So it turns out very few people know what the word "kosher" means or what the dietary restrictions on a religious orthodox Jew are, so I thought I'd give some headlines in a little thread if anybody is interested. Here goes:
The rules governing what food is "kosher" are MASSIVE. Literally huge. Books and books and books. I'm not going to do all of that here obviously, both because I don't know it all (that's why we have rabbis) and also because just no. These are the highlights only.
Most people know about the pork thing. In the Hebrew Bible it says not to eat animals unless they have cloven hooves and chew the cud. So pigs are out, cows and sheep are in. Birds: we have a list- chicken, turkey, goose and duck are in, most others are out.
Aquatic animals: Bible says they need fins and scales. That rules out shellfish and calamari and stuff, but also sharks, eel, swordfish, sturgeon. Salmon is kosher, thank heavens. Love me some smoked salmon.
We also don't eat invertebrates (some communities have some crickets and locusts, but it isn't widespread). For this reason we are supposed to wash and check all fruit and veg for little bugs and the like. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff I've found.
A lot of people also know about "milk and meat" - we don't mix dairy with meat dishes. So no cheeseburgers, parmesan on bolognese, or steak with blue cheese sauce (more's the pity, would love to try that).
We also have separate sets of cutlery, crockery and cooking implements for both meat and milk (and things which are neither - "pareve"). A kosher kitchen is one with *lots* of stuff in it.
In order for meat to be kosher, it has to be slaughtered appropriately. This is by a qualified "shochet" and is done with a particularly sharp blade and is supposed to be very humane and painless. Whether or not it is, or whether the rules should change, is a live debate.
Kosher farms and slaughterhouses are supposed to be very humane. I know the guy who used to run about half of the English ones and he said he used to take people on tours, but only after they had visited non-kosher ones. He said all the journalists who took him up on the offer
changed their tune, going from intending to write an article about how awful kosher slaughter is, to, well, not. I don't know how true this is but it is part of the rules, and we keep them pretty stringently for everything else.
There isn't a huge UK market for kosher meat. Maybe 50-100 thousand people? it means kosher meat is expensive. We generally have one chicken a week and have cut down because cost and because meat sucks for the planet (and the meat).
In terms of other products, we have a list of things that we know are kosher and things that we know aren't. so pretty much all Cadbury's is kosher, but no Rowntree (lots of gelatin). If you particularly care or want a mad Christmas quiz round isitkosher.uk
The above notwithstanding, Jews love eating. Famous for it. We do a lot of big family and communal meals. Lots of good food. If a friend or colleague invites you to a kosher meal, take your stretchy trousers. And don't bring them wine (unless you found kosher wine).
I think those are probably the most important things to know. Any other questions hit me up.
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