I am what I eat -- Part II

A couple of weeks ago, I posted on the horrifying (and ongoing) story of the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa. Since then, the Uri L'Tzedek boycott against the Rubashkins was lifted due to a feeling that the federal compliance officer assigned to the plant was getting the labor practices into the shape they needed to be. In theory, I should have felt better, but still I was uneasy about the whole business. I wondered if other kosher meat plants were going undetected in their equally scary labor practices and if, though the official boycott had been lifted, I would ever be willing to buy Rubashkin's meat again. After yesterday's editorial in the New York Times, I feel justified in my remaining queasiness.

So how is a person supposed to eat? Lucky for me, the Times Magazine had a profile feature yesterday about the women who are the vanguard of new farming in the Northeast. I am so inspired by the way these women have transformed their ideals about food, food culture, and sustainable living into their real lives. It's a breath of fresh air after reading about the abuses in Postville, and I am not surprised to know that it is women who are the front line innovators in this movement.

I don't know that a single one of the women profiled here is Jewish. But I can't help but think that collecting wild edibles, raising cows and chickens outdoors to produce the highest quality dairy and eggs, and farming vegetables bio-dynamically is an authentically Jewish way to interact with the Earth and with our food. Certainly it's more kosher than hiring underage laborers and turning a blind eye as illegal immigrants are arrested for using false Social Security numbers to get work in your plant.

Topics: Food, Agriculture
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Great posts Lily, this last one made me think about an NPR story I heard a few weeks ago about a group of Muslim families coming together to create an eco-halal meat co-op. Here's the link to the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/s...

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How to cite this page

Rabinoff-Goldman, Lily. "I am what I eat -- Part II." 14 July 2008. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on December 3, 2024) <https://jwa.org/blog/food-update>.