So, What Foods are Kosher?

Vegetables

Any plant, vegetable, fruit or grain is kosher (provided that it is not dangerous). The only thing to worry about is that your food may be concealing insects, which are distinctly not kosher. Most people are anyway not too keen on being offered assorted animal life with their mixed veg., so thorough examination and cleaning of all fruits and vegetables (particularly those such as lettuces and watercress which tend to harbour insects) is from any point of view a good thing.

Fish

Fish which have fins and scales are kosher; any other water life is not. Here is a list of some kosher fish -

Fresh, smoked and frozen kosher fish may in general be eaten, so long as they are still identifiable or are named on the package. Fishmongers will use the same knives for kosher and non kosher fish, so it is advisable either to take your own knife or wash the fish thoroughly. Tinned Fish are sometimes packed in "edible oil", which could be of non kosher animal origin, so look for tins specifying vegetable or Soya oil, or brine.

Meat

Kosher animals are the ones which chew the cud and have cloven hooves. By the time you actually buy your pound of mincemeat, it's not in a position to do much chewing and certainly shouldn't have hooves. The way actually to recognise kosher meat is to see whether the shop that is selling it has a current license (they are renewed annually) from the London Board of Shechita.

The choice offered by your butcher will generally be between beef, lamb and chicken, though other meat and poultry may be available. Most of the preparation, "Koshering", of the meat e.g. removal of forbidden fat and the salting process to drain the blood, will usually have been done by the time you buy it. Outside the London area, one should check that the butcher that the "Koshering" /salting process has already been done. Many pre packed and frozen kosher meat products are available - they will have a label on the pack indicating that they have been produced under Rabbinical supervision - and some non Jewish shops stock them.

If you don't know where to get kosher meat and there is no obvious Jewish shopping area near you, ask the nearest Jewish community, or phone either UJS, your Chaplain or the Kashrut Division and we will try to find out.

Eggs & Fowl

Only eggs which come from a kosher bird are kosher and are considered pareve. The kosher birds are identified from biblical passages, with the help of the oral tradition.

Kosher birds are:

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