By Audrey Sasson, cross-posted on From the Ground—the blog of American Jewish World Service (AJWS)

I recently attended an event promoting Eric Holt-Giménez’s new book (co-authored by Raj Patel), Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice. Eric is the executive director of Food First and a powerful advocate for transforming our broken food system. His presentation unpacked the causes of hunger worldwide and promoted a reinvestment in local food systems as both a just and effective solution.

Eric began by outlining the rise of the industrial food system, starting with how the Green Revolution of the 1960s displaced local food systems and imposed an industrial model of food production from the North to the Global South. With the rise of Structural Adjustment Programs in the 1980s and what he dubbed “Free trade mania” in the 1990s, local food systems worldwide have been compromised and abandoned. The results? Countries in the Global South used to produce $1 billion in food surplus. Today, those same countries have an $11 billion food deficit.

One of the more illuminating moments for me came when Eric described the process by which the UN published the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The biggest study of its kind ever conducted, the IAASTD was published in 2008 and was meant to put corporate agriculture at ease by proving that the industrial model, including widespread use of GMOs, can and does effectively feed the world. Instead, the study concluded that small-scale farmers and organic, agro-ecological methods are the way forward to solve the current food crisis and meet the needs of local communities.

Eric made a strong case for fighting poverty through rebuilding local food economies and he pointed to the food sovereignty movement as paving the way. Interestingly, he connected the fight for food sovereignty worldwide to local food justice efforts here in the United States and elsewhere. The explosion in CSAs, school gardens, urban farms in low-income communities – to name a few – is part and parcel of the effort to reclaim control over our global food system and intentionally participate in a more just and sustainable model.

I haven’t read his book yet, but if it’s anything like the talk he gave I’m sure it’ll inspire. You can find out more on the Food First website. And if you’re looking for ways to plug into food justice efforts in New York, check out the AJWS-AVODAH Partnership’s new initiative, the Brooklyn Bridge CSA!

(Cross-posted at Mixed Multitudes)

When Passover approaches, it seems like everyone in the Jewish community goes a little bit (or more than a little bit) crazy. You start hearing about people going through every page of every book in their house, trying to eliminate miniscule crumbs. Kosher stores are clogged with families inspecting the new Passover friendly products, and elaborate Passover recipes are getting passed around, each of which seems to call for potato starch, and 7 egg yolks.

If you don’t have an endless supply of time and money to buy and cook for Passover, then let me give you my foolproof Passover food tip:

Chill out, and go as simple as possible. You do not need a kitchen full of new supplies, a full slew of kosher for Passover spices, or a new cookbook to get you through the week of Passover. In fact, you need the opposite. Strip it all down to the bare minimum.

Think of the week of Passover almost like a camping trip. You have to plan ahead of time for what you’ll need, and you want to bring things that are relatively easy to make, and that you’ll like eating.

Roasted vegetables are your friends. So is roasted chicken, and fish cooked with lemon, garlic, and olive oil. Meat and potatoes are kosher for Passover without any special preparation. Omelets are delicious and easy to make.

Don’t make yourself crazy over preparations for this holiday. Instead, relax, shop the produce section, and make the simplest meals, with the cleanest flavors. Remember, it’s the feast of freedom. If you’re feeling chained to a box of matzah meal, you’re doing it wrong.

Millions of kids every day eat lunch, and sometimes breakfast, at school. Yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture invests only $2.68 on average per day for each student’s school lunch. We are growing a generation of Americans who think healthy food is cheap food, and who don’t have the skills to make better decisions about what they eat. This year, Congress has a chance to transform the way America eats when it reauthorizes the Child Nutrition and WIC Act. You can get involved in asking Congress to help serve healthier meals to kids in schools by clicking here and becoming a “lunch box advocate.” Their “Healthy Tools for All Schools” are very cool and provide many resources that you might find helpful. Happy lunching!

Thanks to Bobbi Rubinstein for sharing this update about the garden at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA. Bobbi is a publicist, journalist and green activist. She’s chair of the Valley Beth Shalom Green Team and co-founder of Netiya: The Los Angeles Jewish Coalition on Food and Environmental Justice Issues.

I am excited to share some news with the Hazon kehillah. My shul, Valley Beth Shalom, has broken ground on an urban garden called the Gan Tzedek Initiative. We’re growing food to donate to local food pantries and creating educational opportunities around Torah and environmental study. And perhaps most importantly, we’re building community across all age levels since this is a team effort among all the schools, teachers, parents, administrative staff and clergy.

All these green thumb efforts fall under the VBS Green Team. For almost two years, our mission has been to educate the community about environmental issues and suggest ways the congregation can take what they learn home to shrink their own carbon footprint.

The driving social justice force behind the Green Team is Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas, a presenter at this year’s amazing Hazon conference. Plus we called on other community resources including Dr. Gabe Goldman, Professor of Experiential and Service Learning at the American Jewish University/Brandeis Bardin Helping Hands Garden, and Bill Kaplan, Executive Director of Shalom Institute, Initiative team leader and third grade day school dad, to help us design and construct the garden. Bill Kabaker, a longtime shul member and irrigation specialist, stepped up to help us keep the veggies well tended.

As Angelenos, we’re lucky to have a climate similar to Israel’s so we decided to put in a biblical garden. These plants will provide us with hands-on opportunities to learn about Israeli ecology, ancient Israeli life and Jewish holiday practices related to Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah and Tu B’Shvat. As we build a curriculum around the garden, students will learn Jewish ecological principles about bal tashchit (prohibition against waste), halachot (laws) related to land care in Israel and the meaning of l’ovdah u’shomrah (to work and protect) through our care of the garden.

The gardens are being implemented in phases with day, Hebrew, ECC and special needs schools each planting their own area. In the Torah garden we have a ‘Garden of the Sages’ where students will learn about the learned Sages of our tradition and the edible and decorative native sages of our region. We also have the Shevat Haminim (Seven Species- wheat, barley, grapevines, figs, pomegranates, olives and honey from dates), and Peah (the portion of the crop that must be left standing for the poor in accordance with Lev. 19:9) where seasonally appropriate crops will be harvested and donated to food pantries.

We’ve planted a container Havdalah Garden in our outdoor chapel that reflects the symbols of the service: spices (herbs), candle/light (olive tree/olive oil), and wine (grapevine). The pizza garden of tomatoes, basil, garlic, and oregano was a personal request from senior Rabbi Ed Feinstein.

We broke ground on all school gardens throughout the week leading up to Tu B’Shvat. On Friday during day school planting, we rotated learning opportunities starting with Rabbi Feinstein’s presentation to third graders and parents. Rabbi Farkas ran study sessions. Bill hosted a seder with dried fruits, nuts and grape juice, and Elana Havusha, the Shalom Institute farmer, supervised the planting.

Our garden launch ended with both family and congregational Tu B’Shvat Seders during Shabbat. The environmental Haggadah written by Rabbi Farkas and Rabbi Paul Steinberg, rabbinic leader of the day school, tied together the issues of climate change, the destruction of trees and Tu B’Shvat bringing our groundbreaking to a fitting close.

I recently toured our plantings and am happy to report that our seeds have not only sprouted but are flourishing. Have any of you started gardens at your synagogues or community centers, either on site or nearby? Please share your experiences.

Cross-posted on From the Ground—the blog of American Jewish World Service (AJWS)

Never heard of it? Me neither. But for farmers in Assam, India, it’s become a life-saving—and crop-saving—phenomenon. Developed by crossing and refining local rice strains, flood-resistant rice varieties have undergone five years of testing and are intended to boost yields and ensure harvests despite worsening flood problems in the region. Pretty cool, right? According to estimates by the Assam agriculture department, over 5,000 farmers are now using flood-resistant rice, even though commercial-scale production of the seed has not yet started. Check out this article on AlertNet to learn more.

Many camps have begun to implement green practices, taking action to decrease their carbon footprint, and impart a positive environmental message to their campers.  Steps have included forgoing paper, plastic, and Styrofoam in favor of using reusable tableware and reducing non-biodegradable waste, using solar power for heating, providing campers and staff with environmentally friendly water bottles, changing light bulbs to reduce carbon emissions, and more!  Several camps have also planted gardens and are teaching their campers about healthy cooking and organics.

This summer a new, innovative, Jewish camp is opening that will make and teach environmentalism as a lifestyle.  Eden Village Camp is a pluralistic, co-ed, overnight camp rooted in the Jewish vision of an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually connected world.  The camp experience will include organic farming, wilderness trips, natural building and service projects, art, music, and sports.  Campers will have fun while deepening their appreciation for themselves, their communities, and the natural systems sustaining us.  Eden Village is one of six nonprofit overnight camps that will open in summer 2010 as a result of the Specialty Camps Incubator run by the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) and funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation.

Much like its partners and associates, FJC strives to be, and helps its community be, more environmentally conscious.  At the biennial FJC Leaders Assembly, March 14-15, 2010, the Foundation is taking steps to be environmentally-minded.  From sending out invitations made with soy-based inks and printed on 30% post-consumer waste, to limiting the use of handouts, paper, and other materials.  In addition FJC has chosen a hotel that is mindful of being green, will not be handing out bottled water or providing plastic cups (instead, asking everyone to bring water bottles which were sent out in advance), is creating sustainable menus, using naturally grown food, and sourcing as much local food as possible, has been asking registrants what they are doing to help the environment, will hand out reusable bags made from recycled material, and is making recycling bins available all over the conference.

Of the dozens of sessions offered at the Leaders Assembly, one touches on the commitment to environmentalism. The Greening of Your Camp, will address how the treatment of camps and the earth affects campers’ overall summer experience.  It will explore how camps impact the planet, running a camp in a sustainable manner, and how camps can make even more changes than what they are currently doing.

Would you like to attend Leaders Assembly?  Join hundreds of camp staff, community professionals, lay leaders, and philanthropists March 14-15^th, 2010 at the Westin Jersey City Newport, in Jersey City, New Jersey for a singular experience filled with learning, sharing, and innovation.  www.JewishCamp.org/leaders

Cholent, for hundreds of years the traditional Sabbath-day meal for observant Jews in many countries, is a food for which there is no standard recipe; its ingredients are as diverse as the places where Jews have lived. A slow-cooked stew containing meat, vegetables, potatoes, beans and spices, it is one of the quintessential Jewish comfort foods and a dish that many look forward to from Sabbath to Sabbath.

Yeshiva University students will hold a “Cholent Cook-off” in Weissberg Commons on its Wilf Campus in Washington Heights, on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:45PM.  Fifteen teams of four students at Yeshiva College, the men’s undergraduate school, will prepare their dishes the night before beginning at 10:30PM.  The next afternoon, a panel of discriminating palates will crown the winner.

The contest judges are Dr. Esther Joel, wife of YU President Richard Joel; chef, restaurateur, TV personality and author Jeff Nathan (Abigael’s); creator of The Food Section, a pioneering weblog about food, wine, and travel, Josh Friedland; renowned kosher chef and best selling author of Kosher by Design, Susie Fishbein; catering director and executive chef of Fairway Market Alan Riesenburger; and president and publisher of Great Kosher Restaurants Magazine Elan Kornblum.

Cholent in its various forms evolved from a combination of Jewish law and economic circumstances.  Jewish law prohibits cooking on the Sabbath, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.  In order to have a hot lunch on the Sabbath, Jews prepare the cholent – a one pot dish – before the start of the Sabbath and let it cook overnight.  Today, a slow cooker or crock pot is often used.  Historically, in the Jewish towns of Europe, a community oven or the oven of the local baker was used.

Economic circumstances dictated ingredients – when meat was scarce or too expensive the cholent would contain more starch, usually beans and potatoes.  When times were good, more meat would be added to the dish.  In some countries, beef is favored; in others chicken.  In Sephardic communities, whole vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers are used, as well as rice and lamb or mutton.  Where Ashkenazi Jews use salt, garlic, pepper, and paprika, Sephardic Jews use cumin, hot peppers, and pistachio nuts.

The word cholent and its pronunciations also vary.  Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe call it cholent, sholet or shalet, but Sephardic Jews know it as chamin, a word that is probably French in origin.

This week The Jewish Star reported that some haredi rabbis in Israel (as well as some of their American counterparts) have deemed various types of fish treif because they possess a parasitic worm called anisakis. The article quoted a bulletin from “Chevra Mehadrun, the Kashrus Advocacy of Rockland,” as advising that “wild salmon, hake, flounder, sol[e], halibut, sea bass, red perch, scrod, pollock, cod and butter fish are no longer considered kosher.” It must be noted that many mainstream Orthodox authorities, including the Orthodox Union, do not take this position.

Although this new classification does not yet have a huge following, one must imagine that lox and various other common foods would cease to be staples in kosher cuisine. If a large number of kosher consumers adhered to the new standard, fish consumption among kosher-keeping Jews would likely decrease substantially. At this time, there is no reason to suspect that this will be the case. Considering that fish feel pain and suffer in much the same way that other vertebrate animals do, though, one can still hope that more and more people see that fish are friends, not food!

Frum Satire noted that seemingly outlandish rabbinical bans are not out of the ordinary. The blog offered some hilarious quips to explain the ban, including that fish “is untznius,” that this is “[j]ust another way” for rabbis “to control their subjects,” and that one of the rabbis mentioned in The Jewish Star’s article “doesn’t like his wife’s gefilte fish and this is the only way he can get out of it without embarrassing her.”

This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, opens with the commandment that the Israelites should bring ‘pure oil of beaten olives’ to the Sanctuary, so that Aaron and his sons can kindle a ner tamid, or a lamp which will be kept always burning.

The ner tamid is rich in symbolism, but for today, let’s focus on its fuel.  The commandment is to bring pure – we would call it, ‘extra-virgin’ – olive oil.  In the ancient world light was created from any number of substances.  In some forms of the Shabbat evening service we read a passage called Be-Meh Madlikin, from the Mishnah (Shabbat 2:1-7) which proves that pitch, wax, cottonseed oil, fat from sheeps’ tails or tallow, sesame oil, nut oil, radish oil, fish oil, gourd oil, tar or naptha were all possible sources of fuel.  But there Rabbi Tarfon rules that only olive oil may be used for Shabbat candles.

What’s so special about olive oil?  Perhaps the fact that it is a substance which is exceptionally good for human beings.  The health benefits of eating olive oil and the ‘Mediterranean Diet’ are still being extolled, even as various eating regimes come into, and slide out of, fashion.  According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, the FDA has found that eating about two tablespoons of olive oil a day can reduce the risk of heart disease.  It also contains polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants, which also promote heart health.  And it tastes good, too!

Which rather begs the question: if olive oil is such a wonderful food, why are we supposed to use it for lighting and not just ingest it?  After all, latkes are a good way to honor olive oil, too…

Perhaps one answer is that food is sometimes more than food.   Sometimes it is focused outwards as well as inwards.  Take, for example, the three types of food – Pesach, Matzah, Maror – which must be indicated and talked about publicly on Pesach, as a way of remembering our story.   And there’s a tradition, closer to us in the calendar, that Esther ate garbanzo beans while at Ahasuerus’ court, both revealing and concealing her Jewish identity.

So the question for this week, in whichTetzaveh coincides with Purim, is: how can our food be, or help us to be, a light?  One answer, perhaps, is in the way we carry out the two mitzvot which are related to food on Purim: to give ‘gifts’ – traditionally, of two types of food – to our friends, and also to give to the poor.  That figure of one in eight people in America suffering from hunger is still very real, and Purim presents us with the opportunity to display our openhandedness both to those we know and those we do not.  Indeed, the Shul is taking the initiative this year to slightly reduce our gifts to our friends in order to enable us to give more to those in need – an enlightened decision, indeed.

I wish us all a delicious, joyous, and generous Purim!

Rabbinic Intern Deborah Silver

Shomrei Torah Synagogue

Hamantashen are great way to get people into the kitchen. They are not too hard to make; every Sunday school class in the country makes them the week before Purim. If children can make them so can you! When I was in Sunday school I loved making Hamantashen and when we finished baking, I felt a sense of an accomplishment. Plus, I got to eat them.

Baking Hamantashen is fun for people of all ages. Like Avigail, I am getting together with friends tonight to bake! Your time in the kitchen doesn’t have to be overwhelming or stressful. Just start small; start with cookies and some day you can work your way up to a Passover Seder.