Kosher Food

Religiously observant Jews will not eat any food that is not kosher. The core rules of kashrut (dietary laws) are:

* Land animals must have split hooves and chew their cud.

* Fish have to have scales and fins.

* Birds cannot be amongst those listed as forbidden in the Torah and cannot be hunters/scavengers

* Animals must be killed in a specific manner and must be free of all disease

* As much blood as possible must be removed from meat as consumption of blood is forbidden

* Dairy and meat cannot be combined in the same meal and there's a waiting period between eating one then the other.

* Orthodox Jews and some Conservative Jews will not eat certain fruits and vegetables because it's too difficult to guarantee that all bugs have been washed away (cauliflower, asparagus, and the like).

Additionally, food must be prepared and handled following kashrut. Any food that does not meet these requirements cannot be eaten by those who are religiously observant.
Jewish people eat the following foods mentioned in the Bible:

1. Fowl/poultry: eat only those known by tradition not to be in the list of forbidden fowl in the Bible e.g. chicken, turkey, duck, goose.

2. Meat: only from animals that chew the cud and have a fully cloven hoof e.g. cow, goat, sheep and not pig, rabbit, camel, horse etc.

3. Milk and eggs: only those from kosher animals/ fowl (as mentioned in 1 and 2).

4. Fish: only those with fins and scales (eg no shellfish)

5. Meat and milk: it is forbidden to eat meat and milk together, even two separate foods at the same meal.

6. Meat and poultry must be slaughtered according to Jewish law, by a religious Jew, and ritually cleansed of blood.

There are rabbinic laws governing foods such as milk, bread, wine, cheese and other cooked foods that they must be prepared/cooked or have their preparation/cooking supervised by a religious Jew.

Most prepared foods must carry certification that their production is supervised, so as to ensure that they comply with these rules.
Foods permitted to Jewish people are known as kosher, meaning that they are acceptable according to dietary laws known as kashrut. Those foods that are not kosher are known as treif, which means "torn," a term which technically applies only to the meat of animals either discovered dead or killed by animals but which has come to have a more general meaning.

Many non-Jewish people believe that to become kosher, a type of food must undergo some process whereby it becomes blessed by a rabbi or other spiritual figure but this is emphatically not the case - the only role a rabbi plays in the production of kosher foods is visiting the place that it is manufactured to ensure that kashrut laws are being adhered to.

Kashrut sounds complicated to those who have not been brought up in a Jewish household, but they're simpler than they seem and so long as a few basic laws are followed keeping kosher is relatively easy - I keep both kosher and vegan, and the veganism is by far the trickier one to stick to. However, it's probably easier to explain what Jews can and cannot eat and why rather than listing those that cannot be kosher.

The easiest part to remember is that all foods made entirely from non-animal sources - ie; salad, vegetables, fruit - are considered parve, or pareve, meaning that they are meat or dairy. To confuse things though, both eggs and fish are also considered pareve. However, insects - with the exception of certain locusts - are not kosher and so vegetables must be carefully checked and washed to make sure no insects are accidentally eaten. Many Jews avoid those vegetables that are hard to check such as asparagus, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Though it is possible to purchase kosher salt, salt - being a mineral - is also parve. However, consumption of blood in any form is strictly forbidden and this salt - sometimes called koshering salt - is used to soak up all traces of blood from meat before it can be eaten.

When it comes to meat, the kosher laws become a little more complex and many Jewish people are vegetarian - partly because many believe that the Torah recommends being so, and partly because it makes keeping kosher easy. The best known law regarding the consumption of meat is that land animals must have both split hooves and chew their cud. This means that animals such as pigs, rabbits, lizards, horses are not allowed in the Jewish diet. Many people suppose is because these animals are dirty - a belief that has arisen from the term "unclean," which is often used in place of treif or forbidden, but is not necessarily intended to mean that the food is dirty; which is why diabetic Jews are still able to use pork insulin to control their condition.

In general, mammals with cloven hooves are kosher. Animals of this type include sheep, goats, cows...and pigs. So why are pigs not allowed? The reason is that cloven-hoofed animals must also chew the cud to be considered kosher - pigs do not do so, this, rather than their supposed uncleanliness, is why they are not eaten. Mammals that do not have cloven hooves are not kosher - such as the camel, the hare and rabbit or the elephant.

Birds need to show certain characteristics to be kosher - or, from the bird's point of view, not show certain characteristics to be treif. No birds of prey are kosher, nor are crows or any member of the crow family such as jackdaws, magpies and ravens.

All fish that have both fins and scales are kosher, but those that do not - such as the lamprey and catfish - are treif. Shellfish such as lobsters and prawns along with molluscs such as mussels and cockles are not permitted, neither is any animal that lives in the sea but is not a fish, such as whales and dolphins. Animals that crawl on the ground - ie; reptiles, slugs, snails - are not kosher.

Permitted animals must be slaughtered according to strict rules to be kosher. The slaughter is carried out by a highly-trained shochet who uses a razor-sharp blade called a hallaf or sakin to slit the animal's throat so that it bleeds to death - it is not permitted that this be carried out upon an unconscious animal, and so for that reason it is not stunned prior to slaughter as is carried out in most modern slaughterhouses. This has led to much controversy in recent years as to whether or not shechita - the laws on slaughter - are cruel with some people saying that, when performed properly, the animal suffers no more than in non-shechita slaughterhouses and others denouncing it as inhumane. This is the reason given by many vegetarian Jews as a reason for their decision not to eat meat, myself included. Jews have never had a great tradition of hunting, unlike most other cultures, which is at least partly because shechita also applies to wild animals which cannot be shot or speared, but must be trapped and slaughtered in the approved way - this is obviously highly impractical in many cases.

The corpse must have as much blood removed as possible, and once butchered the cuts will be covered in the kosher salt already mentioned to remove any last traces. It will be carefully checked for any sign of internal injury or disease which would have made it unhealthy prior to slaughter, and if any is found it is not kosher. It must then be porged, a process whereby certain parts - the sciatic nerve, the kidneys and intestines and, in the case of cows and sheep fats known as chelev - are removed.

Meat and dairy products cannot be mixed, and many Jews keep separate cooking pots and utensils for each so that there is no chance of this happening, as well as using one part of the kitchen to prepare meat and another for dairy. To avoid mixing the two in the stomach, a Jew must wait for a certain amount of time after consuming one before the other but this varies according to community - in general, six hours is considered sufficient but it can be as low as one hour (considered sufficient among Jews of Dutch descent). Additionally, there is a tradition that fish and meat cannot be served on the same plate. However, it is allowed to eat both in the same meal, just as part of different courses. Most Sephardim will also not combine dairy with fish.

It is worth remembering that, from time to time, foods previously unknown to Jews come about - the first one we can know about with any certainty is the turkey which was unknown outside America prior to Columbus, long after the laws of kashrut were established. In the case of birds, a decision as to whether or not is is kosher will usually be made according to how it lives and whether it has any similarity to other, already-known birds. In the case of the turkey, it was unfortunate enough to be very similar to a creature known as the fowl of India and as such can be eaten by Jews. Jews have now spread all around the world and may come into contact with foods that they were not previously exposed to, or animals that have not traditionally been widely used in food production may become so - ostrich meat, crocodile meat and others have become widely available in recent years, and unless expressly forbidden (the crocodile is a reptile and therefore definitely not kosher) rabbis will meet and discuss whether or not that animal can be considered kosher: it was decided in 2008 that giraffes are permitted.

It depends. If you are Ashkenaz, then you can't eat popcorn on Passover (Ashkenazim don't eat legumes on passover, and corn is a legume). If you are of a Sefard (who do eat legumes on Passover) origin, then you technically can eat popcorn on Passover, but it must have a reliable kosher for Passover certification.

Corn is not a legume. The reason that corn isn't eaten during Passover is because of a naming error when it came to Europe and it became associated with one of the grains that the Torah forbids during Passover.

Chardonnay grapes are used to produce mainly white wine, it's also used in blends for rose and champagne, the classic Chablis is produced from 100% chardonnay grapes in the Chablis region is the northernmost district of the Burgundy region of france.

The color can vary depending on age and method of barrel maturation, Aussie chardonnays are often oak ages whereas Chablis is usual unoaked and matured in metal barrels.

No. Consider the following points:

• Blessing food doesn't make it kosher.
  
• There is no such thing in Judaism as blessing objects to change them.
  
• Pork is an unkosher animal and cannot be eaten according to Jewish law.