The 2010 Hazon Food Conference, East Coast version, kicked off last night at the Isabella Freedman retreat center in Connecticut. I haven’t even been here a full day and already I’ve learned how to make a compost bucket, milk goats, make farmer’s cheese, and braid challah.
Well, not really.
I’ve been flitting about so much and fussing with my camera that it’s more honest to say I’ve watched other people learn these things. But maybe I’ve absorbed something. We’ll know when I get home and set out to make my own feta.
We also saw video of Julia Child roasting chicken with ribbons of bacon slapped on top, a technique which should prove to be particularly useful.
In the meantime, it’s freezing here, and I managed to barely sleep at all, so the Sleepwalking Jew is probably a better moniker right now. But we’re powering through till Shabbat, where the word is we’ll get to sample cholent with meat raised here at Isabella Freedman.
Video of the cheese/goat situation coming early next week, so stay tuned.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
