Greening Your Shabbat Table

Hosting a Shabbat meal is a wonderful way to spend quality time with family and friends without the distractions of the everyday (email, ringing cell phones, distracting Blackberry messages…) It also offers an amazing template over which to create new rituals and traditions that add new meaning and sustainable flair to the experience. The Jew & The Carrot offers the following resources to help you Green Your Shabbat Table and discover, “What makes this Shabbat meal different from other Shabbat meals?”

Greening Your Shabbat Table

Set a kavannah (intention) to “go local.”
Whether you decide to make all your dishes from scratch, or purchase some things ready-made, make a pledge to feature ingredients and dishes that are locally grown. Remember that the definition of “local” is loosely defined – so decide in advance where you want to draw the boundary. Even if you don’t manage to eat all local, all the time in your day-to-day life (and really, who does?), Shabbat is the perfect time to strive for that ideal. See just how local you can go!

*Teaching moment: Think about your guest list and what interests your invitees share. If several your guests are vegetarians, or committed meat eaters, consider brining this topic into the meal as well. If there are people who are involved in social justice causes, or grow their own herbs, consider what kind of menu and discussion questions would draw them in most.

Involve your friends.Don’t take on the local kavannah alone – get your friends involved! Invite them into the conversation about where ingredients for your shared meal will come from. If no farmer’s market is readily available at which you/your guests can buy local produce, what other criteria can you use for buying locally or sustainably? Perhaps everyone will pledge to use no plastic bags in their shopping (including those little bags for vegetables and fruit!) or to bike to their supermarkets instead of hopping in a cab with an armload of groceries.

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