Kosher food. Feature of kosher foods, list

The word "kosher" has recently become quite popular among Internet users. However, not everyone understands what this word means, and they use it more following fashion trends than logical sense. Moreover, not only the adjective "kosher" came into use, but also the adverb "kosher" and even the noun "kosher".

Let's see what this word means - kosher?

Origin and meaning of the word

The word "kosher" came to us from the language of the Jewish people (you can learn about it in the article). In Judaism, which is practiced by Jews, there is the term "kashrut", which means a set of certain rules and the permissibility of something from the point of view of Jewish scripture. In some dialects, the word "kashrut" sounds a little different, for example, "kosher". To what does this term apply?

Use of the word

Originally, the word referred to the food of the Jews. Kosher means that it is permissible to eat. For example, according to kashrut, beef or poultry is kosher, but pork is not. Another sign of kosher meat is that only a special person by profession can kill an animal, but if this is not the case, then the meat is no longer kosher.

If you look deeper, then in addition to food, this term can be applied to clothing, appearance, demeanor, and so on. It is this meaning that has gained wide popularity in the modern world. Kosher in Internet slang means it is allowed, it complies with the rules. Also, the word kosher in youth slang has become synonymous with fashionable, good (Example: he has a kosher car).

Religious rules for eating food are not taken from the ceiling and are mainly ancient simplified sanitary norms and healthy lifestyle rules (at the then existing level of knowledge). However, these laws often become obsolete under the onslaught of scientific knowledge. For example, we have all heard of "kosher" food, let's look at what is "kosher" (and non-kosher) food.

« Kosher"- this is any food (even from Chinese cuisine or Russian folk), but corresponding to the strict laws of "Kashrut" (the permissibility of something in terms of the laws contained in the Torah, Talmud, etc.)

The word "kosher" itself means "permissible", the word "kosher" is just a Russian derivative meaning that the food complies with the rules of Judaism.

Contrary to popular belief, rabbis or other religious figures do not "bless" food to make it kosher. "Blessing" has nothing to do with the term "kosher".

Kosher is not a style of cooking. Chinese food can be kosher if prepared according to Jewish law, and there are many excellent kosher Chinese restaurants in Philadelphia and New York.

Conversely, traditional Jewish foods such as bagels, pancakes, matzah, and shara soup may not be kosher unless they have been prepared in accordance with Jewish law.

Some laws of kashrut are outdated in terms of healthy lifestyle

Many modern Jews believe that the laws of kashrut are just primitive health rules that are outdated. For example, according to modern scientific knowledge, there is no reason to consider camel or rabbit meat less healthy than cow or goat meat. There is also no direct scientific evidence or observation of harm from the compatibility of dairy and meat products (and this is not kosher).

However, the logic here is different: a camel (not kosher for consumption) is more useful as a beast of burden than as a source of food.

The short answer is why the Jews keep these laws: because the Torah says so. The Torah does not specify any reason for these laws, and the traditional Jew does not need to see any other reason. A more detailed version from the book "Being a Jew" by Rabbi Chaim Halevi Donin: keeping the laws is such self-control that you learn to control even the simplest, most basic instincts.

We will give here the basic rules of kosher with the comments of Zozhnik.

Basic rules for kosher food

The laws of kashrut follow from a few fairly simple, understandable rules:

1. Some animals cannot be eaten completely. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of animals, which are prohibited.

2. Of the animals that may be eaten, birds and mammals must be killed in accordance with Jewish law.

3. All blood must be removed from meat and poultry prior to cooking.

4. Some parts of permitted animals may not be eaten.

5. Fruits and vegetables are allowed but must be checked for parts that cannot be eaten.

6. Meat (meat of poultry and mammals) cannot be eaten together with dairy products. Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten with any meat or dairy products. (According to some opinions, fish cannot be eaten with meat).

There is no scientific or medical evidence of harm from the combination of dairy and meat products in the diet. It is important to understand that both meat and "milk" are foods rich in protein. Protein foods are "heavy", requiring more effort for the body to digest them. It is for the digestion of protein foods that the body can spend up to 30% of the energy that it receives from them (on average, the body spends 5-10% of the energy contained in food for its digestion).

7. Utensils (including pots and pans and other cooking surfaces) that come into contact with meat cannot be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food cannot be used with kosher food.

8. Grape products made by non-Jews cannot be eaten.

9. There are several other rules that are not universal.

And now a little more on these issues.

Animals that cannot be eaten

Of the "beasts of the earth" you can eat any animal that has cloven hooves and is ruminant. Any land mammal that does not have both of these qualities is prohibited. The Torah indicates that camels, jerboas, hares and pigs are not kosher because they each lack one of these two qualifications. Cattle, sheep, goats, deer, bison are kosher.

Of the "water" creatures, you can eat everything that has feathers and scales. Thus, from shellfish such as lobster, oysters, shrimp, clams and crabs, everything is prohibited. Fish such as tuna, carp, salmon and herring are allowed.

The complete exclusion of some healthy seafood, on the one hand, impoverishes the diet with some trace elements. On the other hand, there are some controversial arguments in favor of giving up shrimp.

For birds, the criteria is less clear. The Torah provides a list of prohibited birds, but does not specify why these particular birds are prohibited. All birds included in the list are either birds of prey or scavengers, the rabbis claim that this was the basis for their distinction.

Other birds allowed, for example, chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys.

Rodents, reptiles, amphibians, insects are prohibited.

Kosher slaughter

Mammals and birds that may be eaten must be slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. It is forbidden to eat animals that died of natural causes or were killed by other animals - which is quite logical from a health point of view.

In addition, the animals must be free from diseases or organ defects at the time of slaughter. These restrictions do not apply to fish, only small and large livestock.

There are special rules for kosher slaughter of animals. Their meaning is reduced to a minimum of pain experienced by the animal before death. And this has an important meaning.

The concept of kosher food came to us from the Jews. These people adhere to kosher in culinary and legal matters. In our article, we will focus only on food and find out what is kosher food.

These laws have been defined by the Torah for more than 3,500 years, and the Jews strictly adhere to them for the same amount of time. The very first thing a culinary kashrut begins with is that dishes for eating meat and dairy food should always be stored separately, even they need to be washed in separate sinks or dishwashers. Meat should not be stored in the refrigerator where fish and dairy products are stored. Jews have breakfast with eggs, fish, dairy products, vegetables. In the afternoon, for dinner, you can eat meat, desserts that do not contain protein and dairy products, vegetables, fruits. Now let's take a closer look at food.

Meat and fish

• Meat - you can eat any animal, except pork. An animal that is sick or killed during a hunt, fat, thigh is strictly prohibited. He monitors the kosherness and origin of the meat - a specially trained carver, he knows how to properly butcher, remove fat and blood. Then he puts a seal on the meat, which confirms the kosher. An interesting fact about meat kashrut is that McDonalds has changed the technology of making burger patties specifically for Jews. Meat is not cooked in a pan, but exclusively on coals.
• Poultry is kosher, and pigeons are also included in it. Grilled or fire-cooked turkey and chicken hearts are considered kosher. Delicacies in the form of insects, worms, frogs are strictly forbidden to eat. But several species of locusts are allowed.
• A fish that is kosher in the presence of scales and fins. Cook it on fire or in the oven. Marine life such as lobsters, crabs, eels are forbidden to eat. Red caviar is considered kosher, while black caviar is not.

Cereals and fruits

• Any cereals: wheat, barley, oats, yeast products and alcohol can be eaten on any day except Easter. On the days of Passover, these specific prohibitions are added to the usual kashrut.
• Before eating fruits that are susceptible to worm damage, such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, etc., they are carefully checked.

Dairy products, bread

• Do not mix dairy products with meat. The break between taking meat and milk should be at least 6 hours, and between milk and meat - 2 hours.
• Bread is considered kosher only if it is made from kosher ingredients.

Alcohol

Wine made by a non-Jew is not kosher. Alcoholic drinks such as beer are considered kosher if they are prepared according to a certain technology.

Traditional snack of kosher cuisine

Hummus is a traditional addition to Jewish dishes. This is nut butter. It is eaten with absolutely any food from bread to salads.

While preparing kosher food in a restaurant or in their own kitchen, Jews must read a prayer. The taste and appearance of kosher dishes and products are no different from ordinary ones.

10/07/2014 17:31

In total, there are 365 prohibitions that affect all aspects of Jewish life, and more than half of these prohibitions relate to food. Kashrut, in Yiddish kosher, is a code of laws that governs the diet of the Jewish people. Kosher is translated as "suitable", "suitable".

Julia Shapko

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Basic principles of kosher nutrition

Kosher food is made from kosher products, in a strictly defined way and only by Jews. The definition of "kosher" food is described in the Torah. All products that do not meet the concept of "kosher" are prohibited and harmful to human bodily health.

Another important aspect mentioned in Kashrut is hygiene. Products must not contain harmful substances , animals must be healthy, dairy and meat products must not only be stored separately, but also separately eaten.

corresponding to the description of the Torah:

• Meat- beef, lamb, goat meat, venison, elk meat, etc. You can eat the meat of those animals that are artiodactyl and ruminant. Rodent (hares, rabbits, etc.) are not kosher. Animals must be slaughtered in a special way. It is carried out only by a shoihet (carver) - a specially trained person. To remove all the blood from the meat, it is soaked in water and sprinkled with salt, which absorbs the last drops of blood.

• Bird- chickens, ducks, geese, quails, pigeons and turkey meat.
  It is forbidden to eat the meat of birds of prey and scavengers.

• Eggs only kosher birds are considered kosher. If both ends of the egg are the same shape (both pointed or round) they are not kosher.

• Fish- only the one that contains scales and fins. Red caviar is considered kosher, but black caviar is not included in this list. Eel, catfish, shark, sturgeon are not considered kosher - just like shellfish and crustaceans.

• Milk- only from kosher animals. Another important aspect: according to the Torah, different utensils are used for cooking meat and dairy products (even a different stove), meat and dairy products are stored separately (in different refrigerators) and you can consume milk after meat only through 6 hours.

• Insects. Only four species of Desert Locust are allowed to be eaten. Other insects are prohibited. Only honey, a waste product of bees, is an exception and is considered kosher. It is because of the ban on all types of insects that housewives very carefully check cereals, herbs and vegetables.

• In a relationship alcohol Torah prescriptions are very strict: wine is made only by Jews, grapes are harvested at a certain time in vineyards at least 4 years old, outsiders should not see the manufacturing process - only such wine is considered kosher.

Remember, kosher food is not a newfangled diet or cooking trend. True kosher nutrition is the complete observance of religious canons not only in food, but also in the spiritual world.

Is kosher food healthy?

Now in stores began to appear products with a distinctive sign of kosher.

It cannot be said with certainty that a kosher diet is completely balanced and healthy. But the fact that kosher products are healthier and safer is an undeniable fact.

These products do not contain dyes, stabilizers, synthetic additives, GMOs, drugs, are processed and packaged in a sterile environment, and these are the main indicators of quality and usefulness for the human body.

That is why today representatives of other religious denominations began to often choose kosher products.

Almost everyone who is going to travel to Israel, or those who have already visited this country, have heard that food in Israel is kosher. Some believe that this is a special, dietary or separate diet. In fact, kosher food is food prepared according to the rules of kashrut.

kashrut- a term in Judaism, meaning the permissibility or suitability of something from the point of view of Halakha (the totality of laws contained in the Torah and Talmud). In Judaism, the term "kashrut" is used not only in relation to nutrition, but is also used in other aspects of traditional life - from legal to domestic.

Jewish laws from ancient times control every aspect of human life in the most strict way, this also applies to food and to the methods of their preparation. The laws of kashrut state that Jews are forbidden to eat anything, and even permitted food must be prepared according to the rules.

What are these rules?

Animals:

Kosher animals have two characteristics: they must have cloven hooves and chew the cud. They are herbivores such as cows, sheep and goats. Many wild herbivores: moose, deer, gazelles, mountain goats, etc. also kosher. The Torah lists four types of animals that have only one of the two signs of kosher: pig, camel, hyrax and hare - these animals are forbidden for food. An animal that is sick or killed while hunting is not suitable for food. Fat is forbidden near the stomach and intestines, as well as the thigh, from which the sciatic nerve has not been removed (in memory of the forefather Jacob, whom an angel wounded in the thigh).
The laws of kashrut also apply to the process of slaughtering an animal. For meat to be fully kosher, it must meet certain requirements. A shochet (skilled carver) usually studies for many years to gain a general knowledge of Jewish law. Then he takes a special course for carvers, lasting about a year and culminating in an exam. Only after that he gets the right to slaughter the animal. The laws on shechita (slaughtering an animal) and checking the carcass of an animal for kosher are very numerous and complex, therefore only a person who has thoroughly studied them and received an appropriate diploma is entitled to engage in this craft.

Bird:

The Torah does not define any signs for kosher birds, so only domestic birds that are traditionally confirmed as kosher are eaten. These are chickens, turkeys, quails, ducks, geese and pigeons.

Eggs also have a sign of kosher: they must be from kosher birds, have different ends (one is sharper, the other is more rounded). Since blood is strictly prohibited for consumption, eggs in the yolk of which there is a blood clot are unusable, but such eggs are not necessarily thrown away, but simply freed from blood and eaten.

Fish:
Kosher fish have two characteristics: they have scales and fins. Only fish species that have both of these characteristics are allowed.

All crustaceans (crabs, crayfish, lobsters, shrimp) and shellfish (octopuses, oysters, squids) are non-kosher and prohibited.

Insects and amphibians:

Kashrut strictly forbids eating insects (except locusts), amphibians and reptiles. This restriction requires careful selection and processing of greens, vegetables, fruits, as well as flour and cereals.

The only exception to this rule is honey, a non-kosher insect product, which is allowed to be eaten because it (according to kashrut) is a flower juice processed by a bee, and therefore is considered a product of plant origin, and not a waste product of the bee's body.

Beverages:

Basically, the kosherness of drinks is associated with the consumption of wine. Since all the agricultural laws of the Torah are exclusively related to the Land of Israel and do not apply in other countries, wine grown only in Israel, exclusively by religious Jews who observed all the rules of kashrut, is kosher.

Separate meat and dairy: this rule is one of the well-known kashrut rules. It is forbidden to mix dairy and meat products: cook or eat them together. Because of this, a kosher kitchen should have separate utensils and, preferably, separate kitchen equipment for cooking meat and dairy.

In addition, the laws of kashrut establish the need for a time interval between the intake of meat food and the intake of dairy food.
Kosher food is connected not only directly with food, but also with utensils. All new utensils are kosher. Dishes can become non-kosher if non-kosher food has been cooked or stored in them, such dishes can be koshered by boiling them or roasting them on fire. But this applies only to metal and glass utensils: dishes made of porcelain, wood or clay cannot be koshered.

What explains such a set of rules for cooking and eating food? At the moment, there are several explanations for the commandment of kosher:

Will of the Almighty: the observance of the laws of kashrut is performed solely as a sign of submission to the will of God.

Health (usefulness of kosher food): observance of the rules of kashrut is a sign of trust in God who created the world, who gave mankind the Law, in accordance with which one should live. He knows better than anyone what is good and useful for the spiritual well-being of a person and his physical health. Kosher food is traditionally considered healthier and safer than regular food, as the entire production process is strictly controlled and all technical and hygienic requirements are met.

Mercy (moral values): Cruelty to animals is expressly prohibited by the Torah. Hunting and killing animals for fun is prohibited. According to scientific research, "shechita" (slaughter according to the Torah) is one of the most humane methods of killing an animal. According to the laws of kosher, any injured animal is no longer kosher. Therefore, the slaughterer kills animals in one motion to reduce pain to a minimum, while the animal loses consciousness in a split second.

Striving for Holiness: wherever kosher is spoken of, the Torah speaks of holiness. According to this view, the purpose of the laws of kashrut is to instill qualities such as self-discipline and the ability to self-restraint. By controlling his diet, a person learns to control his desires and passions and, thereby, grows spiritually.

Maintaining Unity: kashrut brings Jews closer together wherever they are. When a kosher Jew travels to another city or country, he will look for a synagogue, a rabbi, and a community where he can get kosher food. Thus, a kosher Jew will never find himself alone in any Jewish city in the world.

Since the kosherness of foods cannot be objectively verified, some Jewish communities rely on the judgment of a rabbi, who is recognized as an authority in that community, in matters of kosherness.