Popularity of "eco-kosher" diet growing in U.S.
Eco-food awareness has undeniably seeped into the mainstream, and religious communities are no exception. More and more, a low-impact diet is seen not just as a matter of health or ethics, but as a spiritual obligation. As evidence, look no further than the quickly growing "eco-kosher" movement; its followers seek nourishment that not only adheres to traditional Jewish dietary laws, but is also local, organic, sustainable, and humane. Eager to make eco-kosher eating as easy as possible, a group of Conservative Jews is drawing up a label for packaged kosher foods to let consumers know when they are supporting a processor with a transparent business model, respect for animals and the earth, and fair treatment for employees. While only about 15 percent of the 5.2 million Jews in the U.S. keep strict kosher, surveys show that less than a quarter of shoppers who choose kosher items are observant Jews. The $225 billion segment encompasses about 100,000 items, so the new label could have a big impact.
straight to the source: The Washington Post, Alan Cooperman, 07 Jul 2007
see also, in Grist: A special series on God and the environment
Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success
With GoodGuide scanner, PC food shopping goes point and click
Comments
View as Flat
anthony11 Posted 4:12 am
10 Jul 2007
Permalink
CyberBrook Posted 2:59 am
17 Jul 2007
For a different version of eco-kosher
please visit
The Vegetarian Mitzvah
http://www.brook.com/jveg
Permalink
Awaskow Posted 7:14 am
03 Dec 2007
But the word and its practice, as it was defined by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in the mid-'70s and given much broader currency in the Jewish community by my book Down-to-Earth Judaism in 1995, was about issues of consumption far broader than the arena of food to which your report confined it.
The code of kosher food emerged in a pastoral-agrarian society, defining a sacred relationship with the earth through food.
So in a society that consumes coal, oil, uranium, and plastics, the sacred relationship with earth must be far broader: Is electricity from a nuclear power plant eco-kosher? Is the use of a Hummer, spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere of an already endangered planet, eco-kosher?
Seen this way, "eco-kosher" is an issue not for food alone, but for consumption generally, and not for Jews alone but for all religious and ethical communities.
Shalom,
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director
The Shalom Center
<http://www.shalomctr.org>
Permalink