How to Keep Kosher

Keeping kosher may seem complex, but the concept is simple: It means complying with kashrut, the body of Jewish law set forth in the Torah that stipulates what foods Jews may and may not eat and how foods must be prepared and eaten.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Kosher Cookbooks

1. Eat no flesh, organs, eggs or milk that come from forbidden animals, and avoid certain parts of permitted animals.
2. Eat permitted animals only if they have been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law.
3. Make sure all blood has been drained from meat or broiled out of it before you eat it.
4. Do not eat meat ("fleishig," the flesh of birds and mammals) with "milchig" (dairy). You may eat foods considered "pareve," or neutral, with either meat or dairy. Pareve foods include fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains, though some Jews do not eat fish with meat.
5. Keep utensils used with meat separate from those used with dairy, and do not use utensils with kosher food if they have come into contact with nonkosher food. (This rule applies only if the contact occurred while the food was hot.)
6. Do not eat or drink grape products made by non-Jews.
7. Simplify your shopping by looking for kosher symbols. Most prepackaged foods have some kind of kosher certification.
8. Keep in mind that kosher is not a style of cooking. Any kind of food - including Chinese, Indian or nouvelle cuisine - can be kosher if prepared and served in accordance with Jewish law.

Tips & Warnings

• This is a broad overview of the rules of kashrut. For a closer look, delve into one of many books on the subject. Any rabbi would be happy to offer further suggestions.
• According to the Torah, it is kosher to eat any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud, specifically sheep, cattle, goats and deer. Chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys are also kosher; birds of prey and scavengers are not. Other forbidden, or "trafe," animals include camels, donkeys, pigs, horses, rodents, reptiles, amphibians and insects.
• From the water, anything that has fins and scales is permitted. Thus, fish such as salmon, trout and tuna are fine; shellfish such as lobsters, shrimp and clams are nonkosher, as are marine mammals of any kind.
• Beware of restaurants billing themselves as "kosher-style." It usually means simply that they serve traditional Ashkenazic Jewish foods such as blintzes, matzoh-ball soup and bagels. They may be tasty, but they're probably not kosher.
• It is a misconception that the laws of kashrut are primitive health regulations made obsolete by modern technology. A few of the rules have some beneficial health effects, particularly those involving the slaughter of animals, which is done under the most humane and sanitary conditions possible. Other laws, however, are obeyed simply because the Torah says so.