Nine Faiths, One Vegan Lunch at Windsor Castle
On the Agenda — The Largest-Ever Commitment To Take Environmental Action
By Leah Koenig
On Tuesday November 3, His Royal Highness Prince Philip will host over 200 guests for lunch at Windsor Castle, the 900-year-old palace that serves as an official residence of his and Queen Elizabeth’s. But this lunch will be noticeably different from the roasted quail and crème fraîche typical of castle meals. Instead, the menu is entirely vegan and centered on seasonal, regionally sourced ingredients.
The reason: an interfaith conference called “Many Heavens, One Earth: Faith Commitments for a Living Planet,” to be attended by leaders from Jewish, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Daoist, Hindu, Muslim, Shinto and Sikh backgrounds. Co-sponsored by the Unite d Nations Development Program and Alliance of Religions and Conservation (or ARC, a faith-based environmental organization co-founded by Prince Philip in 1995), the conference has the goal of presenting unique seven-year commitments that outline each religion’s plan to foster action around climate change within the participants’ communities.
The seven-year framework resonates deeply within Jewish tradition, which mandates a weekly day of rest on Shabbat and a septennial resting of agricultural land in Israel during the shmita year. At the conference, eight Jewish delegates — a collection of educators, entrepreneurs, rabbis, activists and politicians from the United States and Israel — will present a commitment that calls upon Jewish individuals and organizations to “play a distinct and determined role in responding to climate change” between now and the next shmita year, which starts September 2015.
“Jewish people have moved through history by marrying small steps with big vision,” said attendee Nigel Savage, whose organization, Hazon, played a lead role in crafting the Jewish commitment. Now is the time, he said, to connect small actions — like switching to energy-efficient light bulbs or planting a synagogue vegetable garden — with education and advocacy.
While not the first gathering to marry faith and sustainability, this conference marks the largest-ever commitment by faiths to take environmental action. “Religions have the unique capacity to think beyond the next business cycle to long-term generational change,” said delegate Rabbi Yedidya Sinclair, who founded the Jewish Climate Change Campaign in Israel.
Not coincidentally, the conference has been scheduled to precede the international climate-change talks that will be held in Copenhagen in December. “The U.N. and World Bank (which will attend both gatherings) are among the world’s biggest, multilateral organizations,” said Rabbi Sinclair. “These organizations are beginning to realize that religions have a crucial role in addressing climate change.”
So what about that lunch? The meal at Windsor will be, in effect, a model for the type of eco-minded choices that the delegates hope to encourage within their constituencies. Co-conference organizer Victoria Finlay said that ARC chose vegan food to provide a low-impact meal that accommodates the widest spectrum of the delegates’ dietary needs. Daoists, for example, cannot eat onions, garlic or other ingredients that might cause a disruption of airflow within the body. Religious Hindus avoid meat and eggs and observant Muslims eschew pork and meat that has not been ritually slaughtered. (Understandably, the organizers avoided the logistical headache of offering separate meals that cater to nine different religions.)
The resulting menu includes roasted pear salad with cobnuts and chicory, Portobello mushrooms stuffed with artichoke and herbs, pearl barley risotto and organic wine bottled by Orthodox nuns in France’s Rhone Valley. This will be the first-ever vegan effort undertaken by Edible Food Design, one of Windsor’s regular catering companies. Head chef Sophie Douglas-Bate said her “heart sank at the thought of cooking without butter and cream,” but she ultimately enjoyed the challenge.
Despite the organizers’ least-common-denominator approach, however, the lack of a mashgiach and separate dishes means that kosher-keeping Jewish delegates will not be able to eat the lunch — they are the only participants unable to do so. And although they were offered the option of ordering food from an outside kosher kitchen, some of them declined. “I realized I’d be eating food that was triple-wrapped in plastic with disposable cutlery at an environmental conference,” said Rabbi Sinclair of the kosher offerings. “That was a moment when I realized kosher is important, but not enough.” Instead, Sinclair plans to eat fruit, salad and “a few granola bars,” brought from home.
While Rabbi Sinclair’s lunch might not be entirely satisfying, ultimately the more important challenges lie beyond one lunch at Windsor. “We’re interested in what happens next.” Savage said. “The next shmita year is far enough away to imagine big changes, but near enough that it’s not pie in the sky.”
For Hazon, the seven-year plan is part of a larger campaign that has already begun to galvanize action around climate change in the Jewish community. Delegate Naomi Tsur, a seasoned environmental activist who recently became deputy mayor of Jerusalem, intends to use the plan as a springboard toward a more thoughtful approach to the shmita year in 2015. “Shmita is big business in our city, but the way it is currently observed is a tragedy,” she said. Tsur hopes to involve Jerusalem’s city gardens in raising awareness around sustainable agriculture’s connection to climate change. “This is our opportunity to think globally and act locally,” she said.
Leah Koenig writes a monthly column on food and culinary trends. She lives in New York City. She can be contacted at ingredients@forward.com
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Eat the farshtunkeneh lunch, Rabbi Sinclair! No granola bars from home, I beg thee...in the name of world peace, no granola bars from home.
Kosher is kosher. If you eat only kosher then no need to eat anything else; it will not make a difference to world peace. Would you ask the Muslim to drink the wine? The Rabbi should not as well.
Fabulous article, and brilliant comment by Rebecca Miriam. Enough already, Rabbi Sinclair. If vegan food, which is as pareve as pareve can be, is not kosher enough, something is wrong with the new kashrut!
Would it have been impossible to have had catering that would be kosher and halal as a well as vegan?
I almost want to comment against the rabbi's decision but there is something about the least common denominator approach that bothers me. If these are royal caterers I don't see why it would in fact have been a headache to make separate meals catering to different religions; out of anyone these would be the people used to handling overblown affairs. When you try to cut it down to least common denominator that's exactly what you get, less, and someone misses out.
There is also the issue of wine bottled by Orthodox nuns, which I believe is not permitted. Kudos to Rabbi Sinclair for holding to his beliefs - I would do the same if in his position.
Great work Hazon. I signed up as a campus captain for NYU at www.jewishclimatecampaign.org Looking forward to hearing about the Windsor Conference!
The mehadrin kosher meals are povided to hotels and palaces by a firm called Hermolis and they are excellent. When my wife and I were invited for the Queen's opening of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, Hermolis provided our meals. There was nothing disposable, they were not triple wrapped, and they did their best to match the official menu. What a shame to have a granola bar in place of a decent meal !
Personally, I think it's very tempting to take out a granola bar during lunch with Prince Philip, but you completely missed out on the sentimental symbolism of this meal ("If these are royal caterers I don't see why it would in fact have been a headache to make separate meals catering to different religions...") - it's all about the universality of nature, you see; demonstrated by its suitability to the world's most restrictive diets. You can't blame the Rabbi, though - God knows what was served in those dishes. If I were him, I would have suggested making the kitchen Kosher and sending over a mashgiach for a day or two, or sending the Queen new cutlery as a present. I do think it's quite ugly of them to serve wine, which Muslims view as fundamentally forbidden.
A few years ago I helped coordinate an international high tech conference in Athens with the participation of more than 200 engineers from different countries. We had three sets of menues, three times a day, not always in the same place. We had regular hotel meals for the majority of participants, vegetarian meals for the religious Hindus, served with hotel cuttlery and plates, and Kosher (Glatt) meals for the observant Jewish participants served with elegant cuttlery and dishes that were collected by the Mashgiach after every meal, cleaned and returned at the next meal, of course both meat and dairy sets. This micro-management went on for three days! Now you would think that a prince could at least match that!
The Baha'is in attendance will not drink the wine as alcohol is forbidden by their Faith. Otherwise, Baha'is have no proscribed dietary laws although they will respect the kosher and halal laws of Judiasm and Islam. I agree with Steve B. What happened to the main focus of the conference? Symbolism is nice, but substance is better. The unity and vitality of the planet is the real issue facing the world today. Peace and stability cannot take place without the unity of mankind. Of course what's more unifying that "breaking bread" with your Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist and Shinto brothers and sisters? The true meal is the spirit of fellowship and cooperation. Peace be unto you all!
Written Motzie Shabbat New Zealand time.
Believing that commonality of foods can bring cultural understanding and improve relations. The concept of this meeting is a step in the right direction, even if the focus and purpose is climate change.
If the diverse religious leaders can sit at the same table, an example is set for their followers, both for peaceful understanding and climate change.
N Kabak Kiwi Certified Quality, Ltd.
Why not the same meal plan, but served kosher? Then everyone can eat it, and those who can't drink the wine, won't. Why not a kosher wine option?
“Vegetarianism offers an ideal mode for preserving the religious and ethical values which kashrut was designed to concretize in human life.” Rabbi Robert Gordis
“A higher form of being kosher is vegetarianism.” Rabbi Daniel Jezer
“I’m a vegetarian and I stay milchik all the time.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the [British] Commonwealth, “The Messianic Idea Today”
“If you don’t eat meat, you are certainly kosher… And I believe that is what we should tell our fellow rabbis.” Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel
The Vegetarian Mitzvah at www.brook.com/jveg
At a time when the world is rapidly approaching an unprecedented climate catastrophe, this conference is very timely and important.
For maximum effect it should consider an inconvenient truth that even Al Gore has been generally ignoring: the major impact that animal-based agriculture has on climate change, A UN FAO 2006 report indicated that animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars, planes and other means of transportation worldwide combined. And a recent cover article by two environmentalists in World watch magazine argues that the livestock' sector is responsible for over half of the human-caused greenhouse gases. Hence to avoid the impending climate catastrophe and shift our imperiled world to a sustainable path, a major societal shift to plant-based diets is essential. Such a shift would reduce the many other negative effects of animal-based diets: disease, increased hunger, water pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, rapid species extinction, desertification and many others.
Naysayers about global climate change should please explain why the glaciers and polar ice caps are melting faster than climate scientists' worst scenarios, why so many areas are experiencing such severe droughts, why there are more and larger wild fires, why this century is the warmest on record and much more.
When will the Jewish community start addressing the many moral issues related to animal-based diets? The production and consumption of meat and other animal products arguably violate basic Jewish mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and pursue peace.
Time for a dialog/debate on "Should Jews Be Vegetarians?"
For further information, please visit JewishVeg.com/Schwartz, where I have over 140 articles and 25 podcasts of my talks and interviews and ASacredDuty.com, to see our acclaimed documentary “A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World .”
Kudos to the Prince for his thoughtful decision to serve a vegan meal. Maybe if he had ordered it from a vegan restaurant, Rabbi Sinclair could partake, since veganism is the ultimate kashruth. It's also healthier, better for the planet, and (obviously) better for the animals.
how wonderful it is to be noble and kind.
What a wonderful news. If everybody stopped eating meat and adopt a plant-based diet, we can save our planet from the current crisis of climate change. Meat and livestock industry contributes to 51% of Global Green House Emissions annually.
Benefits of Vegan/Vegetarian Diet: 1) Reduces Green House Gases(GHGs) - Livestock raised for meat industry contribute 51% of annual global GHGs, 32,564 million tons of CO2 equivalents/year 2) Prevents Cancer - plant based diet is low in saturated fat, high in fiber, and replete with cancer - protective phytochemicals help to prevent cancer 3) Prevents Heart Disease 4) Lowers Blood Pressure - Plant-based diets have almost no cholesterol, fruits rich in potassium 5) Prevents & Reverses Diabetes-better controlled and sometimes even eliminated through a low-fat, vegetarian diet 6) Gallstones, Kidney Stones, and Osteoporosis - veg. diet reduces one's chances of forming kidney stones and gallstones 7) Reduces risk of Asthma 8) Reduces the karmic burden incurred by killing of animals
PLEASE BE Veg, Go Green and Save our Planet.
Wow! Good people! Good news! Please start the Regan train to save our Planet!
A step in the right direction, would bring in unity to the world. Everyone wants to do the right thing, but is not sure what it is. Let us begin by putting sin out. Every leaders of religious groups will agree on sin is not good for us.
sally, my friend, this will save our Planet and all of mankind.