To Till and to Tend

Leah Koenig, editor of www.Jcarrot.org, Hazon’s food blog, recently asked readers for food-based eco-suggestions in Jewish communal life.  We are happy to cross-post this blog here, hoping that our readers may have something to contribute.     

Deciding what to eat for lunch can be a challenge – but deciding what hundreds (or thousands) of other people should eat for lunch is decidedly harder.  But such is the charge for the many hospitals, schools, and other institutions across the country that feed people, en masse, on a daily basis.

In the past few years, a growing handful of institutions (e.g. Yale University and Kaiser Permanente) have attempted to bring institutional food away from Lunch Lady Land – sourcing produce from local farms, offering less junk food in favor of more fruits & veggies, increasing the number of homemade meals (vs. “heat-n-serve” foods) etc.  The Jewish community has jumped on the institutional food reform bandwagon too as synagogues, day schools and JCCs across the country begin to question their dependence on Styrofoam coffee cups and greasy kosher pizza.

As a Jewish organization committed to health and sustainability, Hazon is currently in the process of creating our own Organizational Food Purchasing Guidelines.  But we want to hear from you!  Let us know:

1. What “green food practices” does your synagogue, JCC, day school, Hillel (etc.) currently practice?  Anything is fair game, from swapping the Styrofoam for glass mugs, to ripping up a corner of the parking lot to plant an organic garden.

2. On the contrary, in what ways could your Jewish institution do a better job at bringing health and sustainability into your corner of the Jewish community?

Share your ideas below – we’ll compile them (along with others) – into a resource guide that can be shared with the larger Jewish community.  Here’s to eating better, together, in 5769.