the Homer

Last year, I posted about the connection between beer, civilization and the Jewish people’s journey from Egypt to Sinai during the period of the omer.

This year, just as the counting of the omer began, I came across this article, which is a survey of contemporary authors concerning which beers they would pair with their novels! Some authors picked beers that matched the characteristics of their writing (”dark, with biting overtones,” etc.). Others chose more figuratively. For example, Michael Chabon responded, “The proper pairing with The Yiddish Policemen’s Union would of course be a nice cold bottle of Bruner Adler lager, brewed right in the Federal District of Sitka by Shoymer Brewing, Inc.”

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Last month, right before Passover, David Elcott ripped up his lawn. This White Plains-based author/lecturer was out to prove - to himself as much as others - that you do not need years of experience to grow your own food. All you need is a desire to eat great food and a piece of fertile ground - like your lawn (or nearby community garden for city dwellers). Partnering with the COEJL blog, To Till & To Tend, we’re excited to bring you David’s first hand accounts, frustrations, and victories from the “front lines” of his lawn farm.

Operation Lawn Farm: Part 1

I was going crazy today. Tech problems with my printer took hours. Nothing accomplished. A lousy conference call committee meeting. Exhausted. At five in the evening, I took the world into grip and, like Superman, ripped off my work clothes, put on my dirty sweats and headed out to the farm.

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I just came across the most amazing story of the Ba’al Shem Tov (the charismatic founder of Chasidic judaism), which has been retold at a special festive meal at the end of Pesach for over 250 years!

The basic story is that the Ba’al Shem Tov is repeatedly thwarted in his attempts to sail to the land of Israel. Along the way, he is stranded on an island, attacked by pirates, and invents both the alphabet and matzah ball soup. OK, so I’m extrapolating a little bit with that last part, but even so, I would easily pay $10 to see Johnny Depp in this story at the local cinemaplex.

What’s most interesting to me as a Jewish food blogger is that this story, as shared by a poster on jewschool, is always accompanied by a meal featuring 31 matzah balls. Maybe it should be included as an addition to the Baskin (Robbins) haggadah?

Speaking of Jews and 31 flavors, today is Ben & Jerry’s annual free ice cream cone day! Ironically, even though these two boys met in gym class in Merrick, (pretty close to my congregation), there’s barely any scoop shops left on all of Long Island. I wonder if I would be attacked by pirates if I attempted an hour-long pilgrimage to the closest scoop shop…

Thanks to Yigal Deutscher for this guest post.

We have just begun the Sefirat HaOmer, counting off the direct correlation between Pesach & Shavuot, two celebrations separated by a string 50 days long. These are two moments in time, interwoven, yet at polar opposites. On Day 1, we have left bread behind, as Chametz. On Day 50, we are elevating bread as an offering in the Holy Temple, a sacrifice unique to the day of Shavuot. A serious transformation has just taken place.

The link between our starting point and our destination goal is food, bread in particular. This corridor of time marks the counting of grain ripening…from the start of the barley harvest to the start of the wheat harvest.

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Spring can be a tough time for the seasonal chef. The winter vegetables are long gone (not that you could stomach another acorn squash if you found one in the back of the pantry). Meanwhile, summer’s show-off vegetables – sweet corn, ripe tomatoes and juicy cucumbers - are nothing more than little, hopeful seedlings.

But Dan Barber, chef of Blue Hill restaurant in New York City and Creative Director of Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, doesn’t have time to lament over the lack of local greens. He’s got hungry customers to feed – so he focuses on maximizing the few flavors that are available at his back door.

Barber particularly swoons over ramps – an early-arriving member of the onion family that, with their neon pink stems, resemble a scallion’s punk rock older sister. “They’re the first sign of spring, and they’re so fleeting,” he told The Jew & The Carrot. I like to see them on every dish.”

More and a recipe for Chicken Liver Mousse with Spring Herbs below the jump. Read more »

There’s nothing better than eating food that you grew yourself (or that your CSA farmer grew on your behalf), right? Well, Steve Brill thinks you can do better - by foraging your dinner.

Also known as “The Wild Man,” Brill is best known for getting arrested in Central Park in the early 80’s - for eating a dandelion. (He was charged with “defacing public property”.) Outraged - Brill called every media outlet in New York, winding up on television and the front page of several city newspapers. Soon after, the Park’s Department changed their minds - and gave him a job leading foraging tours around the Central and Prospect Park. He now leads independent tours across the Northeast showing ordinary, store-buying folks the incredible amounts of edible plant life that grows, unnoticed.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I traveled up to Stone Barns Center for Barber’s restaurant, Blue Hill. Although we spent time wandering through Stone Barns’ impressive, sprawling greenhouse and watching a staff member buzz the thick wool off a (very pregnant) sheep, we were really there to forage with the Wild Man.

More - and photos - below the jump.

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I don’t know about you all, but spring is here in Brooklyn, and I’m psyched. Walking in the park near my apartment yesterday, the trees were popping, the air smelled fresh and flowery, and it seemed like the whole neighborhood was outside soaking in the spring-ness.

It’s this combination of seasonal renewal and the giddy energy that comes with it that makes Passover one of my favorite holidays - there’s just such an optimism and joy this time of year. I also love how Passover offers a perfect opportunity to combine the wisdom of a traditional Jewish holiday with my desire to live healthily and sustainable in our world.

On that note, I’m pleased to announce the return of The Jew & The Carrot’s Healthy Sustainable Passover Resources! Find tips and tricks to shake off the winter (and the chametz), green your seder table, and celebrate the holiday in sustainable style.

Last Thursday, Hazon’s Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan hosted a “Meet Your Farmer” night, conjuring up the age-old question: can Papaya Dog and fresh, local vegetables co-exist?

Hat tip to ZT at Jewschool for this story, a friend of the family Shira Kamm starts her own farm, joining the ranks of so many other women starting farms. Check this article in the Philly Inquirer about Kamm’s endeavor below the fold, and check the photo essay. Somebody invite this woman to the Food Conference!

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What would you say if someone offered you a box of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables delivered to your home every week? Ella Heeks is willing to wager you might be interested.

Heeks is the Managing Director of Abel & Cole, an Organic Delivery Service in England. Through Abel & Cole, customers order a weekly bounty of pesticide-free produce and schedule its delivery to fit into their busy lives. It’s convenience and ethical eating, waiting patiently on the porch.

While you can find Organic Delivery Services in most American cities, Brits have taken a particular liking to their weekly veg box - and also to ODS pioneer Abel & Cole. 30-year old Heeks spoke with The Jew & The Carrot about working with an idealistic company, soaking up farmer wisdom, and Able & Cole’s response to some customer’s requests that they boycott Israeli-grown produce. Read more »

The most recent issue of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture includes an article I wrote called “Reaping the Faith.”

The article profiles Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh, two religious Muslims who combine their faith and farming (sounds familiar somehow…). It focuses on the concept of Tayyib, which some Muslims view as a mandate to eat sustainably and healthily, and compares Tayyib with the significantly more widespread Muslim eating mandate, Halal. It traces the history of faith and farming throughout other religious traditions including Judaism and Christianity. Additionally, it touches upon Zaid and Haifa’s struggles to secure visas for Muslim farm workers from Jordan and Egypt to work as apprentices on their farm. And, naturally, it gives a healthy shout out to Hazon’s Tuv Ha’Aretz program.

The extra exciting news is - the folks at Gastronomica are planning an evening of discussion around the article on Tuesday, May 13 at the beautiful new Astor Center in in NYC - check back here in the next couple of weeks for more information about the event.

Here are the first two paragraphs as a teaser (the article is unfortunately not available online). To purchase a copy or subscription, check out Gastronomica’s website.

Reaping the Faith
By: Leah Koenig
Gastronomica - Winter 2008

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