 illustration by Lisa Kirkpatrick |
me craving salt in its many forms, but it’s also a sure sign of my affinity
with many traditional Jewish foods. Were I to continually nourish my nostalgia
for childhood brunches, delicacies such as olives, pickles, capers, nova lox,
whitefish, and even pickled beets could take up more shelves in my fridge than
the half empty jars of salsa or bottles of Shiner Bock.
However, ingredients and flavors do not alone describe traditional Jewish
food. For many Jewish observers, it is the religious teachings that guide the
faithful through food production and consumption, defining their culinary
tastes along the way. Over the centuries, these guidelines have helped Jews
integrate the world’s cuisine into their culture. These laws of kashruth (kosher) provide the basis for their strong culinary heritage.
The word kosher translates
as “fit or proper to be used,” and hence its adoption in everyday slang as a
synonym for “acceptable”or “cool.” While there are varying levels and abundant
details of kosher observance, practicing Jews may generally eat the following
“approved” items: most fruits and vegetables, the meat of animals that have
split hooves and that chew their cud, all seafood that has fins and scales, and
most domesticated fowl. This excludes such fare as pork sausage, lobster, and
birds of prey. Also, kosher law requires killing all animals in a ritual manner
by a trained slaughterer (called a schochet). The schochet
ensures the animal a quick and relatively painless death. He also carefully
inspects the meat for lesions and disease. Kosher kitchens also support the
total separation of meat and dairy ingredients, even committing cookware and
serving pieces to an exclusive use. Foods with no origins in either meat or
dairy are considered “neutral” (pareve) and may be paired with any dish
containing either ingredient. While Jewish orthodoxy demands strict adherence
to the above (and additional) guidelines, for many Jews today keeping kosher
involves no more than the elimination of ham and cheese sandwiches from their
diets.
Jews dispute the motivations behind kosher rules as often as they debate the
many attributes of the good bagel. Religious scholars point to passages in the
Old Testament’s books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy that list the commandments
for a regimented diet. Although we are told in these passages that many foods
are “abominations,” that is, forbidden for their “uncleanliness,” we are never
told exactly why they are unclean. Further dietary restrictions are given
little explanations in the Bible itself. Only later commentary by Rabbinic
scholars helps to translate these basic kosher commandments into a disciplining
dietary regimen.
In keeping with their own religous practices, Muslims and Seventh-Day
Adventists also subscribe to some rules of the kosher diet. Many people are
attracted to a kosher diet’s encouraged sharing of traditional recipes and
meals. One indisputable reason for kosher observance is the commitment to
sustaining a strong social community. “Keeping kosher” involves participation
in a daily social ritual that reaches out to religious authorities, supports
community businesses, and builds communications between individuals and
families.
Many Austin consumers find themselves attracted to the kosher food label, as
it provides assurance of supervised, controlled food production. Vegetarians
and consumers of organic food especially benefit from the conscientious
production required of kosher food. For instance, while canned vegetarian black
beans should not contain meat bits as standard beans might, no indicator other
than the kosher symbol (called a hecksher) guarantees that the beans
weren’t cooked in pans previously used to par-boil chickens. In other words,
certain symbols on packaged goods, which are all approval codes of koshering
organizations, certify a consumer standard that no other health label can.
Even the “organic” trademark, which seeks to provide consumers a sense of
intimacy with the foods they eat, does not uphold the strict standards of the
kosher industry, though organics’ advocates do share a concern for food origins
and production. Still, kosher foods are the product of centuries of Jewish
tradition, building on a foundation of specific culinary standards that no
recent trend can, or for financial reasons may want to, quickly emulate.
Given the packaging style of kosher food and its placement in stores, however,
it is rarely the sought-after product that this report might predict. Outmoded
advertising on kosher packages sadly competes with the sleek and chic fashions
of today’s overabundant “gourmet” products. So, while tradition suggests that
the kosher label provides the greatest assurance of supervised production in
packaged foods, our consuming culture, stimulated more by appearance than
conscience, won’t always allow us to take that position. One glance at the
products in Austin’s kosher grocery sections recalls images of wartime
provisions, with brown and yellow colors evoking as equal a sense of nausea as
Forties nostalgia. Ironically, freshness and cleanliness are not the
descriptives that come most readily to mind. One finds an array of kosher salt,
Rokeah or Streits’ brand matzoh and chicken broth mixes, jarred borsht, sweet
wines, and select soy sauces in small, drab, dusty packages sporting dated food
graphics that shame even the most ardent kosher glutton.
Jewish food should not just remind us of pitcha (peppered calf’s foot
jelly), flanken (boiled beef), and prune compote (stewed and sweetened).
Whether it is matzohball soup, fried rice, or black bean enchiladas, all food
packaged and prepared according to kosher guidelines, regardless of ethnic
origins, is kosher. In addition to the blintzes of Eastern Europe and the
pastrami of New York, both the falafel of the Middle East and the stir-fry of
China (Tel Aviv serves some of the world’s best Chinese food) reflect a
long-standing influence of diverse ethnic palates on Jewish food. With the
influence of international and regional tastes, today’s Jewish kosher food
takes many forms and should fill many grocery store shelves.
Kosher certification does pop up in familiar places too; Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bars, Breyer’s ice cream,
Laura Scudder’s peanut butter, Breakstone’s cottage cheese,
Ore Ida frozen
french fries and even Korbel Brüt champagne are among items carrying a
kosher trademark. The fact is, if a large market were to place all of the
kosher food on its shelves together, it would require numerous aisles. With
grocery stores still the central source of kosher food in Austin, any effort to
market the kosher products on their shelves and to research innovative products
available elsewhere would increase consumer awareness about the diversity and
quality of kosher food in general. As a start, the now-ubiquitous olive and
pickle bar, complete with herring and pickled onions, provides, at least, a
taste with which many available kosher foods can be paired. And further
requests by discriminating consumers for fresh and interesting kosher products
will no doubt continue to change both the image and general appeal of kosher
food. Austin might one day see widespread promotions on packaged kosher goods
and even support a kosher butcher in its midst.
It’s no wonder, though, that with no local fresh meat supplier in Austin and
the added expenses of keeping a kosher diet (the cost of kosher meat is often
20% higher than non-kosher cuts), many observant Austin Jews take to
vegetarianism. While kosher rules do not state any preference for a vegetarian
diet, many Jews are attracted to vegetarianism for its convenience and
relatively low cost. With the separation of meat and dairy meals at the
forefront of kosher thinking, and the vegetarian diet’s reliance on grains and
produce, the vegetarian kosher kitchen eliminates much of the overhead and
labor involved in alternating meat and dairy meals. Remember, in the strictest
of kosher kitchens, not even one dishtowel can dry both kinds of dishes. Most
kosher restaurants will even “take sides” to get certified, preparing (usually
dairy) dishes in a kitchen that leans only one way. This is not to suggest that
kosher vegetarianism is motivated only by economy, but that the added labor and
tools involved in overseeing and preparing kosher foods adds to the cost and
thus the task of observance.
The challenges of a keeping a kosher diet are made easier with efforts on the
part of local caterers, organizations, and markets (see “Shopping Kosher”
sidebar). The stronger presence of kosher businesses only demonstrates Austin’s
ripeness for a kosher restaurant, one inclusive of non-kosher patrons yet with
strict regard for kosher production. Austin’s kosher dining remains mostly
homebound still; no restaurant caters to an exclusively kosher crowd. Yet,
several statistics show that non-Jews, interested in the pro-consumer
inspection of kosher food, comprise a growing market for kosher products. If
discriminating consumers of kosher food can begin to alter Austin’s catering
and market scene, perhaps they can persuade grocery stores to provide local
access to fresh kosher meats and inspire investment in various places for
kosher dining.
Ronna Welsh, a Northeast émigré to Austin, is a freelance
writer, food lover, critic, and cook.
This article appears in December 6 • 1996 and December 6 • 1996 (Cover).