Posted by Sarah Wolf, May 21, 2008 at 1:00 PM
An ICE raid at the AgriProcessors plant in Postville, Iowa last week has raised concerns about a kosher meat shortage, according to the Jewish Daily Forward. The raid seriously affected the plant's workforce—the article reports that the raid detained nearly 400 of the plant's 968 employees and caused others to go into hiding. The detainees are mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, though an ICE spokesperson said they also detained three Israelis and four Ukrainians (perhaps the rabbis responsible for kosher supervision?).
Since the plant apparently produces a significant percentage of the glatt kosher beef sold in the U.S., consumers fear that kosher meat prices will climb even higher. Kosher industry consultant Menachem Lubinsky told the Forward that "There’s been a little bit of hoarding going on."
Meanwhile, some detainees are alleging abuse by the plant, claiming that their employers subjected them to verbal abuse and withheld $50 per paycheck for so-called "immigration fees." Eighteen of the detainees were also minors, including some as young as thirteen—which makes it kind of ironic that, according to the Jewish Daily Forward, "15 or 20 yeshiva students have flown out to Iowa from Brooklyn to help out with the slaughter."
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 15, 2007 at 10:45 AM
The story on lonely, neglected farmers' markets has already piqued Ed's interest, but here's the rest of what the Gray Lady is digesting today.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 28, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Joan Nathan of the New York Times talks to Ana Benarroch de Bensadón, author of a cookbook of Sephardic dessert recipes. After Spain expelled its Jews in 1492, her family lived for centuries in Tangiers; she moved to Madrid with her husband in the 1960s after political instability in Morocco, and brought with her dishes that had all but been forgotten in Spain over the last 500 years, notable for how they combine their Jewish, Spanish and North African roots while still keeping kosher:
No dish is as Spanish as a creamy flan. But hers is made with oranges, almonds and sugar, with no cream or condensed milk that would keep it from sharing a kosher table with meat dishes. Dishes like these were also cooked by Jews who stayed in Spain after the expulsion and pretended to convert to Christianity.
“To prove that they were like Christians, the Jews made flans, but used orange juice, sugar water and almonds so they could eat the flan with a meat meal,” she said.
The piece includes recipes for her orange-almond flan, chocolate olive oil mousse, and almond-lemon macaroons; all the recipes involve eggs, so they're not vegan, but the lack of milk and cream makes them good options for the lactose intolerant. I eat everything and don't need to keep kosher, but I might just try these making some of these anyway, they just sound so delicious.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 14, 2007 at 3:29 PM
"Each year, Coca-Cola makes Coke with sugar for observant US Jews to drink during Passover. And the rest of us get to go along for the ride. This is a boon for those who don't like Coke with high fructose corn syrup and who have to seek out the superior sugared Coke in small Mexican restaurants and grocery stores." BuzzFeed's post on Sweet Sweet Passover Coke has the ten best links to what is, as a non-Jew, my favorite Passover treat!
