Jewish Case
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The Jewish dietary habits are determined by a law dealing with the way of food preparation and the types of ingredients that are allowed. This law is called Kashrut and means fit, proper or correct.
The term Kosher refers to the proper standards for processing all food products. Jewish people consider modern processed food as unhealthy and non-kosher.
Kosher is commonly mistaken to be a type of Jewish cuisine, but it is not. A Chinese cuisine restaurant can be kosher if the food is prepared according to the Jewish law. In fact there are a lot such places in the US.
Kosher has very little to do with religion, rather than with hygiene and contamination of the ingredients. For example, there are rules for using pans, plates and utensils, as well as ones for separation of meat from dairy products in order to reduce the risk of contamination.
Kosher laws are observed all year round. On Pasach there are additional restrictions for many meals that are kosher and allowed for the rest of the year. Food that is not kosher is referred to as treif.
Modern Jews tend to think that the laws of Kashrut are primitive health regulations and do not conform with modern methods of food preparation. For example, the kosher way to slaughter an animal is so sanitary, that kosher butchers and slaughterhouses in USA are exempt of many USDA regulations.
Some of the rules of course are nowadays pointless with the new ways of preserving the food, like the refrigerator. Others, however, are not obsolete at all. For example, there is evidence that eating meat and diary products together interferes with digestion and no modern technique can reproduce the health benefits of kosher law to consume them separately.
Keeping Kosher is actually not very difficult by it self. What makes it difficult is the fact that the rest of the world does not follow it. But if you buy your products from a kosher certified butcher and grocer, than the only thing you have to worry about is the separation of meat and diary products.
Keeping Kosher is also difficult when Jewish people try to eat in non-kosher restaurants or visit friends. These are situations, in which they lack knowledge of the origin of the products and the way they are prepared.
General rules
Animals
In general the laws of Kashrut allow the consumption of meat from animals that have hooves and chews their own cud. These are goat, lamb, cow, deer etc. Pigs, camels, rabbits are forbidden because they lack one of the upper conditions.
Jewish people are allowed to eat everything that has fins and scales, therefore shellfish is not permitted. They also can eat chicken, duck and are undecided about the turkey meat, because at the time turkeys were not popular.
Products derived from forbidden animals, like eggs, milk, fat etc. are also not permitted.
Slaughtering
The slaughter of the animal in Judaism must be done according to the Jewish law. The animals should not have died of natural causes or killed by another animal. They are also tested for deceases.
The ritual of slaughtering is called shechita and is performed by a butcher trained in the Hebrew customs. It is done by a single slice of the animals throat with a very sharp knife. This method is considered by many to be the most humane method of killing.
Draining of blood
Jewish people have strict rules about not consuming blood. Their meat should be thoroughly cleaned of