Diet and Nutrition
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What Diet is For Me - K
Kosher refers to the Jewish diet choice and looks at foods permissable to people who choose to follow this lifestyle choice.
The laws of kashrut derive from various passages in the Torah, and are numerous and complex, but the key principles are as follows:
- Only meat from particular species is permissible:
- Mammals that both chew their cud (ruminate) and have cloven hooves are kosher. Animals with one characteristic but not the other (the camel, the hyrax and the hare because they have no cloven hooves, and the pig because it does not ruminate) are specifically excluded (Leviticus 11:3-8). (For a comprehensive review of the issue involving the difficulty that neither the hyrax nor the hare are ruminates, see Rabbi Natan Slifkin's "The Camel, the Hare and the Hyrax.") In 2008, a rabbinical ruling determined that giraffes and their milk are eligible to be considered kosher.
- Birds must fit certain criteria; birds of prey are not kosher. There must be an established tradition that a bird is kosher or similar to one that is before it can be consumed. The turkey, for example is native to the New World and would therefore not be found under tradition. However, it is similar to a known bird, the "fowl of India" and is therefore acceptable.
- Fish must have fins and scales to be kosher (Leviticus 11:9-12). Shellfish and non-fish water fauna are not kosher.
- Insects are not kosher, except for certain species of kosher locust (unrecognized in almost all communities).
- That an animal is untamed does not preclude it from being kashrut, but a wild animal must be trapped and ritually slaughtered (shechted) rather than killed some other way to be kosher.
- Meat and milk (or derivatives) cannot be mixed in the sense that meat and dairy products are not served at the same meal, served or cooked in the same utensils, or stored together. Observant Jews have separate sets of dishes, and sometimes different kitchens, for meat and milk, and wait anywhere between one and six hours after eating meat before consuming milk products.
- Mammals and fowl must be slaughtered in a specific fashion: slaughter is done by a trained individual (a shochet) using a special method of slaughter, shechita (Deuteronomy 12:21). Among other features, shechita slaughter severs the jugular vein, carotid artery, esophagus and trachea in a single continuous cutting movement with an unserrated, sharp knife, avoiding unnecessary pain to the animal. Failure of any of these criteria renders the meat of the animal unsuitable. The body must be checked after slaughter to confirm that the animal had no medical condition or defect that would have caused it to die of its own accord within a year, which would make the meat unsuitable.
- As much blood as possible must be removed (Leviticus 17:10) through the kashering process; this is usually done through soaking and salting the meat, but organs rich in blood (the liver) are grilled over an open flame.
- Utensils used for non-kosher foods become non-kosher, and make even otherwise kosher food prepared with them non-kosher. Some such utensils, depending on the material they are made from, can be made suitable for preparing kosher food again by immersion in boiling water or by the application of a blowtorch.
- Food prepared by Jews in a manner that violates the Shabbat (Sabbath) may not be eaten until the Shabbat is over.
- Passover has special dietary rules, the most important of which is the prohibition on eating leavened bread or derivatives of this (chametz, Exodus 12:15). Utensils used in preparing and serving chametz are also forbidden on Passover unless they have been cleansed (kashering). Observant Jews often have separate sets of meat and dairy utensils for Passover use only.
- Certain foods must have been prepared in whole or in part by Jews, including:
- Wine
- Certain cooked foods (bishul akum)
- Cheese (gvinat akum) and according to some also butter (chem'at akum)
- According to many: certain dairy products (Hebrew: חלב ישראל chalav Yisrael "milk of Israel")
- According to some: bread (under certain circumstances) (Pat Yisrael)
Biblical rules control the use of agriculture produce: for produce grown in the Land of Israel a modified version of the Biblical tithes must be applied, including Terumat HaMaaser, Maaser Rishon, Maaser Sheni, and Maaser Ani (untithed produce is called tevel); the fruit of the first three years of a tree’s growth or replanting are forbidden for eating or any other use as orlah [6]; produce grown in the Land of Israel on the seventh year is Shviis, and unless managed carefully is forbidden as a violation of the Shmita (Sabbatical Year).
The following rules of kashrut are not universally observed:
- The rule against eating chadash (new grain) before the 16th of the month Nisan; many hold that this rule does not apply outside the Land of Israel
- In addition, some groups follow various eating restrictions on Passover which go beyond the rules of kashrut, such as the eating of gebrochts or garlic.
- Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 82:1-5
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 83 and 84
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 85
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 87 et seq
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 1-65
- Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 66-78
- Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, 318:1
- Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, 431-452
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 114
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 113
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