Hidden: Dairy, Meat and Traif

The eater beware, or even paranoids have enemies.

Before I get started on the post, which I hope to finish quickly, just a short note.
Yes, I haven't had time to blog since early Friday morning before my swim, on which I'll report later. I haven't checked emails, blogs or anything, and soon I have to go down to a siyum at a neighbor's.

When I finally checked my mail, I found almost 200 messages. I hope I didn't delete anything of importance.

Now for the post, a public service...

I had been hinting that there was something special doing, and there was. We're celebrating my husband's 60th birthday, which probably makes him the oldest, or certainly one of the oldest jbloggers. The kids organized a small, not that small, party in the restaurant in the B&B, Bayit Katan, in Bakaa, Jerusalem. I think that's what it's called.

There was lots of food, salads, kishes, fish and grilled vegetables. They even wrapped up the left-overs for us to take home. I asked if there was anything parve (neither meat nor dairy) hoping that there would be something to serve on Shabbat.

No, it's all dairy.
What about the grilled vegetables?
No, they have cheese sprinkled on it. It's our "secret ingredient."

Considering the amount of people who have discovered that various chronic conditions are caused by lactose intolerance, a milk allergy or sensitivity, I wasn't happy to hear that even the food that seemed the furthest removed from dairy, actually had some.

This happens a lot. During my 25 vegetarian years I came across similar things, such as when the "vegetarian substitute," the bourekas had a sauce with pieces of beef. Another time I discovered that the boiled vegetables were from the chicken soup.

Then there's the story of the "fish and chips" in some British town, where there wasn't a kosher restaurant. Some Jews who considered themselves "kosher" would eat "the best ever, most fantastic fish and chips."

"What could be wrong? The fish is a kosher fish, and doesn't everybody use vegetable oil?"

According the the probably true legend, the reason why they taste so "special," was because there was lard in the cooking fat.

This brings me back to the halacha about the issur (forbidding) dairy bread. People will get confused and think it's parve. As far as I'm concerned, all baked goods, except the obvious cheese cakes should be strictly parve, no dairy.

And the moral of the story is to ask. Never take for granted that something is what it looks. Things can be meat, dairy or traif, while they look parve and kosher. Don't be shy.

ps Now I know why I had my allergy itch!