in article
[email protected], Nancy Young at
[email protected] wrote on 12/26/03 5:21 PM:
>
[email protected] wrote:
>>
>> Margaret Suran <
[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Compared to have a special kosher meal for one guest, cooking for a diabetic or a vegetarian is
>>> a cinch.
>>
>>> It is really complex to prepare a kosher meal when you are not sure of what is involved. Buying
>>> meat from a kosher butcher is the very least. If the meat requires the addition of chicken stock
>>> or a chicken flavored bouillon cube in the cooking process, both have to be kosher, too. I
>>> cannot believe that someone would single out kosher meat and not care about the other foods or
>>> ingredients being served.
>>
>>> Talk to your friend about it. I can't believe that she expects a host to get meat especially for
>>> her and there may be a small misunderstanding.
>>
>> Absolutely. In addition, the pot and other utensiles must not have been used to cook any dairy
>> products. Ditto for the silverware and plates that will be used to serve the food.
>
> That's pretty much what I didn't understand. Not being Jewish, never mind kosher, I haven't the
> vaguest idea how someone keeping kosher could eat in a non kosher home. I *guarantee* you I have
> no plates or pots or utensils, etc., to tell someone it never touched pork or dairy or whatever.
>
> Just saying, get a kosher chicken, that really doesn't cut it.
>
> Personally, if I kept kosher (not a plan), I would discretely bring my own meal and utensils,
> obviously letting the host know. This way, you get to hang out with friends and no stressful rules
> for them.
>
> nancy
They could have a salad on a paper plate with plastic flatware. Not much else.
I had a coworker who was Orthodox. When we had department lunches, he would order a garden salad
with oil and vinegar dressing. Wherever we went, that's what he had. And bread. Butter or not
depending on what he brought to eat at his desk.
Once, I think he had broiled salmon with a baked potato and a salad. but he asked for it to be
served on a paper plate. He had butter on the potato, because fish can be served with dairy, it's
not considered meat, it's neutral (pareve).
Kosher is like pregnant. You either are or you aren't.
HOWEVER!... Many people "Keep" kosher at home, but are more lax about it outside the home.
Personally, that seems hypocritical, but it's not really for me to say. Especially since I don't
even try, at all.
It seems to be the simplest way to do it though. "Keep it" at home, where you have complete control,
and try your best to keep it outside the home, but with the understanding that you can't always, and
compromise only when you have to, and then, don't stray too far. thus, the OP's friend will eat
kosher chicken at his friend's non-kosher house, cooked in non-kosher pots in his non-kosher
kitchen, off of non-kosher plates. But because the chicken was slaughtered in accordance with Kosher
law, and was properly blessed, and will not be prepared with dairy or pork, he's got the major
points covered. And he's being a good friend, which also counts for something.
The theory behind not mixing milk and meat in the same meal goes back to the bible, there is a quote
about not drowning the calf in its mother's milk. However, using separate dishes for milk and meat
dishes was a good idea when dishes were made of wood and houses didnt' have running water--it was
difficult to clean dishes thoroughly enough to be certain all traces of meat or dairy were removed.
In the modern era, the separate dishes and pans is more out of tradition than necessity. Wash a dish
or pan in hot soapy water and you have no worries about mixing milk and meat, at least not in
practicality.
The orthodox and conservative Jews most likely would not eat at the home of someone who was not
strictly kosher. Reformists, on the other hand, set out to find a balance between the traditions of
the past and the modern way, and would be more likely to, as I said above, try to observe as much as
possible, and only compromise on minor points.
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