Alef: The NEXT Conversation

When my parents got married, they decided to keep a kosher home so my grandparents could eat there when they visited.  So it’s always been second nature for me to have some sort of dietary restriction. Growing up, I always found it a little odd when my friends’ parents could just drop by the grocery store and pick up food rather than drive 30 minutes to go to the kosher butcher. Growing up, I found it a little odd that my friends’ parents didn’t have to drive 30 minutes to the kosher butcher, and could easily drop by the local store to pick up groceries. To this day, my mother still comments that the neighbors have it so much easier than she does when it comes to eating meat.

Though we kept a kosher home, as soon as we left the house, we were able to eat whatever we pleased. Apparently, when I was four years old, I went to a neighbor’s house for lunch and came home asking my mom to pick up some ham for a ham and cheese sandwich. She quickly explained to me that we don’t eat ham at home.

Not too long ago, my best friend since middle school came to visit my new home in New York. I mapped out the kitchen for her so she wouldn’t mix up the dairy and meat dishes, and she was shocked to see that I still kept kosher.  But it has become second nature to me now.  I don’t daven (pray) three times a day the way some observant Jews do, but this is my way of keeping in touch with Judaism on a daily basis.

I met my boyfriend, Jonathan, a year ago.  When we began to plan on living together, I asked him if he would keep a kosher home for me.  He had started working at Hazon, a Jewish environmental organization, and had already begun to consider giving up shellfish and pork himself.  He agreed, but countered it with a question: “Would I buy kosher, organic meat?” To me, it made no difference. I already paid more money for meat than the average Joe, so what was an extra dollar or two?  After joining a Tuv Ha’Aretz through Hazon, a Community-Supported Agriculture program enabling the Jewish community to support local, sustainable agriculture, and having learned more about the shocking state of the meat industry in America, I quickly began to think that we should not only start keeping kosher, but also “keep” organic. Jonathan’s interpretation of the kosher laws made him think that kosher food can’t really be made in a factory farm because of the humanitarian issues that are violated there.  It does seem exceedingly hard to train undocumented workers to say the proper Hebrew prayers before schecting animals, all while having INS or ICE agents watching them closely.

In our six months of keeping organic-kosher together and living together, we have found some fun ways to keep kosher in our own way. Most notably, we only eat meat on Shabbat and holidays and pick up fresh, locally-grown produce from our CSA, the farmers market, and weekly trips to Whole Foods.

Some people may think that keeping kosher makes life difficult and boring. I’ve heard countless comments on how dried out and bland kosher meats and organic products can taste. I get tired of fielding questions like, “But think how amazing cheese would taste on that sandwich?”These critics are just picking the wrong products off the shelves and dining with the wrong chefs, because if you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that delicious, kosher, organic foods are all around.

When my parents got married, they decided to keep a kosher home so my grandparents could eat there when they visited. So it’s always been second nature for me to have some sort of dietary restriction. Growing up, I always found it a little odd when my friends’ parents could just drop by the grocery store and pick up food rather than drive 30 minutes to go to the kosher butcher. Growing up, I found it a little odd that my friends’ parents didn’t have to drive 30 minutes to the kosher butcher, and could easily drop by the local store to pick up groceries. To this day, my mother still comments that the neighbors have it so much easier than she does when it comes to eating meat.

Though we kept a kosher home, as soon as we left the house, we were able to eat whatever we pleased. Apparently, when I was four years old, I went to a neighbor’s house for lunch and came home asking my mom to pick up some ham for a ham and cheese sandwich. She quickly explained to me that we don’t eat ham at home.

Not too long ago, my best friend since middle school came to visit my new home in New York. I mapped out the kitchen for her so she wouldn’t mix up the dairy and meat dishes, and she was shocked to see that I still kept kosher. But it has become second nature to me now. I don’t daven (pray) three times a day the way some observant Jews do, but this is my way of keeping in touch with Judaism on a daily basis.

I met my boyfriend, Jonathan, a year ago. When we began to plan on living together, I asked him if he would keep a kosher home for me. He had started working at Hazon, a Jewish environmental organization, and had already begun to consider giving up shellfish and pork himself. He agreed, but countered it with a question: “Would I buy kosher, organic meat?” To me, it made no difference. I already paid more money for meat than the average Joe, so what was an extra dollar or two? After joining a Tuv Ha’Aretz through Hazon, a Community-Supported Agriculture program enabling the Jewish community to support local, sustainable agriculture, and having learned more about the shocking state of the meat industry in America, I quickly began to think that we should not only start keeping kosher, but also “keep” organic. Jonathan’s interpretation of the kosher laws made him think that kosher food can’t really be made in a factory farm because of the humanitarian issues that are violated there. It does seem exceedingly hard to train undocumented workers to say the proper Hebrew prayers before schecting animals, all while having INS or ICE agents watching them closely.

In our six months of keeping organic-kosher together and living together, we have found some fun ways to keep kosher in our own way. Most notably, we only eat meat on Shabbat and holidays and pick up fresh, locally-grown produce from our CSA, the farmers market, and weekly trips to Whole Foods.

Some people may think that keeping kosher makes life difficult and boring. I’ve heard countless comments on how dried out and bland kosher meats and organic products can taste. I get tired of fielding questions like, “But think how amazing cheese would taste on that sandwich?”These critics are just picking the wrong products off the shelves and dining with the wrong chefs, because if you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that delicious, kosher, organic foods are all around.