Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Can't you just get a Rabbi to bless this?

Kosher. the basic were covered by Frum Meets World really well. I, too, am amazed by the idea that most non-Jews have about what Kosher means. As someone who didn't grow up with the whole kosher food thing, it's much simpler than it looks from the outside.
The questions I hear most often vary by source. From OJ's I mostly get things like, "Does Treif (non-kosher food) taste good?" (no, it tastes awful, that's why all the Gentiles eat it, duh.) "do you miss certain foods?" (yes, like Clam Chowder and Taco Bell)
From the gentiles, it's more like "Can you eat at my house?" (not really, but thank you for asking. How about a bottle of water or a coke?) "Can't you just get a Rabbi to bless this and make it kosher?" (if only it was that easy...)
What about you? Do you have a burning question about what is or isn't kosher? No question is stupid except the one that goes unasked...

4 comments:

Angel said...

wait, so can you have mountain dew?

the rabbi's wife said...

I can have Mountain Dew, if it has a mark on it telling me it's kosher, or if I know where it was bottled is a kosher plant.
All soda companies coat the inside of their bottles and cans with a little oil to make the filling process faster. Some places (particularly in the midwest and foreign countries) use animal fat (not kosher) and some use Vegetable oil (probably kosher). You have to do a little research to know. All plants in WA and OR use vegetable because of the high number of vegetarians/vegans in the area. When we travel, I have to be more careful.
Not that I'm drinking a lot of MD these days anyway (bad for the baby) and it costs 8-10 shekel a can (2-3.50 in dollars).

Heather said...

What about the pickle? I know that seems smart assy (wha? from me?) but I've always always wondered if the Kosher pickle meant that kind of kosher or something entirely different.

the rabbi's wife said...

So, pickles. Most of them are kosher to begin with. Kosher is also a "style" of pickle. sometimes called half-sour, it usually means a bit of garlic, less salt than many pickles and lots of sugar and vinegar, but less sugar than "sweet" pickles. So there you go. Oh, and pickles in Israel are very different, as a side note. They are brined in salt water, not vinegar like in America. Israelis love them and put pickles on everything. I prefer American-style.