Kosher tofu?
This is just a question out of curiosity... Last week, I was at a BBQ with some family, and my uncle was asking me what I was going to eat. I told him I had some veggie hotdogs, and before my dad put them on the grill, I showed my uncle the package. He asked me, "What the hell is in those things, anyway?" I read off all the ingredients, and also saw that they said "Kosher" on them. When I jokingly said, "And they're even kosher! I bet you can't say that about yours," another uncle chimed in & said, "How the hell can something be kosher if it's not meat?!?! That doesn't make any sense. They probably just say that to make more money from people who don't know any better." :-\
I know he's wrong because I buy Kosher salt (just for the flavor), and I know some Jews don't eat tofu & other soy products during Passover... So it's obviously not just meat. But how does this work? Something with the farming process?
OK - Kosher laws cover all food, not just meat and not just during Passover. For something to be certified Kosher, there must be Rabbinic supervision involved. Vegetable and other non-animal foods are inherently Kosher in nature...but if something is processed it has to be supervised to be considered kosher. Vegans by default naturally eat Kosher, because the non-Kosher things are eliminated from the diet anyway. Here's a link that explains a bit about Kosher law:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question416.htm
Also - Passover laws are different. Traditions differ, but legumes, rice & other grains that expand when cooked with water, and bread that has been allowed to rise are forbidden during Passover.
http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_passoverkosher.htm
If you look on your packaged food boxes, etc. you will find symbols that tell you what's been approved as Kosher and by whom. They often look like a K, U or other symbol. This is then accompanied by the letter or word D/dairy (contains a milk product), P/pareve/parve (contains neither dairy nor meat, so is neutral and can be used with either but not both at the same time - often vegan, but fish and egg products are parve, so check the ingredients), M/meat (this is rare...I don't know if I've ever seen it, but you may find it on broth powders in the Kosher section of your grocery)
Thanks for your responses, operachic! I knew what the Kosher symbols look like, as I sometimes notice them on food packaging... I also knew that dairy & meat in the same meal were forbidden & certain kinds of sea life (like crustaceans) were "an abomination" for Jews to eat. I just didn't understand how a soybean could be considered Kosher or not! Thanks for the links. I think I understand now! :)
You're very welcome. The basic reasoning (whether you agree with it or not is up to you) behind Kosher laws are to eat clean food that reflects peaceful, respectful characteristics. In Judaism they feel that the food one eats becomes a part of the eater in a spiritual sense. So they refrain from eating birds of prey, carnivores in general, bottom feeders, etc. They also have laws governing how an animal is killed and the how it is cooked. The laws are an attempt to be respectful of the life of the animal...hence dairy (from live animal) is not mixed with meat (dead animal). And they do not hunt...killing is only done by an expert, in the most human way they think possible, which is a ritual killing.
this is true...bugs aren't Kosher. :P
"Kosher" in Hebrew literally means "fit or proper"... meaning it was prepared (or processed) 'properly'.
It doesn't mean "clean" as is commonly thought.
Processes, including cooking methods, can be unkosher (to think of it in non-jewish terms imagine cutting carrots on the same cutting board as raw chicken! = UNkosher!)
In Judaism something can be unkosher if the method of preparation was unproper, for example if you violate the laws of the sabbath while preparing food it makes the food unkosher!
Kosher salt is not actually called so because it is kosher (pretty much all salt is kosher)... it's for koshering meat, when you coat the meat in salt to draw the blood out (because it must all be removed, this is the same reason eggs must be cracked separately, not into a recipe to check for blood spots) So kosher salt really should be called, "koshering salt"
Veg*n is NOT by default kosher. Canned vegetables/fruit are processed and therefore not kosher unless the process is overseen and blessed. Also as baypuppy said that veg must they must be checked for insects and bugs, which eating in Judaism is actually worse than eating pork!
Basically you can use it as a pretty good guideline but you can NOT say you've cooked a kosher meal simple because it is veg*n. There are many other rules!
Kosher laws really have far less to do with religion than with basic health. Halacha (Jewish law) is actually brilliant at incorporating things into religious status that are beneficial and simple common sense. But because there was no religious/non-religious distinction they were practiced with the same reverence.
Imagine a religion that insisted you take your vitamins and brush your teeth... seems smart to me!
Some of the ideas of kashrut (kosher laws), because they are so ancient have been outdated by modern science and they become traditional, symbolic and ritual and people forget that they were based on hygiene. But the basis of Halacha was to improve quality of life.