By dcc
Recently I have been reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, which while partly polemical in its approach to local food consumption as opposed to what Pollan calls "the industrialized food chain," did a lot to reinforce my love of good, tasty, carefully created food.

But it seems that I am not alone in this re-discovery. In the last week or so my local paper has dedicated significant front page real estate and bandwidth (complete with a new "Times Topic Page") to local and natural food movements. Many people are concerned by the number of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics fed to what becomes our food. We are beginning to ask why everything has the same five ingredients and most of the time we can't pronounce them. The inherent ignorance necessary to continue Pollan's industrialized food chain is coming to an end; people have decided they want to know what they are eating.

For most of history, societies have created food rituals to say thank you and pause to recognize what is on the dinner plate. Most Hindus don't eat beef, Muslims follows halal, Roman Catholics popularized the "Friday fish fry" during Lent and the list goes on. But perhaps the most intricate food rituals belong to our people. Kosher laws--outdated and burdensome as they are--force us to take a look at what it is we put into our bodies.

This is where Mr. Pollan's quiet diatribe, the kosher-nostra and Reform Jewish consumption of technically kosher food comes together. In the past few months a huge kosher meat producer has come under national scrutiny. Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meat plant, was raided by the Immigration and Naturalization Services for employing illegal immigrants and treating them like trash, bringing much unwanted attention to the disgusting underbelly of the kosher food industry.

This was after months of Jewish bloggers busting Agriprocessors' chops (sorry couldn't resist) regarding the company's working conditions, treatment of its meat prior to the slaughter and overall poor business practices. JTA's Telegraph blog has been covering these events , FailedMessiah has been all over this for years, and the other usual suspects continue to chime in from time to time.

While this food is technically kosher, its production violates a thousand other Jewish values, and, in my opinion, far more important values than how we salt our meat. One can trick himself to believe that the business of kosher food production is ethical, however if he takes a look at the track record, he will find that many of the major producers of kosher meat stuffs are not following the rules - rules from on High and from a more local source.

It is one's own choice to keep kosher according to Reform traditions. But there are some strong voices within my community pushing for blind adherence to halachic kashrut and consumption of kosher only meat. I have had conversations with Reform clergy and lay leaders who fight for animal rights, immigration reform and unionization all while buying kosher meat from major distributors that get much of their product from Agriprocessors.

These folks enjoy eating this food and feel connected to tradition when they make these choices, they say. I feel as if they are supporting a corrupt monopoly that hides behind faux-piety. How does one enjoy kosher meat and stay true to her liberal Jewish values?

One eats locally.

It might not always be possible to create a complete meal from your own backyard, especially if you, like me, live in an apartment. But there are local farmers markets, co-ops and other choices you can make to decrease your dependence on food producers like Agriprocessors. Granted if you believe that glatt kosher meat is a must this won't work and you may have to trade your values for your brisket. We have the right and obligation to know what is in our food and how it is made so if you are willing to put the extra work into creating a meaningful, holy meal, eating locally is the way to go.

Additionally there are others out there working on changing the kosher food industry for the better. Heksher Tzedek movement (a major achievement of the Conservative Movement that should be applauded by the entire justice-seeking community, especially with this week's announcement of guidelines) is working to improve the conditions of the kosher slaughter houses, for both the livestock and the workers, so to infuse Jewish values in Jewish ritual. Rabbi Morris Allen, a leader of this movement said, "We need to be in a world where we can say that keeping kosher is the way in which I demonstrate not only a concern for my relationship to God and Torah but the Jewish concern for our relationship to the world in which we live." 

We have the ability to make the change. Reform Judaism is at its core, a Movement of reasoned change - we stand up for justice and holiness in the face of once hallowed traditions. We protect the environment by turning off the lights even if it is Shabbat; we march for civil rights arm-in-arm with friends from other faith based communities; we stand up to anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment from outside and within our community; so why shouldn't we fight for the purity of something we put into our bodies?

This is both a physical and spiritual fight that people of conscience cannot avoid anymore. Isn't that the point of keeping Kosher?

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