According to the Orthodox Union, a New York-based organization that does kosher inspections, kosher certifications by rabbis have doubled to more than 300 in China in the past two years, and the number is expected to go up dramatically.

And China's not just doing this to ease the minds of consumers who still may not be over Fluffy's untimely death. Kosher is the new black, and China wants a piece.  

But while rabbis make sure that pork products aren't used in food production and that meat and milk stay far, far away from one another, they don't perform scientific food-safety tests. Still, at a time of intense international scrutiny, an extra seal of approval may boost consumers' confidence in products from China. If contaminated food does get through, blame the rabbis!

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Some organizers will relate Tu B'Shevat to issues of environmental justice and environmental racism, while others are using the holiday to advocate for local and organic food. According to the article, a seder scheduled in San Francisco is billing itself as "eco-kosher," meaning the food served is sustainably grown and produced in a socially just manner, "[combining] progressive politics with religious imperative."

While Tu B'Shevat seders focusing on environmental concerns have been around since the 1970s, today's seders include much more religious content, according to many of the organizers. Combining environmental activism, an issue so prominent on today's forecast, with Jewish tradition may prove to be an attraction for formerly disenchanted Jews to rejoin the religious community.

Here's a list of environmental seders to check out in the big cities:

* In Chicago, Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps is running its first communitywide Tu B’Shevat seder in the co-op apartment shared by this year’s seven young program participants, all in their early 20s.

* The Tu B’Shevat seder in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, held in Dolgin’s living room the past several years, is moving into a rented space to accommodate its growing numbers.

* The Kavod Jewish Social Justice House is having a seder in Boston for young adults with students from Hebrew College, alumni of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem and the Charles River Bet Midrash.

* In the Washington area, Shomrei Adamah will be co hosting a Tu B'Shevat seder and Shabbat celebration with Am Kolel, Jews United for Justice and the Shalom Center.

* Hazon, a New York-based Jewish environmental group, is running its sixth Tu B’Shevat seder at the JCC in Manhattan, and one is being organized for Limmud NY, a Jewish learning program taking place Jan. 17-20 in the Catskill Mountains.

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Regardless, we're all excited. Gothamist has some great pictures of the new locale, and New York Magazine did a nice little Q&A with the new owner, 25-year-old Jeremy Lebewohl. Apparently they're doing a ceremonial salami-cutting of "nickel shtikel" links at 11 a.m. on Monday. See you there!  

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I recently bought one of those beautiful, amazing Le Creuset Dutch ovens (Bloomingdale's was having a home sale), and I am newly obsessed with those Empire Kosher whole cut-up chickens (how convenient/delicious are they??), so I decided to try out one of the Amateur Gourmet recipes I'd been thinking about for a while: Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, which Adam Roberts made for his reluctant Jewish family in Florida.

It was the perfect meal to christen my new cookware with, and it's great to serve a crowd during the holidays (provided they like garlic, of course). But the garlic in here is so yummy, the cloves just melt in your mouth. The cognac and cream richen the dish (substitute nondairy creamer to kosherize it). I could give you the recipe here but might as well direct you to Adam's fabulous step-by-step, with mouthwatering pictures of every single detail. (I think we have the same Dutch oven!) 

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Meet Shoshi, a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jew, personal chef, talk show host, blogger, upcoming author, and self-described "luscious lifestyle diva." This woman does it all! She was able to spare some time, though, to tell us about her lifestyle company, services, and kosher soul food.

You call yourself a "Luscious Lifestyle Diva." Tell me a little bit about what that means. My work is all about helping people live luscious lives by design. I am the founder/CEO of a lifestyle company in New York City. I hope to follow along the lines of Oprah and Martha Stewart, but hipper, cooler, more personal, and kosher, baby!

How'd you get into this business, anyway? I ended up becoming a lifestyle entrepreneur because I decided not to go to rabbinical school. I used to be very active in the Jewish community on various committees at Makor, the JCC, UJA, Temple Emanu-el, but the work was not movng me anymore. When I realized that was not the right path for me, I looked for something that I could do that would help people. I ended up taking life coach training. Long story short, my life coaching became a bigger thing and has expanded into what I do now. Most of the work that I do now in the Jewish community is for unaffiliated people.

You specialize in kosher food, raw food, and soul food. What has influenced your cooking style? I would say that living in the South really influenced my cooking. I grew up in Houston, Texas, where it's all about fried chicken, cornbread, greens, and macaroni and cheese. My household wasn't kosher. My mom loved to throw down in the kitchen and make catfish.

I consider cooking an art, and a way for me to create civic dialogue and social change is through food. I am on a quest to make kosher food more fun, exciting, and downright delicious not just for Jews but for the masses.

So what kind of services do you provide through your company? My lifestyle company is called Center of Female Empowerment, LLC, which I keep expanding. My services include persoanl chef, performing life ceremonies, reiki, and personal styling.

My most popular cooking class is the kosher soul food brunch class. I mainly teach that in people's homes for private instruction. I also do kosher soul food cooking demos at private dinner parties, and I speak about the origin of the food.

There are times when I act as chef and celebrant at smaller weddings, most recently a Mewish wedding (Jewish and Muslim). More than half of the ceremonies I perform are interfaith and/or intercultural. I think that people feel comfortable using me for the "inter" ceremonies because it is the work that I prefer to do.

So what exactly is "kosher soul food"? When I first started doing kosher soul food, my intention was Southern and soul food with a Jewish twist. As I jumped more and more into the work, it has become about making Jewish food from different cultures and inter-cultural food. However, the cookbook I am writing is solely focused on traditional Southern/soul food that is kosher. Two of my favorite recipes are Sweet Cornbread and my Sweet Potato Latkes.

Tell me more about this cookbook. I am writing a cookbook titled "Kosher Soul Gourmet," which will have some of my favorite recipes from growing up and also recipes that I have developed by fusing African American food and Jewish food. The book will also have original artwork and will include a food ceremony that will be great to use for multicultural seders.

I have made the decision to self-publish the book so that I can have more control over the creation and vision of it. It's taking me longer than I thought to write! I want to make sure the recipes are tight. I hope to have it completed by March 2008.

Tell me about your talk show, "Schmoozin' with Shoshi." I actually just changed the name of the show to "Luscious Living with Shoshi." Sometimes I have a guest on the show and sometimes the show is just me giving advice, talking about community and events. In December I will be launching an online radio show called "Luscious Living." The show will have a bunch of fabulous guests, writers, sexperts, foodies, performers, and so on.

Are there any upcoming events you're hosting or speaking at? In December I will be performing a few selections from my solo show "Triple Minority" at the Bowery Poetry Club and for Groove Mama Ink's Women's Week at Center Stage. The show is about my joys and oys as a black Jewess and about my work. Eventually, when I have worked out some things technically, I will be cooking during the show.

Photo by Erica Kuciw

Previous Pickled Q&As Emily Reed of Jacobs Farm David Sax of Save the Deli Katie of Don't Eat off the Sidewalk Adam Roberts, the Amateur Gourmet Vegan Cookbook Guru Sarah Kramer

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Like many other large corporations, PepsiCo is striving to establish its green credentials as consumers become more focused on climate change. There are marketing opportunities, too. The company, for example, intends to advertise that its popular SunChips snacks are made using solar energy.

Regardless of all the motives involved, this really is a step in the right direction. A huge step:

Over the next several years, Frito-Lay plans to install high-tech filters that would recycle most of the water used to rinse and wash potatoes, as well as the corn used to make Doritos and other snacks, and then burn the leftover sludge to create methane gas to run the plant’s boiler.

The company will also build at least 50 acres of solar concentrators behind the plant to generate solar power. A biomass generator, which will probably burn agricultural waste, is also planned to provide additional renewable fuel.

The retrofit of the Casa Grande factory, scheduled to be completed by 2010, would reduce electricity and water consumption by 90 percent and its natural gas use by 80 percent. Greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 50 percent to 75 percent, the company said.

Frito-Lay hopes the project will help the company save money on energy costs, particularly as oil prices approach $100 a barrel. What works in Casa Grande, one of 37 plants it operates in the United States and Canada, would then be replicated at other sites where possible.

Mmmmm…who's craving Doritos?

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Everyday Kosher Cooking, created by Adiel Lejbovitz, is a four-hour-long DVD with cooking demonstrations by Jewish chefs, behind-the-scenes interviews, an introduction to kosher laws, and a tutorial on knife skills. This is the first in a planned series of DVDs, which will cover Shabbos, yom tov, Pesach, BBQs, and sushi.

Know anyone who needs some kosher cooking lessons? This may just be the perfect Chanukah gift. Everyday Kosher Cooking is available at Judaica stores and distributed by Sameach Productions.

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More than 100,000 products now carry one of the 900 kosher symbols used throughout the world. Menachem Lubinsky, who founded Kosherfest 19 years ago, said that the kosher market nowadays is driven by an increasingly younger and more affluent consumer, whose basic mantra is “If it can be made kosher, I’ll eat it.”

So what does it mean when the most observant Jews can eat almost anything they want, including the foods of other cultures?

Adam Kaufman, vice president of sales for Mikee (pronounced "Mikey")…said that Jews are traditionally "supposed to think about God when they eat kosher food. It was supposed to separate them spiritually from other peoples. But now Jews don't want to feel left out just because they're eating kosher."

In this age of increasing globalization, it makes sense that kosher ethnic products are surfacing, and it's not only observant Jews who want more kosher choices, but also Kabbalists, Seventh Day Adventists, and Muslims. Kosher food manufacturers are simply adjusting their products to satisfy a range of cultures.

I'm just worried that with all the new kosher ethnic products, traditionally Jewish food will become extinct. I mean, really, picture yourself in the kosher supermarket aisle debating whether to buy bottled borscht or chicken tikka masala: it's a no-brainer!

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The first time I made this recipe, I used (gasp!) pork sausage. My boyfriend and I had recently moved in together. He took a few bites, chewed thoughtfully, and said, "You know, you shouldn't cook pork." "Huh?" (No idea what he was talking about.)

This launched a whole convoluted discussion about keeping kosher. He grew up in a kosher household (although they sometimes ordered pepperoni pizza and ate it on paper plates), and wanted us to do the same. Ha! I had never heard something so preposterous in my life!

Ah, compromise. As anyone will tell you, it's the key to a functional relationship. Or, as my now-fiance says, "Neither party is happy." But I think we've reached a good compromise in our house, where we're both happy. While we cook any number of cheeseburgers, shellfish, chicken parmesan, etc., there's no pork allowed in our house (unless it's pepperoni pizza–which we actually eat on real plates).

So now I make this pasta with turkey sausage, and it's every bit as good (well, almost). This is one of my all-time favorite recipes, perfect for fall. I use cream (because that's allowed), but you can leave it out, or substitute a little nondairy creamer.

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