Happy Hanukkah

[MaduroBU]

It's a huge error to assume that someone keeps kosher because they're Jewish. A Jewish friend turned me on to chocolate with bacon in it (which is amazing).

Kashrut (practice of keeping Kosher) is not well understood. The animals that are considered Kosher in the Bible are by and large vegetarian and do not eat of dead flesh. The separation between life and death, good and evil is fundamental to the practice of Judiasm. I am certain that chocolate and bacon is awesome, and I am equally certain that I will not intentionally partake.

It also made a huge difference in public health. Neurocysticercosis is still the LEADING cause of seizures in most of the world and is only really unknown in the West in modern times. Completely avoiding pigs was really the only way to avoid that disease in the ancient world, as the parasite's life cycle involves pigs and humans and actually only causes the awful form of disease in humans if you consume contaminated human feces (which is still prevalent in the age of hand santizer...people are filthy). You can't just cook your food well- you have to trust your entire city/village to do so as well.

True. True. Unrelated.

I understand, it's just interesting to me to look at the highly practical aspects of faiths that were/are also deeply intertwined with cultures. Christianity didn't really ever develop that, or rather developed so many local customs that none can really be called Christian. The Acadians still eat Pouldeau (coot) on Fridays on the grounds that it doesn't violate the Catholic proscription because the fish eating coot tastes like fish. An Irish Catholic would have no idea why a Fellow Catholic would think it okay to eat a bird on a Friday. Then there's the subject of alcohol, which is hilarious in the breadth of interpretations.

I am interested in Kosher wines, but I've never heard great things or really gotten much guidance. Do you have any recommendations (assuming that you partake)?

[Redneck_Buddha]

It's a huge error to assume that someone keeps kosher because they're Jewish. A Jewish friend turned me on to chocolate with bacon in it (which is amazing).

Kashrut (practice of keeping Kosher) is not well understood. The animals that are considered Kosher in the Bible are by and large vegetarian and do not eat of dead flesh. The separation between life and death, good and evil is fundamental to the practice of Judiasm. I am certain that chocolate and bacon is awesome, and I am equally certain that I will not intentionally partake.

It also made a huge difference in public health. Neurocysticercosis is still the LEADING cause of seizures in most of the world and is only really unknown in the West in modern times. Completely avoiding pigs was really the only way to avoid that disease in the ancient world, as the parasite's life cycle involves pigs and humans and actually only causes the awful form of disease in humans if you consume contaminated human feces (which is still prevalent in the age of hand santizer...people are filthy). You can't just cook your food well- you have to trust your entire city/village to do so as well.

True. True. Unrelated.

I understand, it's just interesting to me to look at the highly practical aspects of faiths that were/are also deeply intertwined with cultures. Christianity didn't really ever develop that, or rather developed so many local customs that none can really be called Christian. The Acadians still eat Pouldeau (coot) on Fridays on the grounds that it doesn't violate the Catholic proscription because the fish eating coot tastes like fish. An Irish Catholic would have no idea why a Fellow Catholic would think it okay to eat a bird on a Friday. Then there's the subject of alcohol, which is hilarious in the breadth of interpretations.

I am interested in Kosher wines, but I've never heard great things or really gotten much guidance. Do you have any recommendations (assuming that you partake)?

'
Israel actually produces some incredible wines, and most of them kosher. You don't hear more about them because for political reasons (boycott, divest, sanction), plus they do get pretty pricey.

[Bitter Clinger]

It's a huge error to assume that someone keeps kosher because they're Jewish. A Jewish friend turned me on to chocolate with bacon in it (which is amazing).

Kashrut (practice of keeping Kosher) is not well understood. The animals that are considered Kosher in the Bible are by and large vegetarian and do not eat of dead flesh. The separation between life and death, good and evil is fundamental to the practice of Judiasm. I am certain that chocolate and bacon is awesome, and I am equally certain that I will not intentionally partake.

It also made a huge difference in public health. Neurocysticercosis is still the LEADING cause of seizures in most of the world and is only really unknown in the West in modern times. Completely avoiding pigs was really the only way to avoid that disease in the ancient world, as the parasite's life cycle involves pigs and humans and actually only causes the awful form of disease in humans if you consume contaminated human feces (which is still prevalent in the age of hand santizer...people are filthy). You can't just cook your food well- you have to trust your entire city/village to do so as well.

True. True. Unrelated.

I understand, it's just interesting to me to look at the highly practical aspects of faiths that were/are also deeply intertwined with cultures. Christianity didn't really ever develop that, or rather developed so many local customs that none can really be called Christian. The Acadians still eat Pouldeau (coot) on Fridays on the grounds that it doesn't violate the Catholic proscription because the fish eating coot tastes like fish. An Irish Catholic would have no idea why a Fellow Catholic would think it okay to eat a bird on a Friday. Then there's the subject of alcohol, which is hilarious in the breadth of interpretations.

I am interested in Kosher wines, but I've never heard great things or really gotten much guidance. Do you have any recommendations (assuming that you partake)?

So much I could write about this topic! Biblical vs Rabbinic law, Orthodox vs. liberal interpretations, tradition vs. modernity, etc. In fact I had written a post clarifying all the many misconceptions written herein about the sets of dishes, but thankfully for you all, I lost it before I posted it . At least no one has yet posted the oft repeated yet incorrect conventional wisdom that Kosher means "blessed". It does not.

Anyway, Kosher Wines. Traditionally not so good because Orthodox kashrut required the wine to be "mevushal" or boiled to meet Rabbinic standards. There is a winery in California that we used to favor as they had innovatively gone to flash pasturization as a major improvement to the mevushal requirement and they were therefore able to retain more of the complexity that makes California wine so distinctive. https://www.hagafen.com/

4 years ago when in Israel last we happended upon Tulip wines, http://www.tulipwinery.com/, which require absolutely NO mevushal as the grapes are grown and processed 100% by Orthodox Jews (the winery provides employment for developmentally disabled and is located in Northern Israel in the "Village of Hope"). Tulip wines are now available in the US and in fact I found a bottle of their best numbered Cab on the shelf at Kosher Palette recently. Anyway, there are many other excellent Kosher wines, mainly from the North and you can usually find a selection at the major liquor stores in and around Dallas.

L'Chaim! Cheers!

[RoyGBiv]

I am interested in Kosher wines, but I've never heard great things or really gotten much guidance. Do you have any recommendations (assuming that you partake)?

When I read the above quote, I actually winced. Growing up, Kosher wine was a holiday obligation and Maneshewitz is AWFUL.
It's so awful that not even a precocious teenager would drink it twice, willingly.
I suppose there are many other decent Kosher wines these days, but, I'm permanently scarred.

[MaduroBU]

Thanks. I will definitely try both!

[G26ster]

Very concise article on everything discussed in this thread, including kosher food, meat/dairy mixing, dishes, utensils, and preparation, wine, etc.

http://www.ok.org/consumers/kosher-an-o ... ry-pareve/