Food and Kosher Policy
We will enjoy simple and delicious Passover food from Thursday dinner to Monday breakfast prepared by Chef Avishai Pearlson with the help of the community. There will also be a snack table. Everyone must bring their own plate, bowl, mug and utensils.
The Passover in the Desert Festival is a pesca-vegetarian event, meaning food will be mostly vegetarian with some fish (which you may easily opt out of). In making its food choices, Wilderness Torah prepares food according to the highest ethical standards, including kosher, local, organic, seasonal, humane, and socially just. Wilderness Torah prioritizes sourcing fresh, unprocessed foods, and when choosing processed or packaged foods, aims to purchase certified kosher foods. Wilderness Torah may at times prioritize certain values, such as local or organic, over kosher certified. When such a choice is warranted, we will share such decisions openly.
We will try to accommodate everyone’s food needs to the best of our abilities; please answer the registration question regarding dietary needs. We can provide the menu upon request.
If you are bringing your own snacks and food, please note that you must keep them in your tent area (animals will not be a problem) and not in the kitchen.
More information will be posted soon regarding our kashrut policy. If you have questions, please contact us.
Keeping Kosher for Passover
Passover is both a time of liberation and a time of experiencing constriction. An important component of the practice of Passover is the observance of additional constrictions around food. We will avoid chametz (leavened products made with barley, rye, oats, wheat, and spelt) and anything that involves (or might possibly involve) grains and yeast. The only bread served will be matzah, unleavened bread, and there will be no beer or grain-based alcohol, and nothing that contains vinegar. We will also avoid kitniot. Kitniot is popularly translated as legumes (beans, peanuts, etc.) but it really includes those seeds and grains that can be cooked and baked in a fashion similar to the five true grains that can become chametz. This includes rice, corn, peas, mustard seed, and the whole bean family. The prohibition on kitniot comes from our Ashkenazic (eastern European) ancestors and probably relates to the practice of storing kitniot in the same vessels and containers as chametz or the potential to confuse products made with kitniot for products made with chametz.
If you must bring and eat any the above foods for health or personal reasons, that’s ok, but in order to respect the needs of people observing the holiday’s dietary laws, please do not bring these foods into the common areas.
