What makes a food item "kosher"? Any links to kosher recipes?

Question

I've moved to a area that's largely Jewish and would like to invite people over and feed them appropriately. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Kosher food must be blessed by a rabbi.

Do NOT ever serve food with dairy and meat together.

There are stores where you can buy kosher food, rather than going to get it blessed yourself.

Answer 2

Kosher foods are those that conform to the Jewish dietary laws. Reasons for food being considered non-kosher include the presence of ingredients derived from non-kosher animals or from kosher animals that were not properly slaughtered, a mixture of meat and milk, wine or grape juice (and their derivatives) produced by gentiles, the use of produce from Israel that has not been tithed properly, or even the use of cooking utensils and machinery which had previously been used for non-kosher food.

Answer 3

I do not have recipes.

They eat the same basic foods.

You do not have the proper home for them.

meat and milk must not be together

tableware and knives for each even a refrigerator for each

If they are hard fast traditionalist they will politely refuse.

http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

http://www.koshercertification.org.uk/wh...

Relifious dietary laws are foolish and out of date today..

The USDA FDA and CDC keep such tight rules 2000 year old  Biblical Ideas are pure silly.. front half of a steer is Kosher but the rump is not

see the picture

http://www.hebrewnational.com/index.jsp

Answer 4

i would be very careful about this, and i would probably ask guests before hand if they would consider it to see how strict they are in their kosher observance.

some Jews (like my mother and aunts) don't even observe kosher law (except for their cuts of meat, but not the dairy/meat divide), but some (like my grandmother) are super strict (with two different china cabinets to prove it). some strict kosher-observant Jews do not even eat kosher meat that has been cooked on the same pan, outdoor grill, or even oven as non-kosher meat.

if your friends are very strict, you might want to forgo the traditional dinner party idea (or at least the meat aspect) and invite your friends over for some cocktails and dairy based snacks and appetizers. when in doubt - go without the meat!  or you could see if a local kosher deli does carryout - you will save yourself time and worry, and your guests will be appreciative that you were that considerate to cater to their needs.

in this case, it is MUCH better to be safe than sorry and ask ahead of time; you never know how strict people are. politely see how strict your friends are and then plan from there. if you would like to prepare foods on your own, ask for dish suggestions from them and from a local kosher deli/supermarket. if nothing else, they will definitely appreciate the gesture! good luck!

(oh and Mike L - kosher law is not silly. actually, kosher butchers are so clean that the USDA exempts many of them from their regulations, according to your link.)

Answer 5

The food is kosher if it has been blessed by a rabbi, or the place where it is prepared or manufactured has been blessed by the rabbi. This is a ticklish situation (I am Christian) because Jewish people have some really different beliefs about food. Find a kosher deli and talk to the person behind the counter!

Answer 6

First of all, if people keep Kosher in your community, they wouldn't be able to eat at your home unless you fed them on paper plates and gave them packaged foods with the proper hechsher.  A hechsher is the special marking found on the packages of products that have been certified as kosher.  Also acceptable are fresh fruits that have not been cut with your knives, unopened packages containng the hechsher.

What makes a food item kosher?  

Contrary to popular misconception, rabbis or other religious officials do not "bless" food to make it kosher.

There are blessings that observant Jews recite over food before eating it, but these blessings have nothing to do with making the food kosher.

Food can be kosher without a rabbi or priest ever becoming involved with it: the vegetables from your garden are undoubtedly kosher (as long as they don't have any bugs, which are not kosher!). However, in our modern world of processed foods, it is difficult to know what ingredients are in your food and how they were processed, so it is helpful to have a rabbi examine the food and its processing and assure kosher consumers that the food is kosher.

If your home is not rabbi-approved to be Kosher (this is an entirely different and lengthy subject), then anything you cook in it can not be consumed by a person who does keep kosher.  This involves your silverware, cookware, pots, pans, sinks, counters and more.

I am a caterer and an Orthodox Jew.  I have been approved by my rabbi after extensive classes to be an approved mashgiah for my community - and beyond.

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/glossaryo...

If you are interested in Kosher recipes, here are a few of many, many sites on the net:

http://www.koshercooking.com/

http://www.jewishrecipes.org/

http://www.oukosher.org/index.php/consum...

good luck, I hope this helps you

Answer 7

www.jewfaq.org , www.ou.org/kosher/primer.html , www.kashrut.com , www.oukosher.org , www.shamash.org/kosher

Answer 8

I think it means without pork.