Let’s go from the general to the specifics. According to certain rules, kosher food is all that food that is permitted to be eaten by Jewish people. These rules or regulations come primarily from Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Yes, these are old rules, and they are followed and respected by most Jews, and even by people from other religions until today and beyond. So, Where Does The Kosher Meat Come From? let’s find out in this article.
Therefore, if kosher foods are foods that Jews can eat, kosher meat is precisely that. It is meat that followed the rules of these two super essential books of the Bible.
As a matter of fact, many people agree that these rules are most likely, the first-ever rules on eating ever issued. Pretty awesome right?
Types of kosher food
They have three categories: meat, dairy, and pareve or parve.
- Meat: the meats that God permits are from animals that have hooves. Like cows, sheep, and goats, this is an important part that chews their cud. For example, pigs have hooves but don’t eat their cud; therefore, they are forbidden. Also, the animal has to die in a particular way. For example, if it dies naturally, it isn’t kosher. And everything must be supervised and must be kosher. From the way you kill the animal to the instruments you use. And you can’t eat all the animals. Some of its parts, no matter what, will never be kosher, like the blood, fat, and nerves.
- Dairy: is all related to milk, butter, cheese, and yogurt. And for it to be kosher, forgive the redundancy, but it has to come from a kosher animal. The equipment too. It is pretty complex.
- Pareve: and finally, pareve. This is related to all other types of food that aren’t meat or dairy: eggs, fish, fruits, pasta, vegetables, coffee, and packaged foods.
More layers of complexity
There are more rules. And quite complex, we might add. For example, you can’t eat meat and dairy simultaneously. For instance, if you had a glass of milk, you have to wait a while to eat meat. And it is the same the other way around.
Also, you can’t put dairy and meat on your same plate or eat them or prepare them with the same utensils. You have to change them.
Fish, in order to be kosher, has to have fins and scales. Like bass, salmon, and trout.
Crabs, lobster, shrimp, and shellfish don’t have fins or scales; therefore, you can not eat them under any circumstances.
Pros and cons of eating kosher
The pros
- It lowers your cholesterol. For example, because you can’t mix dairy with meat, all foods like cheeseburgers, pizza, or lasagna, are eliminated from the possible foods you can eat.
- If you keep fit with the regime, you probably will never eat fast food.
- People who eat kosher usually eat less meat and become close to vegetarians. This helps you and the planet as well.
- You digest better when you don’t mix dairy and meat. You avoid problems like bloating and gastrointestinal issues.
- Kosher animals are killed in a kosher way. This means that they are killed very quickly, in an almost painless way. In other types of meat, when the animal is killed, the animal suffers a lot and therefore endures lots of pain and nervousness. Remember, meat, to be kosher needs to be killed in this particular way necessarily.
- Yet another benefit is that the foods, in general, that are kosher are more thoroughly revised and inspected. Usually, general food is thrown out for consumption more quickly than kosher food. Hence, eating kosher is eating better, period.
The cons
- There won’t be such a long list as the pros if you were expecting it. Actually, there aren’t any cons, only difficulties. If you eat strictly kosher, you can’t buy everywhere. Hence, if you take a long car trip, you have to be very prepared and so on. But cons, as what we know as cons, no, there aren’t any. Kosher is an all-around very good thing for you.
Conclusion
Kosher meat is, deep down, a very complex thing. The animal has to be drained of its blood, it has to be killed in a very specific way, and inspected it doesn’t have any illness or infection because it can downgrade quite easily. We highly recommend this type of food, which, we might also add, is becoming more and more accessible with time. You just have to know how to look and where to look. It won’t be everywhere; Burger King has no Kosher Burger or anything like that. But, because it is better for you, it is also harder on you. Here, we have given only some rules; if you are thinking about taking this seriously, we recommend you do some more research. Read the Bible.
