At a historic black Baptist church
in West Louisville, Ky., Karyn Moskowitz was talking to a group of women about how they cooked fresh greens. Moskowitz said she used olive oil, thinking she’d use the conversation to talk about the benefits of avoiding saturated fats.
The woman responded, “Olive oil? Where do you get that?”
Moskowitz’s Fresh Stop Project brought affordable fresh, organic fruits and vegetables to this low-income, largely black community, but there was no place for the residents to purchase other healthy food.
That’s something young Jewish food activists often forget, Moskowitz says. “We think nothing of driving to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. They do not have that option.”
Moskowitz was speaking at the fourth annual Hazon Food Conference, held Dec. 24-27 in the coastal California town of Pacific Grove. Nearly 650 rabbis, Jewish educators, farmers and food activists spent four days learning about the connection between Jewish values and sustainable food systems, hearing from young pioneers in the new Jewish food movement spearheaded by Hazon, and sharing resources from organic farming tips to how to lobby Congress effectively.
This year, the conference created a “food justice” track, providing speakers and workshops focusing on issues including workers’ rights, food access in low-income neighborhoods, fair trade operations, and community gardens as a tool for empowerment.
“Access to fresh, local food is a privilege, but it should be a right,” says Elizabeth Schwartz, a garden mentor who helps low-income residents of Portland, Ore., plant, winterize and harvest their home gardens. “I grow my own food, and there’s nothing more satisfying than teaching someone else how to do it.”
Conference participant Adam Edell of Oakland teaches garden-based nutrition and coordinates communal nutrition events at an elementary school populated largely by the children of Latino migrant fieldworkers.
Once the children got excited about growing and eating their own produce, Edell invited a local farmer to set up a regular farmers market in the school parking lot so the kids’ parents could buy fresh organic produce at cut-rate prices. The project evolved into a successful CSA.
As an American Jew, Edell says, he grew up alienated from his people’s land-based roots. Likewise, his students come from rural Mexico, and their families have given up generations of agriculture to move to the United States.
“We are rediscovering our land-based roots together,” he says. “I have been able to create a space for us to share our food traditions. I teach them about gardening, they teach me their traditional recipes.”