By Steve Merritt and Annie Wolock for A2J CC
The Wine & Vegan Cheese Tasting held at the Washtenaw Food Hub on Saturday, May 30, drew over 60 people. It was a fun and tasty way to explore Michigan’s amazing local foods. Many of us came away saying, ‘I’m not calling it fake cheese anymore!’
It was co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor Reconstruction Congregation (AARC) and the Ann Arbor Jewish Climate Circle.
The Shavuot-inspired tasting featured artisanal vegan cheeses, Michigan wines, and locally sourced dairy cheeses and accompaniments in a beautiful farm setting. The wines were paired by AARC member Joel Goldberg, who has been a wine columnist and a judge at the Michigan Wine Competition.
Fortified by delicious food and drink, the gathering explored the consequential topic of food and climate change.
Eco-Kosher Connection
Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador of the AARC provided a Jewish context for the issues raised. “With the concept of ‘eco-kosher,’ Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and others in his line expanded Jewish dietary consciousness beyond what we eat to how the food is produced, who is affected, and what kind of world our choices sustain,” she said. “The question is no longer only, is it kosher? But also, is it ethical? Is it sustainable? Is it life-affirming?” She cited several core ethical principles of eco-kashrut concerning care for the earth and how they could be applied in daily life.
What We Can Do
In the face of such a daunting climate problem, we learned that there are some things that individuals can do to lower their carbon footprint, for example:
- Moving toward a “plant-forward” diet that replaces at least some meat with plant proteins.
- Reducing food waste by planning meals, shopping more often for less, and utilizing leftovers.
- Eating local and seasonal foods to reduce emissions from transportation and energy-intensive greenhouse production.
Our individual actions can help shift societal norms and behavior—as seen in campaigns around littering, smoking, and, to some extent, healthy diets—so that food system incentives shift toward sustainability.
Washtenaw Food Hub
And finally, we learned about the Washtenaw Food Hub, the venue for the event, which supports many of the solutions we heard about. It offers educational programs for the public, supports local farmers, and houses half a dozen businesses that process agricultural produce into retail products. It operates a farm market, and its related business, Tantre Farm, is currently enrolling people in a CSA that will provide fresh produce throughout the summer.
This event received generous support from the Ethyl Hyman and Rose Kaplan Foundation.