Is Kosher helpful to vegans?
It’s Christmas day and I’m writing a piece about Kosher food. Is this multiculturalism run amok? No it’s just that things are slow at $WORK and I’ve just learned something interesting. And I’d like to share that with everyone out there.
Like most folks, I suspect, I was vaguely aware of Kosher food. I had read the Biblical dietary rules but didn’t really pay all that much attention. I was looking through a Jewish cookbook recently and noticed the definition of parve.
I need to take a step back here and explain that Kosher food draws a distinction between meat and dairy products. In fact, most of Kosher law concerns animals and their products, not all that relevant to a vegan. But, and this is where things get interesting, you’re not allowed to mix meat and dairy in the same dish. So it’s helpful to have a category that’s neither. And that is parve.
So if you see a food labeled parve (sometimes spelled pareve or parevine) you know it won’t have any meat or dairy in it. So parve = vegan? Well, no. There are a number of things Kosher law doesn’t consider meat or dairy that most vegans wouldn’t eat. Things like fish and eggs. You still have to read those labels!
Here’s wishing a happy holiday to all of my readers!