Some questions to get this week’s ball rolling:
“Is eating Oreo’s a step toward assimilation?” (Fishkoff, pg 23)
Given the intense rabbinic interest in preserving the integrity of Jewish food production, and eliminating not “non-Jewish” food but the processes by which food might be rendered unholy, unfit, or unusable, is it ironic that kosher certification is both sought after and given to that growing number of “mainstream” food production companies? In what ways is it or is it not?
Here’s something that’s probably unfair to ask: is the kosher food industry a racket? Or, in other words, what happens when kashrut and capitalism meet? (Thoughtful responses, please.)
Many (if not most) of the mashgichim link the practical aspects of keeping kosher to kashrut as a spiritual practice. But much of the reading made me question what makes it so. Where do you hold: what makes kashrut spiritual? Does the kosher meat industry make you question your response (and if so, how so)?
How was the kosher food industry--including the centralization of kosher slaughter--affected the economy of being Jewish?
How was the kosher food industry--including the centralization of kosher slaughter--affected the economy of being Jewish?
3 comments:
“In fact, just 14 percent of consumers who regularly buy kosher food do so because they follow the rules of kashrut. That means at least 86 percent of the nations 11.2 million kosher consumers are not religious Jews.” (Kosher Nation, page 6)
Is kosher cool? Or is kosher food cool? I find it slightly strange that others want to buy kosher food because they find it healthy or cleaner or safer than other food. I wonder if this lifts up kosher food or simply makes it mundane. Maybe I don’t want kosher to be so acceptable to those who are not Jewish? If everybody eating kosher, will that take away from the sacred quality Judaism equates with food and keeping kosher?
For grins, I did a google search for “is kosher cool?” Two interesting articles popped up: the awesome kosher taco truck and a restaurant I bet Dr. Hochman wants to visit the next time she’s in NYC.
You know me too well. I've stalked the menu and contemplated how I can pitch that very place to the search committee for dinner with a candidate....
In thinking more about my own kosher observance, I do find that I am more apt to "flaunt" my Jewish dietary habits when I am in places where there are few or no Jews. Although I intellectually squirm at the thought that Kosher dietary laws are a means by which to set the Jewish people apart from others, on a base level, I revel in the idea. I've always felt that being Jewish makes me special and have sought to highlight my outward Jewish expressions when I am with non-Jews. I suppose I would be aggrieved if kosher eating became commonplace among non-Jews because this would rob me of that particular outward expression of my Judaism, but perhaps it would challenge me to voice my pride in other, more meaningful ways. Yes, kosher Oreos, and other foods like it, allow Jews to blend more easily into the American landscape, but it is, by no means, the path to assimilation. We are much more than what we eat.
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