Showing posts with label kosher vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kosher vegetables. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Indian Restaurant in Jerusalem Loses Kosher Certification For Selling Vegetables From Non-Approved Places

Only Kosher vegetables may be served in Kosher restaurants, according to an increasingly large number of rabbinic authorities around the world.  Although for our parents and grandparents, vegetables and fruit were all considered kosher, that has changed over the past number of years as Kashrut authorities have concerned themselves with whether there might be microscopic bugs hiding out in some of the vegetables.  This has affected Kosher restaurants and caterers around the world, many of which have been prohibited from using romaine lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus tips and many other green vegetables.  

I noticed this two years ago in Israel when eating at the Kohinoor restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem.  The restaurant did not have aloo ghobi on the menu (a common Indian dish of potato and cauliflower) since cauliflower had been banned by the rabbinic authorities.  Other vegetables dishes were also missing.  I have also noticed this repeatedly when ordering Kosher meals on airplanes.  I look at my tray and wonder why I have not been served any healthy vegetables.


Now, according to YNet news in Israel on October 15, 2012, the Kashrut authorities have caused the Jerusalem restaurant Ichikidana to give up its Kosher certification.  Ichikidana is a small,vegetarian Indian restaurant in Machane Yehuda, the large Jerusalem market.  The restaurant is known for only using fresh local ingredients.  It does not use canned, processed or frozen food and does not serve sugary drinks or alcohol.  The restaurant does not use a microwave and serves its food on recycled plates only.  It is considered one of the few restaurants in Israel that serve authentic Indian food.

Apparently, the Jerusalem Kashrut authorities have now begun to insist that Kosher certified restaurants only buy their vegetables from specific approved stores.  This was simply too much for Ichikidana which elected to opt out of Kosher certification.

It is quite disappointing to see this spread of extremism which is evident not just in Israel but around the world.  In many of these situations, the only solution will be for competing Kosher authorities to emerge and offer more rational alternatives.  But for now, as many of these monopolistic Kashruth councils are dominated by increasingly extreme rabbis, they try to outdo each other by coming with more and more stringent rules.  The results are terrible for Kosher consumers, particularly those who would like to eat healthy green vegetables.

I plan to visit Ichikidana as soon as I have the opportunity over the coming weeks.  I hope to enjoy some fresh vegetables when I'm there, wherever they happen to have been bought.



Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Looks Like a Goose, Tastes like a Pig - a Kosher Pig...

It's not yet April Fool's - but I couldn't resist including this. After all, it is supposedly true, according to Haaretz, one of Israel's major national daily newspapers.

An organically grown, Spanish goose has been located that, apparently, tastes just like a pig. Of course, observant Jews cannot eat pigs, which are one of the animals expressly forbidden in the Torah for consumption. But there is nothing wrong with eating a goose that tastes like a pig, as long as it has been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law.


The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, has given these geese the official stamp of approval. So Israeli restaurants that observe Kosher dietary laws (certainly not all restaurants in Israel are Kosher) will soon be able to sell Kosher "pork" – (which will really be disguised goose). Score another one for those observant Jews who just have to find a way to eat what everyone else is eating - more or less. And it is bound to help with those Jews who have always wanted to keep Kosher but just can’t give up the swine...

Personally – I have never really gotten excited about simulated bacon bits, kosher imitation crab, fake pepperoni pizza or other Kosher items masquerading as some prohibited non-Kosher food. There may be a way to season the right kind of chicken so that it tastes just like a lobster but those who are eating it would not have had the experience of torturing it first by tossing it on a hot barbecue or into a boiling pot.

Maybe our Rabbis would be better off ensuring that we are able to eat some healthy green vegetables – like broccoli, asparagus, spinach, collard greens and other wonderful food items that have recently been facing increasingly stringent rules (due to the existence of microscopic or almost microscopic bugs). Many vegetables are banned or hard to find in Israel – without any really compelling reason (as far as Jewish law is concerned), other than a relatively new found Rabbinical interest in an increased level of vigilance for avoiding the tiniest of insects, even those that are not normally visible to the naked eye.



Consider this crazy picture. The Kosher Indian restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem (that I reviewed in a previous post), which is supervised by the highest level of Kosher authorities in Israel, may soon be able to add Kosher simulated "pork" to its offerings but will still not be able to serve cauliflower and potatoes ("aloo ghobi"), a dish that is so essential to Indian cuisine - or a range of other vegetarian delicacies.

It seems to me that Israelis interested in eating healthy diets are really the ones getting goosed, yet again.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/israel-s-chief-rabbi-set-to-import-kosher-pork-1.397320