Being Jewish in the modern world, especially in Western countries, is very different than it used to be. In earlier eras, the Jewish people were much more segregated from other cultures, whereas today Jews have become much more integrated into melting pot communities.

While this integration is great for providing people of the Jewish faith with more opportunities to be successful in their professional careers, it has removed them from many of their traditions. If you are looking for a way to reconnect with your Jewish heritage consider looking at how you eat.

Sidebar: When my daughter and I traveled through Israel we stayed in a hotel in Jerusalem where heart patients were recovering. They did not go to nursing homes, but to a hotel with their family to recover and rehabilitate. Every morning for breakfast we were presented with a delicious display of food as you see above.

One of the ways that you can reconnect with the religious rules that guided your ancestors is to learn more about living a Kosher lifestyle. In its most basic form, Kosher living is a series of rules that govern what you eat and how you prepare it. For example, in order to be Kosher, a meal has to contain ingredients that are considered Kosher and it must not mix dairy and meat. Furthermore, the meat products that you select have to have been slaughtered in a manner that is deemed Kosher by a Rabbi. This usually means that the slaughtering process was as humane as possible.

There are a lot of rules related to Kosher living. Some apply to your ingredients, while others apply to how your ingredients are stored, prepared and served. If you want to set up a Kosher kitchen, for example, then you will need two separate triangles (refrigerator, stove and sink). One will be for meat products and one for dairy products. To stay Kosher you will not be able to contaminate one triangle with the ingredients from the other. These rules apply to your cleanup and serving as well. It is because of this that Kosher living can be expensive and time consuming, however, the spiritual connection and affirmation that you get from living a Kosher lifestyle is often well worth the extra effort.

Kosher sustainable agriculture is being embraced around the world. ADAMAH, a Jewish environmental fellowship program, integrates organic farming, sustainable living, Jewish learning, teaching, and contemplative spiritual practice.

For instance, you can support a healthier way of life by celebrating Chanukah with organic sweet potato latkes made from vegetables that are grown locally or investigate what farms near you are engaged in organic sustainable agriculture.

Are you asking what sustainable agriculture / farming is all about? For the last few months I have been investigating this type of farming so here is what I learned.

Sustainable agriculture is a method of agriculture that attempts to ensure the profitability of farms to preserve local farms and the environment by cutting down on energy. Most farmers also avoid genetically modified food. This is a very simplicit way of explaining this way of life.

When I was in New Zealand a few years ago my daughter and I visited a sustainable farm. It is a very detailed, purposeful and intricate design. For instance, the vegetables that need the most water are planted close to the living quarters so that they can be attended to daily. The less a crop or animal needs attention, the further away they are located near the family's living quarters.

Kosher sustainable farmers incorporate Jewish ethics and believe that living with the natural cycles of harvest and planting is traditional to the Jewish way of life. After all, that is what holidays in the Jewish calendar are all about. Don't we eat the holdiay foods that grows during the season?

The word “kosher” means “fit,” and kosher organic, non-genetically engineered foods are considered fit for eating. Environmentalists believe that a wholistic approach is important because it seems like something is missing when you do not combine ethics and spiritualty into your lifestyle.

If you are interested in living a Kosher lifestyle and you want to minimize the amount of money that you spend on the design of your kitchen and the amount of time you spend in your kitchen, then consider becoming a vegetarian. By eliminating meat from your diet you are reducing your need for a second triangle in your kitchen and a second set up serving dishes and silverware. However, there are still ingredients that can trip you up when you cook, as there are animal fats that are hidden in several prepackaged foods. It is because of this that you need to educate yourself about what you are putting into your body.

Since you will be cooking with a lot of limitations on what ingredients you can and cannot use you can enhance the appeal of your Kosher vegetarian dishes with colors and garnishes.

Trying to keep up with the rules of two different eating codes is challenging. However, you can make things easier on yourself by learning how to read labels on products that you purchase at the supermarket.

When you go vegetarian your first response may be panic. After all, how can you possibly survive on lettuce and carrots? Despite what you may think, there are many delicious Jewish recipes that you can prepare that are vegetarian. Vegetarian soups are first on this list. Soups are a popular menu item for vegetarians because they are filling, they are generally healthy and they are inexpensive to make. To ensure you can create a variety of vegetarian soups, here are the staple items you will want to have in your pantry or refrigerator:

1. Barley

2. Peas

3. Beans

4. Beets - Remeber the Russian centenarians? Beets, pickled as a borscht, have powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against birth defects, certain cancers (especially color), and heart disease.

5. Vegetable stock

6. Onions (sweet or savory)

7. Carrots

8. Celery (fresh) - Did you know that eating raw celery helps lower blood pressure?

9. Spices

10. Potatoes (variety of potatoes: sweet, russet, waxy and yellow)

11. Turnips

11. Squash

Salads are another great dish to add to your vegetarian diet. When most people think about salads they think about lettuce based salads. While these are good to experiment with, they can get a bit boring, especially if you focus only on iceburg lettuce. If you want to jazz up your lettuce based salads then consider using a variety of different greens including spinach, collard and beet greens. To really spice up your menu, however, you will want to experiment with other types of vegetarian salads such as bean salads, noodle salads and fruit salads.

To ensure you can prepare a variety of salads on a moments notice have these items on hand:

1.               Greens

2.               Olive oil

3.               Balsamic vinegar

4.               Sesame seed oil

5.               Rice wine vinegar

6.               Chives

7.               Tomatoes

8.               Canned beans

9.               Fresh produce that is in season

10.            Fruit

11.            Olives

Now that you have a few ideas for soups and salads it is time to move on to vegetarian entrees. While you can live on soups and salads, you will quickly tire of these things. To keep on your vegetarian diet you need to occasionally make a dish that feels like a meal. Fortunately you can turn nearly any traditional Jewish recipe into a vegetarian dish by swapping out one or two ingredients. For example, if you want to make a vegetarian version of a tuna noodle casserole then you will want to swap out the tuna for mushrooms, and you will want to select noodles that are made using vegetable based fats such as margarine instead of dairy based butter.

Ideas for Vegetarian Entrees:

1.               Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

2.               Vegetarian Potato Casserole (Tater tots, cream of mushroom soup, mixed vegetables)

3.               Meatless spaghetti and maranara sauce

4.               Vegan Cheese Pizza

5.               Eggplant Parmasean

When you are a vegetarian it is difficult to attend big family celebrations because meat is usually the centerpiece of the meal. While you can pick away at side dishes you are usually left with high starch vegetables and cheese. One way you can avoid this problem is to either bring your own vegetarian dishes with you the celebration or you can host the dinner yourself.

You have several options when it comes to vegetarian Jewish holiday recipes. Your first option is to simply look for a main dish recipe that is vegetarian. For example, eggplant parmesan, noodle casserole and vegetable fried rice all work well as vegetarian main dishes. You can also make spaghetti, just use a simple marinara sauce that doesn’t contain meat.

Your second option is to turn a regular Jewish holiday recipe into a vegetarian recipe. You can use meat substitutes like mushrooms, beans, eggplant and tofu in recipes that call for beef, pork or chicken. You can also visit your local health food store and use premade vegetarian meats (usually made from soy and beans) that have been flavored to taste like beef or chicken. These vegetarian substitutes can be added to your recipes when you cook your holiday dinner.

Veganism is a stricter form of vegetarianism. It requires that your diet be completely void of animal products, including eggs and dairy products. Now this form of vegetarianism is not for everyone. It can be very difficult to go cold turkey on dairy and eggs, but it can be very enlightening knowing that you are living on 100 percent animal free nutrition.