Kosher
From RationalWiki
Kosher refers to food that complies with kashrut, the traditional Jewish dietary laws. Stemming from initial prohibitions on eating blood,[1] ritually unclean animals, and a somewhat cryptic passage that states not to "boil a kid in its mother's milk", kashrut rules developed in later, post-Torah tradition to include many of the following rules:
- Mammals may only be eaten if they chew the cud and have a cloven hoof (horses and pigs are notably banned). Carnivorous mammals and wild game which has not been slaughtered according to Jewish law are also banned.
- Only fish with fins and scales may be eaten; shellfish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, and insects are not allowed.
- Birds must not be carrion-eaters or birds of prey.
- Meat and milk may not be mixed in the kitchen or on the table. (However, fish, eggs, and plant-based foods are known as pareve, meaning "neither", and may be eaten freely with either milk or meat. [2]
- Animals must be killed with a single stroke of the knife and drained of blood; animals not killed in this matter are not acceptable, nor are animals that are diseased or damaged.
- The sciatic nerve is forbidden; some Jewish butchers remove this, but others simply dispose of the hindquarters of the animal.
- Passover regulations are somewhat more complex, forbidding leavened bread, beer, or anything else that can ferment. Rice and corn are generally up for debate -- Sephardim are fine with them, Ashkenazim usually are not.
For the most part, kosher regulations are highly complex and differently enforced depending on the community; on the whole, Sephardic kitchens are less strict than Ashkenazic, and some Reform and Reconstructionist Jews obey kashrut only during Passover.
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[edit] Kosher in slang
In common parlance, "kosher" is used to mean "okay" or "cool" - as in "don't tase me, bro -- it's not kosher!"
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Usenet rec.food.cuisine.jewish Kosher FAQ
- Roden, Claudia, The Book of Jewish Food, New York: Knopf, 1996, ISBN 0394532589.

