Hazon and The Jew & The Carrot may be the homes of the new Jewish food movement, but in a way the general food movement, even without the ‘Jewish’ modifier, is still very Jewish. I am not referring to the fact that, much like many progressive movements, a disproportionate number of the food movement’s major protagonists, like Michael Pollen, Peter Singer, or Mollie Katzen, are Jewish. Rather, that the questions and challenges posed by the food movement are the types of questions and challenges the Jewish tradition has been raising for millennia.

Remember… the first conflict we see in the Bible is over, of all things, forbidden fruit!

Take for example a plate with two pieces of meat on it, both identical in appearance, texture, aroma and taste. Which to eat? Jewish law demands that we can only eat meat if it has been killed by the right person in the right manner, and then prepared and cooked in the right manner. If not, it is simply not kosher, not fit to eat. In our example one piece of meat, seemingly identical, may be perfectly ‘fit’ for consumption, the other constituting a serious religious transgression.

The type of conscious eating promoted by the new food movement raises similar questions addressing the source and process of meat production. Which piece comes from a grain fed, hormone laced cow in a factory farm, before being shipped by truck halfway across the continent? And which is a little more ‘kosher’ – grass fed, hormone free and locally raised? The food movement challenges us today to choose local and organic produce over its less sustainable, but always cheaper, alternative. Jewish law, at least in the Land of Israel, is similarly demanding. It is forbidden to eat Israeli grown produce that has not had trumot and ma’asrot (tithes) taken from it. A seemingly acceptable apple is only fit for consumption if due process has been followed.

Will we be ‘that guy’ and ask whether the eggs in our omelet are cage free?

These ethical and religious demands often lead to similar outcomes, such as standing in the supermarket meticulously reading ingredient lists and scanning for different stamps of certification. We don’t know enough about our food so we rely on the USDA, the OU or some other acronym to tell us what’s right. Religious and/or ethically based eating also affects our interaction with society. Will we only eat in kosher, or organic restaurants? Will we be ‘that guy’ and ask whether the eggs in our omelet are cage free? Will we hold to different standards when we eat out, as opposed to what we keep in our home? This last question is a classic of the modern Jewish age.

The most important way that the new food movement is Jewish is that it offers/demands a way of affirming our values through the minutiae of everyday life. Neither Judaism nor the new food movement are about grand acts of faith or heroism, rather they are about punctiliously regulating our most base and mundane instincts. We all get hungry, we all eat, and both Judaism and the new food movement challenge us to turn these acts into an affirmation of truth.