What if you knew that the organic vanilla that you were using in your recipe was not only kosher, but was grown by farmers who would not, under any circumstances, work in their gardens, harvest their trees or deliver their crop from 18 minutes before sundown on Friday until tzeit hakochavim (the appearance of three stars in the sky) on Saturday—with the same applying to all Jewish Festivals.

What if you knew that these farmers live in the deepest regions of  sub-Saharan East Africa in the area Mbale, Uganda, and that their farming cooperative consisted of Jewish, Muslim and Christian members called Peace Kawomera?

What if you knew that these farmers were being paid two and a half times the fair trade price for their beans, because a volunteer organization run by a hazzan (cantor) in Los Angeles removes the middle-man and makes every attempt to allow the farmer to receive the most that he/she can?

What if you knew that this organization, Uniting Jewish Communities and Products, UJCP, is attempting to do this for as many communities as possible throughout the world, helping them become self sufficient, providing clothes, housing, health care and education.

Wouldn’t this be a recipe (excuse the pun) that would continue to elevate our kitchen table from the mundane to the mizbeach, the ordinary to the altar of values and holiness that we are meant to accomplish every time that we sit down to eat?

You probably expect me to end with a sales pitch for a product—that is not the intent of this blog. We don’t yet have a product to sell—we are just helping.  And have made a commitment to continue to help.  The company that has purchased 3.5 metric tons of dried vanilla (constituting 21 metric tons of raw beans purchased directly from the farmers) is called Natural Flavors, Inc. in Newark, New Jersey. They are using the vanilla as concentrate to use in various organic, kosher products.  It is my brother, Herb Stein’s company, and though he has all the vanilla that he can use from established sources in India and Madagascar, Herb is willing to continue the process of buying from the Peace Kawomera cooperative.  A company called AMFRI Farms in Kampala then dries the beans, bought directly by Herb from the coop.  This has been a cooperative effort that will end, hopefully in the PK farmers taking complete control of the process—growing, harvesting and drying all on their own.

Other agencies and organizations have been helping as well.  Kulanu (along with UJCP) has worked hard to get training and building a facility for the co-op.  Recently they have been awarded a grant to build a building that can be used to dry and store coffee and vanilla!

The purpose of my blog is to keep you informed of the progress that we are making in helping first the Ugandan Jewish communities, and then others, in finding ways to sell their products so that they can lead more self sufficient lives.  We are in need of volunteers—those with business, accounting, PR and website building (we don’t have a home page yet) skills.  Or those that know of a buyer for vanilla, coffee and the many other products that grow in the region.

We read in the Torah this week about treating the worker fairly—we as Jews should take the lead in making sure that no one is left without basic necessities in a world in which poverty is increasing at alarming levels.   When we prepare and partake of our food, think of how rewarding it would be to support those that grow and labor to support our needs.

We are in the middle of negotiations for December’s vanilla crop.  I’ll keep you posted.