AUGUST 18 • 2022 | 15

al programs the academy offers
to students as young as middle
school. The DFA trains students
in culinary arts where they can
eventually find employment and
try their skills in one
of the small batch
companies in partner-
ship with the academy.
Some of its most well-
known products are
its Slow Jams, Mitten
Bites Energy Bars and
Popsicles, all available for pur-
chase at the festival.
Author Anita Pazner of West
Bloomfield will be reading and
selling her new children’s book
The Topsy Turvy Bus (2022 Kar-
Ben Publishing) a book about
sustainability. Fueled with left-
over vegetable oil collected from
restaurants, the real Topsy Turvy
bus will be on site at the festival,
and visitors can climb aboard,
though it will stay put during the
festival. Pazner will also teach
about the values and importance
of home composting with a

hands-on demonstration.
Inspiration for the book came
to Pazner during volunteer out-
ings on the bus at the height of
the pandemic. Former Hazon
Detroit Director Wren Hack
drove the bus to pick up used
cooking oil in local restaurants
and deliver food to area food
banks.
Pulling on the Jewish value
of tikkun olam — repairing the
world — Pazner said the book can
show children of all faith back-
grounds that there are things they
and their parents can do to make
the Earth a healthier, more sus-
tainable place to live.
“When I walk visitors through
the bus, I’ll teach them how it
uses vegetable oil and solar power
and talk about the benefits of
composting,” Pazner said.
“I hope by visiting the bus, and
by reading the book, kids and
their parents will come to under-
stand that we can all perform tik-
kun olam one new, fresh idea at a
time.”

Scenes from the 2019 Jewish Food Fest, before the pandemic forced organizers to scale it back.

Anita
Pazner
world — Pazner said the book can

grounds that there are things they

Scenes from the 2019 Jewish Food Fest, before the pandemic forced organizers to scale it back.
Scenes from the 2019 Jewish Food Fest, before the pandemic forced organizers to scale it back.