Today, 18 heritage turkeys were schected (slaughtered in accordance to kosher law), plucked, salted, soaked and prepped by volunteers to feed Hazon Food Conference participants on Friday night.  One volunteer, who attended the goat schecting at last year’s  conference, commented that the two experiences felt significantly different.

She noted that last year, many of the participants personally knew or had helped to raise the goats, whereas the turkeys slaughtered today were sourced from a nearby farm – and that the resulting emotional impact seemed less immediate.  Perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that last year’s schecting was incorporated as an educational part of the conference and therefore an integral aspect of the overall conference.  Alternatively, today’s shecting occured before most particpants even arrived and was primarily conducted as a way to provide ethical, kosher meat for the event.

More reflections to come.  In the meantime, click here, or on the photo above to see a slide show of images from the day.  Warning, some of the photos are graphic.