Tu B’shevat dish
I’d previously created this Tu B’Shevat recipe and post for the Borough Market website.
Tu B’shevat, the Jewish “New Year for Trees” (Rosh HaShana L’Ilanot), begins Tuesday evening. It has become the Jewish “Earth Day” and it is increasingly common for people to host a Tu B’shevat seder. I relish this holiday because it is the ultimate farm-to-table holiday and an opportunity to plant trees, enjoy local produce, and get involved with environmental groups.
Pomegranates. La Cienega farmers market.
As apples dangle from trees, pears turn to a burnt orange and pomegranates burst at their seams with plump tiny fruits, it’s a reminder that we are in Fall harvest season. After the dramatic, solemn day of Yom Kippur, we suddenly jump into the celebratory, abundant harvest festival of Sukkot. This is the ultimate farm-to-table holiday that pre-dated the Slow Food movement by a few thousand years.
Sukkot is yet another reminder of the beautiful cyclical nature of Jewish life. From weekly cycles marked by Shabbat to agricultural cycles (the agricultural holidays of Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot, plus the counting of the Omer), to year cycles that begin each Fall to the seven year cycles of Shmita, Jewish life is communal and circular: always expanding, growing and evolving with each cycle. Continue reading
Neesh Noosh 