Deciding Whether to Eat Kitniyot on Passover
I am an Ashkenazi Jew, and until my first Passover as a vegetarian at age 16, I followed the Ashkenazi tradition of avoiding kitniyot (including rice, corn, beans, lentils, peas, string beans, and seeds) on Passover. When I went vegetarian, I reasoned that kitniyot were a key source of protein and I’d be better off following Sephardic guidelines, which permit kitniyot. I wasn’t particularly observant, and frankly, I didn’t care about the Ashkenazi-Sephardic divide.

As the years went by, I realized that my willingness to eat kitniyot despite being Ashkenazi wasn’t so far-fetched. In 1989, a ruling by the Israeli Conservative movement said that all Israelis could eat kitniyot on Passover “without fear of transgressing any prohibition.” In 1997, Rabbi David Golinkin (representing the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel) issued a ruling supporting the elimination of the Ashkenazi custom of avoiding kitniyot on Passover. Several years ago, Rabbi David Bar-Hayim of Jerusalem formally lifted a ban on kitniyot in Israel. While there isn’t unanimity in Israel, the Forward reported a year ago, “According to some experts on changes in religious law, we are witnessing the beginning of the end for the ban on kitniyot in Israel.”

I concede that I am Ashkenazi, not Sephardic, and that I live in the U.S., not Israel. I concede that I have no rabbinic or other authority to tell people how to act on this issue. Nevertheless, I am utterly comfortable eating kitniyot on Passover and I encourage other Ashkenazi Jews, particularly vegetarians and vegans, to look into the matter for themselves.

For the last couple of years, I have run into numerous obstacles in trying to find a definitive standard for Sephardic kosher-for-Passover guidelines in the U.S. Long story short, I am under the impression that the Jersey Shore Orthodox Rabbinate (JSOR) offers the definitive guidelines for Sephardic/Mizrachi Jews who eat kitniyot on Passover. There appears to be no other similar document by any leading kashrut certification organization or general Sephardic community.

JSOR Guidelines
I will do my best to give an overview of JSOR’s “2010 Recommended Passover Product List for Sephardic Communities,” but I encourage people to rely on the primary source, not my summary. These guidelines are intended for 2010 only, as JSOR issues updates each year. JSOR explains its position as follows:

Since Sephardic Jews have different customs and traditional foods than our Ashkenaz brothers, this list is designed to serve those whose custom includes the consumption of Kitniyot, or legumes on the holiday. Since the majority of Jews in America are of Ashkenaz descent, the major Kashrut organizations only certify those items that are permissible for them. We have included those items, and as well have listed those foods that are permissible without special Kosher for Passover (KFP) symbols. . . .

[Hametz are any] any foods or food products, which contain ingredients, derived from one of the following fermented cereal grains: wheat, barley, oats, spelt or rye are forbidden on Passover. Even foods that contain minute amounts of [hametz], or foods which are processed on utensils which are used for other [hametz]-containing foods, are not permissible for Passover use. Many Sephardim have the custom of eating different legumes or kitniyot and foods that are derived from them. Even in the Syrian community, there are differences in customs as to which legumes are used.

The idea here is that even if it’s OK to eat beans, you can’t eat a processed-soy veggie burger. Some products are fine in their raw, unadulterated elements but not when they’re enriched with hametz. The following are some of the guidelines to navigate through the nuances of kitniyot:

• Cereal: Cold cereals like cornflakes and Rice Krispies have malt added to them and are therefore hametz. JSOR adds, “We strongly suggest that even those cereals in which the listed ingredients are 100% kosher for Passover, should not be used as they are in constant contact with grains that are real [hametz].” Look for a kosher-for-Passover hechsher.
• Milk Alternatives: For soy milk, the only acceptable varieties are Soy Dream Brand Original Unenriched Soy Milk, Vitasoy Brand Sansui Original Natural Soymilk, and Zendon Soy Plain (not enriched). For rice milk, the original plain variety is acceptable for Nature’s Place, Nature’s Promise, RicePure, Shoprite, Wild Harvest, and Wild Oats brands. For almond milk, only Blue Diamond brand Almond Breeze is permitted (although almonds in their unadulterated form are acceptable even for Ashkenazi Jews). The JSOR guidelines include recipes for homemade rice and almond milks.
• Oil: Pure corn, soybean, canola, or vegetable oils are acceptable so long as they do not include citric acid.
• Rice: For white rice, any unenriched or organic rice is fine; the only acceptable types of enriched white rice are the Carolina, Goya, Mahatma, Publix, River, Riceland, Blue Diamond, WaterMaid, Success, Carolina Gold (parboiled), and Uncle Ben’s brands. For brown rice, any brand without additives is acceptable. For Basmati rice, Deer brand or any unenriched variety is OK. JSOR says that any kind of pure wild rice is acceptable and that it is from the grass family “and not a legume at all.”
• Seeds: Flax and hemp seeds are explicitly permitted.
• Soy Foods: JSOR says that “while actual soybeans are permissible for most Sephardim, products made of soy, such as soy sauce, TVP and tofu, are forbidden. These products are made through extraction methods that use grain alcohol in the processing of the soybeans.”

Tips for Vegetarians (and Meat-Eaters) Regardless of Whether They Eat Kitniyot

• If you’re going to a seder where you expect to be the only vegetarian or vegan there, talk to the host in advance and offer to bring a vegan dish with you. You’ll guarantee that you’ll have enough to eat, and you’ll also get to expose people to meat-free eating.
• Consider using quinoa instead of other grains on Passover. According to the Orthodox Union, “Quinoa is not one of the five grains that can create chametz (wheat, oat, barley, spelt and rye). Nonetheless, there is a difference of opinion among Rabbinic decisors (machloketh haposkim) as to whether quinoa is considered kitniyoth (Ashkenazic custom is not to eat kitniyoth on Pesach). We suggest asking your local Orthodox Rabbi if it is or is not kitniyot.”
• Nuts are an indisputable source of plant protein on Passover. I expect to feature a guest post about nut-based cuisine in the very near future. There’s so much more you can do with nuts than just eating a handful of them, throwing them in a salad, or eating leftover charoset.
• Take the opportunity to embrace raw foods. Click here to read Robin Silberman’s 2009 heebnvegan guest post, “Passover From a Living Foods Perspective.”
• Read Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s 2007 heebnvegan guest post, “Cooking Up a Vegan Passover.”
• Read Jenny Goldberg’s 2008 heebnvegan guest post, “Vegan Passover Guide for Hungry Jews.”
• Get a copy of Deborah Wasserman’s No Cholesterol Passover Recipes or Roberta Kalechofsky’s The Vegetarian Pesach Cookbook.
• Click here to read vegan Passover recipes from PETA and here to read vegetarian Passover recipes from Jewish Vegetarians of North America.

Cross-posted to heebnvegan

As Passover rapidly approaches, cleaning and preparing for the holiday is a topic that comes up more and more. It seems like a huge undertaking and most people dread Passover cleaning– me included. But this year, I’m a little excited. I’ve divided my cleaning into two parts, my kitchen and the rest of my apartment.

I’ve decided to make my Passover cleaning into a more traditional spring cleaning. And what better way to welcome springtime than with a fresh and clean apartment?

As for the kitchen, it’s always quite a project. I started last night with a play from my college roommate’s playbook. I took a box and placed it on the center of my kitchen floor and started throwing all of my chametz into it. I filled the box pretty quickly, now I know why she put the box out about a month before Passover. There were a lot of staples (beans, pasta and rice) in the box, but there were also some hidden treasures in the back of my cabinets that I had completely forgotten about.

I’ve decided to turn this box of chametz into a challenge. Before Passover starts, I’m going to try and use as much of this food as possible. Additionally, I am not going to buy anymore chametz, which adds to the difficulty because I finished my last slice of bread today. The good news is that there is a lot of food in the box for me to work with.

To complete this challenge I am going to get creative with my recipes. This is the perfect opportunity for me to try new things. Some of the items I know how to prepare in different ways, for example, I am making sesame noodles for dinner tonight. It is going to be harder to use up some of the other items. For instance, the only way I know how to cook rice is to boil it. I usually serve rice with a main dishes but the rice itself is nothing special.

10 days and counting; let the cooking begin!

Sesame Noodles:
1 lbs of thin spaghetti
4 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Cayenne pepper (to taste)
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 scallions, chopped

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta.

Put the peanut butter, soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil and cayenne pepper in a small bowl and whisk together, until peanut better is mixed in.

In a large bowl mix the sauce mixture with the cooked pasta.  Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.

Sam Kass, White House assistant chef and Food Initiative Coordinator, wore a green tie – it was appropriate since the meeting was on St. Patrick’s Day. Twenty-eight community and faith-based organizations (CFBO) from around the country, including Hazon represented by yours truly, had gathered for a one-day meeting to discuss First Lady Michelle Obama’s ambitious initiative, Let’s Move, to combat childhood obesity in one generation. Kass and Jocelyn Frye, the First Lady’s Policy Director started the day by talking about the meaningful role that faith-based organizations play in their communities. The White House is seeking a comprehensive strategy to tackle the dual problem of hunger and obesity and they see faith-based organizations as uniquely positioned to do this work by allowing children to connect body, mind and spirit. Kass spoke of the need for simple ways for people to transform their lives and to then become leaders for others to make healthy changes, too.

I learned that the Let’s Move Initiative is based on four pillars: Healthy Choices; Healthier Schools; Physical Activity; and Affordable & Accessible Healthy Food. The day focused around two main questions: What actions can CFBO take to implement these pillars? What CFBOs already run successful programs addressing this pillar? Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships directors lead the program – they included Joshua DuBois from the White House, Alexia Kelley from Health and Human Services (HHS), Max Finberg from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Peter Groff from US Department of Education (DoED), and John Kelly Senior Advisory for the Partnership. Organizations shared success storied – check out the work that the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and Come to the Table are doing – and challenges. The Partnership was seeking input from the people on the ground about what ideas are most relevant, what resources are most needed, and what partnerships can be created to help make this happen.

What is amazing is that this was the first time Hazon sat at the table while government officials sought direction and input for a national policy campaign. As the only Jewish organization at the table that is already engaged in this work, Hazon is uniquely positioned to continue to be a resource and an ally in the mission to eradicate childhood obesity in a generation. It is inspiring — and I look forward to keeping you all updated.

Here in Portland we’re fortunate to have a year-round farmer’s market, and I’m always on the lookout for interesting, tasty, off-the-beaten-path things to make for Pesach. I love serving fresh asparagus at my seder, but it’s not in season yet, so I was looking for an alternative. Our local mushroom purveyor, Springwater Farm, offers a great variety of mushrooms, but they also sell other wild/foragable foods, including fiddlehead ferns and bags of stinging nettles. Here’s a link to some fiddlehead fern recipes.

The fiddleheads can be served in lieu of asparagus; just blanch them in boiling water and saute in garlic with a little salt.

Despite their sting, nettles are a great thing to eat (once you cook them, the sting goes away). Nettles have been a staple of traditional medicines for centuries, but they’re also amazingly (for a vegetable) high in protein, and a delicious way to get some greens in your diet during the winter. Here’s a great recipe for nettle mushroom soup (it might be good with matzah balls, you never know), posted with permission from its creator, chef Kathryn Yeomans:

Nettle Mushroom Soup

1/2 lb young nettles
2 oz. butter, or olive oil
1 lb. potatoes
a pinch of chile flake
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 lb mixed wild and cultivated mushrooms
2 qt good quality meat, chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt & black pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Carefully add the nettles and cook until the stingers have softened, about a minute or two.  Drain the nettles, refresh them under cold water until cool enough to handle.  Squeeze them slightly to remove some of the water and chop them.  Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over a medium flame.  Add the sliced potato and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes have started to take on some color (10-15 minutes).  Add the chile flake and sliced garlic.  Cook for 1 more minute, break up potatoes slightly with a potato masher or wooden spoon, and then add the stock.  Bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, saute the mushrooms in additional oil.  Add them to the soup.  Season with salt and pepper.  Simmer the soup for 20 minutes, then add the nettles.  Warm through and serve.

When my Grandfather, alav hashalom, was nearing the end of his long and fruitful life, I had the opportunity to make dinner for him once (which was uncommon because during that time my mother used to cook dinner for all of us mostly every night). He requested borscht, a dish that I was altogether unfamiliar with, but which was an essential part of the Eastern European Jewish food tradition my Grandfather had grown up with. In my good intention to fulfill his request, I opened a jar of canned borscht (Ingredients: Water, Beets, Sugar, Salt, Citric Acid.) and served it with sour cream, and love.

Flash forward to 2010.

Today I avidly lacto-ferment in my spare time and am very interested in traditional Jewish foodways. I have realized from my conversations with people that lacto-fermentation is a generally unknown and mysterious process, and yet it is one of the oldest, safest, and most nutrient-enhancing forms of food preservation on earth. As Pesach approaches, those who want to be well-prepared are stocking up on over-priced, over-processed packaged foods from the ubiquitous “Passover Section” at the local supermarket, jars of “borscht” included. But a generation or two ago, as part of that preparation, Jewish mothers would have been putting up a jar of beets and water to lacto-ferment for a couple weeks before Pesach, to be enjoyed either cool (like gazpacho) and probiotic, or hot and sour with meat and spices. That was the dish that nourished my forbears, that my Grandfather’s body would have intuitively recognized as nourishing and good.

It is approaching ten years since the dinner I served to my Grandfather, and I wish that I could have made the nourishing, delicious, live-culture meal that he must have grown up on. But I am grateful for the renaissance in traditional Jewish foodways that is just beginning, and hopeful that I will be able to pass these traditions down to my children some day.

Here is a recipe for “beet sour” adapted from Leah Leonard’s Jewish Cookery, published in 1949. It can be drunk in small quantities as a digestive aid, used as a salad dressing base, or used as a borscht soup base, as it was traditionally:

BEET SOUR RECIPE (Rossel)
Remove tops and scrub beets thoroughly. Cut in halves or quarters and place in a glass or earthenware pickling jar that has a cover. Add about a tablespoon of sea salt per three medium beets. Fill the jar with water which has been boiled and cooled to lukewarm, or with lukewarm purified water, at least two inches above the beets. Let stand covered in a warm place from three days to four weeks to form soured beet juice for Passover borscht.

On March 22nd, you’ll have an opportunity to meet Fred and Karen Lee of Sang Lee Farms, who will be providing the new Brooklyn Bridge CSA members with fresh, certified organic, local produce starting June 8, 2010. It will also be an opportunity to learn more about the CSA, how to become a member, and how you can take on a more active leadership role.

Meet the Farmer!
Monday, March 22 at 7:30pm
Congregation Mt. Sinai
250 Cadman Plaza West, Brooklyn

Brooklyn Bridge CSA is sponsored by the AJWS-AVODAH Partnership, supported by Hazon, and will have an explicitly Jewish, food justice theme. In addition to delivering delicious vegetables, there will be a meaningful and active justice component integrated into the CSA’s structure and programming. For more information, including how to get involved, please visit the website: www.brooklynbridgecsa.org or or contact brooklynbridgeCSA@gmail.com.
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It is apropos that the Whole Grains Council has declared quinoa as the March Grain of the Month, as we begin Passover on the night of March 29th. Quinoa, a rockstar of a grain in its own right with tons of nutritional value, made its debut as a Passover friendly grain just a few years ago, forever changing the way many people cook for the holiday.

According to the laws of Passover, chometz (barley, rye, oats, wheat, and spelt [BROWS to many who attended Jewish day school]) and their derivatives are forbidden. An Ashekanazic rabbinic tradition developed where kitniyot, legumes, rice and other similar products that are processed similar to chometz, look like chometz when ground into flour, or may have even just a bit of chometz in them, were also outlawed for Passover (many Sephardic Jews eat kitniyot).

As luck would have it, the law of kitniyot applies only to items that the rabbis were aware of at the time this tradition developed. This means that, you guessed it, quinoa is allowed on Passover! No longer were the Jewish people restricted to endless variations of potato dishes.

Enter, quinoa.

You still can’t make macaroni and cheese (although if you are a fan of potato starch/egg noodles, have at it!), but here is a wonderfully filling and delicious quinoa recipe.

For more information about the laws of Passover, check out this link.

Quiona Pilaf w/ Baby Bella Mushrooms & Crispy Shallots

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
3 shallots, thinly sliced, divided
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup of quinoa, picked over
2 cups water
1 Tbsp chopped chives
2 Tbsp chopped roasted almonds

Directions:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a sauce pan and cook 2 shallots and garlic over medium flame until soft, 4-5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 6-8 minutes more until they have released their liquid.
2. Add spices, quinoa, and water, stirring to combine. Raise heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 12-15 minutes until quinoa is tender and liquid has been absorbed. Allow to rest an additional 2-3 minutes covered, then fluff with a fork.
3. Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tsp of olive oil in a small pan. Fry remaining 1 shallot until it is crispy and very browned.
4. Garnish quinoa with crispy shallots, chives and almonds.

Take a gander at my food blog for more recipes.

Hazon has been invited to join a group of Faith-based and Community organizations to support Michelle Obama’s recently launched Let’s Move campaign. The meeting in DC tomorrow will provide organizations with tools and information to help combat childhood obesity in their communities. Judith Belasco, Director of Food Programs, is headed to the Capitol to represent Hazon!

According to  Judith, “Hazon is always looking to expand our support of healthier lifestyles as meaningfully as we can. Already North America’s largest faith-based supporter of CSA’s, we provide healthy living education through our Jewish Food Education Network (JFEN) and annual Food Conference. We look forward to engaging the Jewish community and beyond in support of Let’s Move.”

According to Joshua DuBois, White House Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Parnerships, “The Let’s Move campaign will combat the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources. Let’s Move will engage every sector impacting the health of children to achieve this national goal, and will provide schools, families and communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy.”

“This is the first time we’ve been invited to the White House, and being able to speak directly to Michelle Obama’s staff and a diverse group of other faith-based organizations will provide us new ways of celebrating and promoting healthful lifestyles,” said Judith.

The faith-based and community groups will learn about Let’s Move and the resources made available by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Heath and Human Services, and the Corporation for National and Community Service. Hazon and other attending organizations will be encouraged to share their input on the materials intended to promote Let’s Move within faith-based and community organizations.

Stay tuned for updates from Judith’s experience at the White House by following us on the Hazon Twitter!

In December, Sarah Gross attended a workshop called “Bringing a Great Idea to Scale” at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. When prompted to write down a few things she cared about most, Gross wrote “chocolate” and “helping animals.” She recalls, “The next morning as I walked my own rescued pitbull, Mocha, after a breakfast of chocolate (of course), my inspiration hit. ‘Rescue Chocolate,’ I muttered to myself over and over; the ideas were flying in and my fingers began to freeze as I wrote away on my iPhone. Mocha wondered why I wasn’t throwing the ball so well this morning. Anyway, the company took off from there!”

Rescue Chocolate donates 100 percent of its net profits to animal rescue groups, and all its packaging educates chocolate lovers about various issues related to the companion animal overpopulation crisis. All of its products are vegan and kosher/pareve. The company sells (or will sell) chocolate under such catchy names as Bow Wow Bon Bons, Peanut Butter Pit Bull, Pick Me! Pepper, The Fix, Foster-riffic Peppermint, Forever Mocha, and even “Don’t Passover Me” Bark.

“Don’t Passover Me” Bark, Rescue Chocolate’s only kosher-for-Passover product, is made to look like matzoh. Since it was added to the company’s Web site, it has been requested in every online order but one. Gross explained, “I want to have something that members of the Jewish community can really enjoy on this otherwise bland-food holiday.”

The company’s Web site adds, “This Passover, Rescue Chocolate reminds you not to ‘pass over’ the homeless pets that need you most! Go to your local animal shelter, seek out the animals that are not as likely to get homes: older pets, pets with medical conditions, and pets who have been waiting the longest! You will be getting a wonderful companion, and will absolutely save a life!”

Gross says that while “silly” brands like Hershey’s, Dove, and Godiva might put milk in their dark-chocolate products, most dark chocolates are vegan:

When I started my chocolate “journey,” OK, addiction, I wanted to try every vegan (as far as dairy-free, not beet sugar only) chocolate bar I could find. I didn’t suppose it would be many more than 10 or 20. A few years later and I’ve tried close to 400 different vegan chocolates! So, I feel like they’re not hard to find. Even in the last few years, the dark/gourmet chocolate scene has exploded nicely. Now you can always find a dairy-free chocolate whether at the corner bodega, the pharmacy or the grocery store!

Pareve and vegan dark chocolate might be easy to find, but if you want to help animals at the same time, Rescue Chocolate is probably your best bet.