Advertising itself as Israel’s first food-focused conference, “Mazon Le-Machshava” or food for thought, opens in the Tel Aviv port next Thursday, November 19. In addition to a Top Chef-style cookdown to produce the tastiest meal with the lowest carbon footprint, the conference also promises conversations about farming, energy and water. It taps into a growing trend […]
The Social Economic Academy, a non profit organization aimed at promoting social and economic change in Israel that opens its courses to the entire general public, will be leading a course on food politics this fall – starting in September. The name of the course is What Are We Nourished By? and will be held […]
When it comes to organic and environmentally conscious dining, Tel Aviv definitely has a reputation for getting with the program. The white city (which is currently celebrating its 100th year) already has a vegan burger joint, organic hummus, organic falafel, organic coffee shops, and an environmentally friendly food festival. We realize that dining out has […]
At Green Prophet, we often post on organic vegetables and dairy products being grown in Israel; this November two Jewish environmental organizations are offering a heavily subsidized chance to see the farms and produce yourself. Hazon (which runs an annual Food Conference in the USA) and the Heschel Center will lead an Israel Sustainable Food […]
Just a few hours after Jews of all stripes gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to celebrate “Birkat haChama” – the blessing of the sun – Aria Penkava slid a tray of kosher-for-Passover cookies into a solar oven to slow-cook using focused heat energy from the sun. “The sunrise was glorious this morning,” said […]
Even though he’s reporting on the challenges in NYC, Jeff gives some good ideas to wanna-be renegade bee keepers in the Middle East, and food for thought for protecting the world’s bee colonies from Colony Collapse Disorder: On a sunny Saturday afternoon in mid-February, a small group of New Yorkers—beekeepers, environmentalists, and a handful of […]
Green Prophet got wind of some new courses when “the Sea” called us this week: The school, the Social Economic Academy, with branches in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem is opening its spring semester this year with the course: “I buy – I exist: A journey in the trail of the consumption culture.” The course […]
The Slow Food movement brought a farmer’s market to the Tel Aviv Port (or, namal) this past summer, helping city dwellers enrich their salads and dishes with some great local (and carbon-emission low) produce. Now, to enrich our winter soups, the Slow Food movement, the Jaffa Port, and non-profit organization Na Laga’at are all joining […]
Soft drinks. Fast foods. Cigarettes. Companies that market these products are well-known for targeting children and teens in order to develop “brand loyalty.” But the campaign to capture the taste buds of future consumers begins even earlier–in the hospital nursery, where formula companies use aggressive methods to ensure that babies’ first taste of artificial milk […]
Once upon a time people lived in a different kind of harmony with nature (can you imagine yourself pictured above?). Except for the aristocracy who lived in castles and lords who collected taxes on land, most people all over the world, especially in the Middle East, prayed for rain and sun in the summer in […]
For most people, fair trade means making sure South American and African farmers get paid a reasonable wage to grow coffee and chocolate. But in Israel, fair trade is much more local. Two companies have emerged in the last few years to provide a living wage for farmers in the region. The first, SAHA, is […]
(image credit: giggul371) Shavuot is best known as the holiday which commemorates the bestowal of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. It is also the celebration of the harvest of the Bikkurim, the first fruits of the year. Pomegranates and figs may come most easily to mind, but wheat is another of the Shiv’at Haminim, […]
Writer and part-time pig farmer, Jeff Yoskowitz, was at the recent Shavuot Slow Food market in Tel Aviv – and had mixed feelings about the artisan cheeses, meats and organic veggies on offer. The Carmel Market shuk in Tel Aviv that so many travelers love — the idyllic market which people see as representative of the […]
In 1994, Jerusalem chef Johnny Goric cooked a lunch and dinner for Yassar Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, during their peacemaking talks. He was also, more recently, the chef to King Abdullah II of Jordan. But besides feeding kings and some of the world’s most influential leaders, he is also cooking in the name […]
Peeking inside people’s fridges is a new series being put on by the BBC, as part of their research into sustainable eating around the world. It is not a new idea, and what people are eating has been well-documented by photojournalists (The Walrus magazine) and also on the internet. You can even take a snapshot […]