Thanks for this explanation! I have chocolate chips that are "pareve"-- same same? Fish -n- chocolate chips? |
Pareve just means neither meat nor dairy. Fish falls into this category, but so do many other things. (PP who first said Kosher rules don’t consider fish to be meat.) |
Pareve doesn't always mean fish. Just means they're not meat or dairy. For chocolate chips, it means there's no dairy in them. Since kosher food can't mix dairy and meat, that means if you wanted to make chocolate chip cookies to eat for dessert with your chicken dinner, you should use pareve chocolate chips. Everything in kosher food is either: 1. Dairy (milk, cheese, etc) 2. Meat (poultry, beef, etc) 3. Pareve (fish, fruits and veggies, etc) |
Pigs harbor parasites that can harm humans if not cooked through. This is why multiple religions developed prohibitions against pork, as well as other foods that frequently made people sick because of their propensity to be contaminated with toxins, such as seafood.
And since religions usually decline to change despite technological and medical progress... that's why the prohibitions are still in place. But then again, Trump is destroying governmental oversight on food safety, so it's maybe time to be a little more aware of what could be in your food. |
+1 Humans are sometimes called long pig. And animal testing used to test products on pigs because it was so close to humans |
I was always taught the dietary restrictions (and the 10000 rules in the Old Testament about clothing and cleanliness and whatever) were all health concerns. It made sense thousands of years ago to avoid these things for safety.
Modern day, not so much. |
Pigs will eat dead bodies. |
Ha ha So will humans |
Back in those days, fish was the staple food and meat was a luxury, so giving up meat on Fridays = giving up luxuries. But the funny thing today is meat is a staple food (at least in the US), while fish is a luxury (at least price-wise). I've been eating better Fridays the past few weeks than on the other days! |
We haven't touched oysters since a bad experience. |
Surprisingly no restrictions on mushrooms even though some of them are poisonous |
It was hot in Israel and Egypt. And no refrigeration. Pigs have a lot of parasites which are hard to kill. Granted the Spanish camr up with hot smoking to get jamon etc etc. Pigs were a staple food in the north as you could have one pregnant sow in winter to feeed, she's give you 5-6 piglets and they would eat all spring and summer and you can kill them and process meat to last you the winter. But pretty sure that all came later than the Old Testament dietary laws. |
BS. Early Christ followers knew that Jewish dietary restrictions, among many others, would make it much more difficult to convert your pagan ancestors. |
Perhaps that is an urban legend. The parasites you are most likely referring to are also in beef and chicken. Beef and chicken fat are the cause of many health problems in the US today |
Because it was written in the Torah. That's why. There's no "original" dietary reasoning. You do it to honor your faith. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/overview...laws-and-regulations |