#yeah i definitely call myself vegan-ish btw lol

[jasperjv]

Hey man I was just reading a thread of you and another blog arguing about Israel (frankly the thread was a shitshow and I couldn't find it in my heart to reblog it) but you said at one point that veganism is kosher, and I don't know if you're Jewish, but I just wanted to correct you on that.

Pure veganism is a myth. I call myself vegan, but it's not possible to cut out animal products or cruelty altogether - for example, migratory bee farming is used to pollinate many vegetable crops, beeswax is used in processing and storing fruits, calcium carbinate (used as a ripening agent for fruits) is sometimes sourced from the shells of oysters and molluscs, and pesticides are almost universally necessary (including, despite what many people think, in organic farming).

These things are mostly ignored by vegans because of the impracticality of trying to avoid them, but that's generally ok! because veganism is more of a philosophy to minimize harm than a rule of law to eliminate it.

But kashrut are laws, and depending on your denomination, there's less flexibility if you want to keep kosher.

Wine is the obvious one. It sometimes isn't kosher even if it's vegan. They have a whole kosher certification body that oversees the production of wine. By extension, vinegar and grape products are often not kosher.

This is partly because pests are taken into consideration when determining the kosher status of plant foods - especially if they're organic.

Organic farming is generally more likely to be kosher because they use fewer products to treat and process the crops, but it has the drawback of using less effective pesticides and is non-GMO (meaning less resistant to disease and infestation) so there's a greater chance of insects being inside the food you're purchasing. Things like lettuce, broccoli and brussel sprouts are especially susceptible to this. For some Jews keeping kosher, this might necessitate them preparing the food themselves and paying extra attention to washing.

Figs can also have dissolved wasps inside them and I'm sure there are Jewish scholars out there who've spent months debating the kosher status of figs. I would personally consider them vegan but not kosher, because in this case the lifecycle of the wasp is natural rather than farmed.

In any case, kashrut don't just apply to the foodstuffs themselves but often the circumstances around their preparation. To a strictly observant Orthodox Jew who follows Bishul Akum, a vegan meal can be non-kosher simply because it was cooked by a non-Jew. Another well-known example is that chametz (leavened bread) isn't kosher during Passover.

Of course YMMV as to where you draw the line, but my point is: vegan doesn't automatically mean kosher. I'd encourage anyone interested to read about eco-kashrut. It's a movement to incorporate environmentalism into Jewish life, built on the philosophy that 21st century interpretations of Halacha should promote the preservation of life and the natural world.

Have a nice day & sorry for the infodump.

Interesting. Thanks!