Pitḥe Halakhah


Book Description

How many of us have the background to seek rabbinical guidance on kashrus problems - intelligently? How prepared are we to deal with the maze of modern appliances in the typical kitchen? This book explains the principles of kashrus laws, and shows how real-life problems fit into the framework of halachah. Includes copious diagrams and a listing of appliances.




Kosher Food Production


Book Description

Following an introduction to basic Kosher laws and theory, author Blech details the essential food production procedures required of modern food plants to meet Kosher certification standards. Chapters on Kosher application include ingredient management; rabbinic etiquette; Kosher for Passover; fruits and vegetables; food service; and the industries of baking, biotechnology, dairy, fish, flavor, meat and poultry, and oils, fats, and emulsifiers. A collection of informative and entertaining articles – specifically geared to the secular audience of food scientists – then follows, giving readers insight and understanding of the concerns behind the Kosher laws they are expected to accommodate. Kosher Food Production serves as an indispensable outline of the issues confronting the application of Kosher law to issues of modern food technology. Basic Kashrus – Leading off the book is a section introducing the reader to Kosher Laws and Theory. Food Production Principles – Information covered includes Kosher food plant design, cleaning and detergents, GMPs for Kosher facilities, and more. Industry-specific Discussions of Kosher Application Food, Beverage, and Ingredient Articles – These enlightening chapters, examine how Kosher regulations impact modern food production for over 40 categories of food items by describing the relevant Jewish history, tradition, and law. The Bottom Line – These brief, bulleted summations at the end of each chapter recap the key things to remember about Kosher food processing of the food, beverage, or ingredient covered. Glossary of Kosher Terminology – A listing of Jewish Kashrus-related terms, which may be unfamiliar to the lay food scientist, is included at the back of the book




Kosher


Book Description

In an era of anxiety about the safety and industrialization of the food supply, kosher food—with $12 billion in sales—is big business. Timothy Lytton tells a story of successful private-sector regulation: how independent certification agencies rescued U.S. kosher supervision from corruption and made it a model of nongovernmental administration.




Itturei Halachah


Book Description

A comprehensive, illustrated guide to kashrus. Contains a special detailed section on checking vegetables for insects.




The Kosher Kitchen


Book Description




Kosher USA


Book Description

Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how Manischewitz wine became the first kosher product to win over non-Jewish consumers (principally African Americans); the techniques used by Orthodox rabbinical organizations to embed kosher requirements into food manufacturing; and the difficulties encountered by kosher meat and other kosher foods that fell outside the American culinary consensus. Kosher USA is filled with big personalities, rare archival finds, and surprising influences: the Atlanta rabbi Tobias Geffen, who made Coke kosher; the lay chemist and kosher-certification pioneer Abraham Goldstein; the kosher-meat magnate Harry Kassel; and the animal-rights advocate Temple Grandin, a strong supporter of shechita, or Jewish slaughtering practice. By exploring the complex encounter between ancient religious principles and modern industrial methods, Kosher USA adds a significant chapter to the story of Judaism's interaction with non-Jewish cultures and the history of modern Jewish American life as well as American foodways.




A Practical Guide to the Laws of Kashrut


Book Description

This concise and useful book of Hilchot Kashrut is specially crafted fo the modern Jewish home. Researched and written by Rabbi Pinchas Cohen, a faculty memeber at Yeshivat Har Etzion in alon Shevut, Israel, it covers a range of frequently asked questions, such as: Can one use a dishwasher for both milk and meat dishes? and What is Glatt Kosher? A Practical Guide to the Laws of Kashrut is a comprehensive guide for those setting out to make a Kosher kitchen, and a valuable reference for those more informed about Kashrut issues.




Kosher Nation


Book Description

Kosher? That means the rabbi blessed it, right? Not exactly. In this captivating account of a Bible-based practice that has grown into a multibillions-dollar industry, journalist Sue Fishkoff travels throughout America and to Shanghai, China, to find out who eats kosher food, who produces it, who is responsible for its certification, and how this fascinating world continues to evolve. She explains why 86 percent of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy kosher food are not observant Jews—they are Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists, vegetarians, people with food allergies, and consumers who pay top dollar for food they believe “answers to a higher authority.” Fishkoff interviews food manufacturers, rabbinic supervisors, and ritual slaughterers; meets with eco-kosher adherents who go beyond traditional requirements to produce organic chicken and pasture-raised beef; sips boutique kosher wine in Napa Valley; talks to shoppers at an upscale kosher supermarket in Brooklyn; and marches with unemployed workers at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant. She talks to Reform Jews who are rediscovering the spiritual benefits of kashrut, and to Conservative and Orthodox Jews who are demanding that kosher food production adhere to ethical and environmental values. And she chronicles the corruption, price-fixing, and strong arm tactics of early-twentieth-century kosher meat production, against which contemporary kashrut standards pale by comparison. A revelatory look at the current state of kosher in America, this book will appeal to anyone interested in food, religion, Jewish identity, or big business.




What Do You Mean, You Can't Eat in My Home?


Book Description

Here is a book of workable, sensible solutions to the everyday problems faced by newly observant Jews as they try to explain the parameters of their new lives to the people who love them—but think they’ve gone around the bend. For the formerly nonobservant Jew who has decided to live an observant life, the most daunting task can be dealing with less-observant loved ones. How can you explain to them what you now feel and believe? How can you continue to be part of the lives of your parents, your siblings and their families, and your in-laws, given how differently you now live your life? In this book, Azriela Jaffe—the observant daughter of less-observant parents—answers these and other pressing questions. Jaffe discusses how to eat kosher and observe the Sabbath and Jewish holidays in the home of a non-observant relative, and how to host nonobservant relatives in your own home; how to explain the laws of modesty and courtship practices; how to attend family life-cycle events—or explain why you sometimes can’t; and how to help your relatives understand the decision to put secular education temporarily aside to attend yeshivah and further your knowledge of Jewish law, rituals, and customs. Eminently insightful, helpful, and readable, What Do You Mean, You Can’t Eat in My Home? will be an invaluable tool in the lives of an ever-increasing number of Jewish families.




Kosher


Book Description

Generating over $12 billion in annual sales, kosher food is big business. It is also an unheralded story of successful private-sector regulation in an era of growing public concern over the government’s ability to ensure food safety. Kosher uncovers how independent certification agencies rescued American kosher supervision from fraud and corruption and turned it into a model of nongovernmental administration. Currently, a network of over three hundred private certifiers ensures the kosher status of food for over twelve million Americans, of whom only eight percent are religious Jews. But the system was not always so reliable. At the turn of the twentieth century, kosher meat production in the United States was notorious for scandals involving price-fixing, racketeering, and even murder. Reform finally came with the rise of independent kosher certification agencies which established uniform industry standards, rigorous professional training, and institutional checks and balances to prevent mistakes and misconduct. In overcoming many of the problems of insufficient resources and weak enforcement that hamper the government, private kosher certification holds important lessons for improving food regulation, Timothy Lytton argues. He views the popularity of kosher food as a response to a more general cultural anxiety about industrialization of the food supply. Like organic and locavore enthusiasts, a growing number of consumers see in rabbinic supervision a way to personalize today’s vastly complex, globalized system of food production.