Your kid's friends, their religion and snacks.

Lackadaisical kosher? We call 'em Unitarians. No, seriously, it just means people aren't as strictly religious. There's no specific name for 'em.

Kosher rules - actually, they aren't too bad, so long as you're talking about every day and not kosher for Passover. That is only 8 days per year, chances are good that you will not be dealing with that.

Birds: only game birds and commercially raised type birds. Think turkey, chicken, quail and goose, duck and pheasant. But birds of prey are out. No eagles, for example.

Land animals: they must have BOTH a cloven hoof and chew their cud. Hence, cows and sheep are fine. Pigs have cloven hooves but don't chew cud, so they're out. Horses are out on both accounts. Venison, beef and lamb are all fine.

Fish: they must have both fins and scales. Hence shellfish are out (no fins, no scales). Therefore, no lobster, no clams, no crabs, no oysters. Scavengers (bottom-feeders) are out unless, ta da, they have both fins and scales. This rules out catfish. There's a debate whether fish with scales for only a portion of their life cycle are okay (sturgeon, swordfish). Check with a rabbi or ask the family what they prefer. Most rabbis, unless very Orthodox, seem to allow these.

Dairy products and fruits, vegetables and grains are all kosher.

Do not mix milk with meat. Fowl are considered meat, fish is not (it's pareve, which is neither milk nor meat). Dairy means all milk products such as cheese, yogurt, cream, ice cream, sour cream and cream cheese. Therefore, no cheeseburgers even if everything else is otherwise kosher.

Meat can be checked for kosher certification on the label, an O with a U in the center is a type of kosher certification, so is a capital K. Certain companies, such as Manischewitz and Hebrew National, make everything kosher. Rabbis do not bless specific items as kosher, rather, they check the entire manufacturing process. They check for cleanliness, they check for how the animals are treated and how they are slaughtered. They check for how healthy the animal was in life and in death, and an otherwise kosher kill can be rejected if the corpse is found to be imperfect. This is above and beyond just assuring that the animals are of the right species. It's actually a pretty helpful thing, making sure that conditions are sanitary and that the animals are not just slaughtered en masse in a factory-like procession. I, personally, see that as respecting the animal and also helping to assure greater health for all. This does not mean that mad cow, etc., are impossible, but I suspect these diseases are a bit less likely to occur because there is a lot more checking.

You won't go wrong with cheese sandwiches, tuna salad, and any salad on the planet so long as it does not have bacon or ham in it and, if it contains chicken or turkey, that the meat is kosher. Cheese or vegetarian pizza is great, so is pasta without meat. Tofu is just fine (it's pareve).

Hope this helps. Next week: kosher for Passover rules and how insane they can get.

Hmmm, I don't know about US made pastas, but italian-made dry pastas - with duram semolina - such as Da Cecco brand and Barilla - don't have egg in them. All their spaghetti and linguine and fettucine and penne and rotelli, etc., don't have it.
Only if they have an egg noodle - I'd have to look up if they make those - would they have (doh) egg in them. That's the reason you're saying no meat, right? Or is it?

There's no butter in them, basically duram wheat and water.

Fresh pastas such you can buy packaged at most stores in cold cases, by people like Contadina... usually do have egg in them. (I'd have to double check that they all do, when I have fresh pasta I make it myself and it has an egg..) I don't know if they put in butter.. I don't.

Errr.. Our corporate luncheons aren't quite so stuffy. Our employees are almost evenly split between men and women and employees can bring family members if they want to. There were kids running around all over the place. Except for the 8 week old kid - he just sat there and drooled.

osso, eggs (no matter what kind of animal they're from) are pareve. So even egg noodles are okay with cheese sauce.

Thanks for the crash course in kosher, jespah! It sounds like a really healthy diet. I really like the idea that they take the life of the animal into such serious consideration. Perhaps I shall start buying kosher myself. (But I'm not giving up cheeseburgers.)

Very cool, fishin'. That sounds like a wonderful corporation to work for.

Well, we get a lot of salt (salt is a part of the koshering process for meats) and fat is fat, if it comes from a kosher animal, it's considered okay. Oy.

<I'm just confused on why pasta with kosher meat isn't ok..>

CJane - I became a believer in floride when I moved to Oregon and the first thing the dentist asked me was where I grew up.

He could tell I wasn't raised here because my teeth weren't falling out of my head. Apparantely most Oregonians in my age group don't have very good teeth because there is no floride in the water.

When you read all the health info regarding tooth decay, gum disease, etc and overall health floride makes a lot of sense.

jespah - re the method animals are slaughtered in a kosher slaughterhouse. I understand that these animals are slaughtered under less stress, and more humanely.
This reminded me of an article I read about a woman who has Aspergers syndrome. She earned a degree in engineering, and now works on devising more humane ways to slaughter animals...It's precisely because she has Aspergers that she is able to so single mindedly able to view small details of the process so intentely.
Interesting.

What is the basis of the law behind eating dairy and meat together.

The only thing I had seen in the Torah was something about boiling a calf in its mother milk?

I didn't understand this. Can you expain?

Whenever possible, I buy kosher or Halal meats. Something about the prep process leaves 'em tasting a lot better.

It's perfectly fine, just don't put cheese on it if you're going to put meat on it.

This goes for pasta and every other possible meat and/or cheese delivery system out there (e. g. cous cous, soup, pieces of cardboard ... ).

hehe, we have so many inter-faith families in our UU church our Passover Seder is one of the biggest events of the year. Some families bring their extended family relations and celebrate Passover with the rest of the Uniterians :wink: The only larger event I can think of is the Christmas Eve service when the extended family members from the Christian side show up.