I know...Muslims do not believe in christ, but you get the gist.

I actually heard a program yesterday on the radio about the amount of kosher foods in America, and apparently there is an entire team of Rabbis that will actually go through many of these production plants to ensure that food is being prepared in a Kosher way. Believe it or not, even marshmallows are being looked at by this committee. Apparently marshmallows contain animal lard in them, and of course dairy, which requires that they be prepared seperately so the lard portion of marshmallows are not touched by the same utensils as the dairy portion.

According to this commentator, there are quite a few food production companies that adhere to the kosher preparation of food, and the majority of foods a person buys in the supermarket are prepared in the kosher way. Anyway, here are The Basic Laws of kashrus.

1. Only the meat and milk of certain animals is permitted. The Torah identifies these animals as having split hooves and 'chewing their cud'. In practical terms the only commonly used meat animals which are permitted are cows and sheep. There are many kosher animals (deer, buffalo and others) but none of them are used on a regular basis in America.



2. Not all birds are permitted. We know which birds are acceptable by means of tradition (the Torah lists the forbidden birds but the exact translation of some of these species is no longer known. Thus we can only eat birds known by tradition to be kosher.) Most commonly eaten birds (chicken, duck and turkey) are acceptable. (There is a minor controversy about turkey but most authorities maintain that it is acceptable.)



3. All fish with scales and fins are acceptable. This includes fish such as tuna and salmon.



4. All insects, crustaceans, shellfish, and other invertebrates are forbidden. It is therefore necessary to be careful when eating certain vegetables to be certain that they are not infested with insects. (There is one exception in the Torah for certain specific species of grasshoppers; however, the identity of the permissible species is no longer known.)



5. Even permitted animals and birds must be slaughtered in a very specific manner. A trained professional must perform this slaughtering.



6. It is forbidden to eat or cook milk and meat together. This includes poultry. It is also forbidden to use utensils that were used for cooking one to cook the other. This is why Jewish homes must have separate utensils for milk and meat.

The one rule I see as being strange is the insect part, and I wonder how this law was implemented. Didn't humans start off eating insects for sustenance in the early days? Apparently they are better for us than meat.