I’m stuffed. Not from my Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family in the US – although everything on the table was delicious – but from five days of intellectual, spiritual, and gastronomical nourishment while participating in Hazon and Heschel’s first Israel Sustainable Food Tour. From November 15th though 19th, twenty-seven foodies and I explored Israel from the perspective of sustainable food. We met with farmers, chefs, community gardeners, a permaculture expert, a food scientist, volunteers at an innovative soup kitchen, the founder of a food co-op, an expert on food insecurity in Israel, and many other passionate people who shared their experiences working on sustainable food issues throughout the country.

Our group, fearlessly led by Natasha Aronson of Hazon and Jeremy Benstein of The Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, was an incredible mix of individuals with varied backgrounds on food and environmental issues: farmers, nutritionists, public health analysts, journalists, CSA coordinators, and many more.  The stimulating conversations I had with the other participants were certainly one of the most memorable parts of the tour.  And on the final day, we joined over three hundred people at the first annual Israel Sustainable Food Conference in Tel Aviv.

Over the next few weeks, as I continue to digest this fantastic experience, I’ll be sharing some of the highlights of the trip here on The Jew and the Carrot. One theme that I had not anticipated, and that I found most moving throughout the tour, was the role that memories played in many people’s understanding of food sustainability. It was touching to hear how sharing memories through food – often memories of an older generation, a simpler time – was a means for putting sustainability in action. Our first meal together, at the Eucalyptus Restaurant in Jerusalem, included a cooking demonstration with chef Sofian Ayash, who explained that his culinary degree came from MMK University – “my mother’s kitchen”. Thus, his dishes often reflect his earliest memories and knowledge he gained from cooking with his mother. As the trip progressed, I realized that the group and I were creating our own memories – with each other, with Israel, with the phenomenal meals we experienced – just as others shared their own memories of food with us. Our understanding of sustainability was undoubtedly affected by the people we met, the sites we took in, the stories we listened to, and the foods we tasted. Powerful nourishment, indeed.

Photo by Evan Namerow, taken at the Machaneh Yehudah outdoor market – “the shuk” – in Jerusalem.