PrintKosher Cheeseburger: Sacrilicious or Sacrilegious?
According to the New York Post, a kosher restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has started serving kosher cheeseburgers using soy cheese to skirt the kosher dietary doctrine that forbids serving or eating dairy and meat together.
The restaurant's customers find the soy cheeseburger delicious, downright sacri-licious in fact. After so many years (some say thousands) of wandering the streets of Gotham wondering what a cheeseburger tastes like, they no longer have to deny themselves this singular taste treat.
Other people find it offensive. Why?
The restaurant's critics, kosher traditionalists who think the very idea of a cheeseburger is problematic, find it despicable, disgusting, and deplorable.
Some choice quotes from the story:
"I would never entertain the thought of eating cheese - real or fake - with meat," comedian Jackie Mason, who keeps kosher, told the Post. "It makes me nauseous just thinking about it." ...
"Jewish law is very concerned for appearances," said Rabbi Basil Herring, the executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America. "Not only should you always do the right thing, but it should be seen as the right thing.
"Any Jew who keeps kosher knows a cheeseburger is not permissible. But what happens if a young kid, a 10-year-old, goes in there and says, hmm, maybe cheese on a burger is OK?"
As a Jew who has never kept kosher but has always respected the rights of other Jews to do so, I think the critics of the soy cheeseburger are on the wrong side of the rabbis on this one.
These same people eat beef and turkey bacon and don't regard them as sacrilegious, do they? In fact, I hope that next week the kosher restaurant serving the cheeseburger starts serving a turkey-bacon cheeseburger. And maybe those will spread to bar mitzvah pass-arounds so that the bar mitzvah boy's family can serve pigs in blankets and bacon cheeseburgers. I don't think I would have minded sitting through so many of my friend's bar mitzvah services if I knew bacon cheeseburgers and pigs in blankets awaited me.
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15 Comments:
seems like the critics like to paint a thin line of what is acceptable and what is not. my only thing is, WTF does soy cheese taste like? and if it's that good, how come other restaurants do not rush to use soy cheese?
foodinmouth at 10:54AM on 03/03/08
I guess it's more the act of eating it that seems offensive--like people will be offended by sex or violence in movies even though it isn't "real". Personally though I think said offended people should chill out.
cakespy at 11:28AM on 03/03/08
While there is a tradition of "building fences" around the laws of kashrut in order to maintain appearences and avoid misinterpretations (chicken and dairy was once acceptable, but made taboo to avoid people thinking that they could have other kinds of meat with dairy), I think within the restaurant itself, no one would think that it was real cheese on the burger. Anyone who is choosing to go to Talia's because it's kosher will know that the hecksher there is a good one. We keep track of these things. Also, there is undoubtedly a notice on the menu saying that it's non-dairy tofu cheese. For parents bringing children to the restaurant, it is their responsibility to explain to their kids what's going on and why it's okay to have tofu "cheese" and not regular cheese. I think a kid who's old enough to ask about it is old enough to grok the idea of tofu.
Most restaurants don't use tofu cheese because most tofu cheese is kind of awful. however, I had the vegan bacon cheeseburger at Cafe Blossom, a vegan kosher establishment on the Upper West Side, and that was kind of awesome. As someone who grew up on fast food but now keeps kosher, I can see what Jackie Mason is saying. Some fast food commercials make me feel a little queasy now that I've been off the treif for about ten years. Still, I'm sure I know several people who will hear this and haul themselves off for a try.
Stufsocker at 11:37AM on 03/03/08
Ed: We have pigs in blankets at kosher events — some people, like my husband, think that no wedding is complete without them — but they're called "cocktail franks."
Stufsocker at 11:39AM on 03/03/08
I think the issue is similar to that of vegetarians eating fake meat. Many of the orthodox veg's will be horrified by (or, if less self-righteously inclined, at least grossed out by) the idea of eating even simulating meat. Others, well, just really like the taste and are thrilled to have it. I can see both sides, and understand the reactions of those who are both pleased and offended.
That said, however, I would like to ask Rabbi Basil "Jewish law is very concerned for appearances" Herring (what a fabulous foodie name, btw!) what he thinks about sheitels. As far as I can tell, there's really no difference, except that if anything sheitels are an even more egregious violation of concern with appearances, and a worse example of obeying the letter and not the spirit of the law.
tacroy80 at 11:54AM on 03/03/08
I'm not Jewish, but I think I understand where the people who are against it are coming from. A person who is under a dietary restriction for philosophical reasons shouldn't desire said item, real or fake, it's skirting whatever basic philosophy from which the particular restriction stems.
That's about as hypocritical as people who are against real fur coats due to animal cruelty and walk around wearing fake fur coats. /boggle
Personally, I don't care what anyone does with their food since I am not under any philosophical restrictions. I'm on medical restrictions and don't even follow them.
Cassaendra at 12:01PM on 03/03/08
I don't see how soy cheese on a burger is different from mocha mix and tofutti and other non-dairy "dairy" products that people who keep kosher have been using for years.
karen r at 12:23PM on 03/03/08
As to the "appearances" issue -- also referred to the "mar'it ayin " in the Talmud:
Bac-O's are certified by the Orthodox Union. Nobody passing by an orthodox jew eating in a kosher restaurant with a kosher salad bar stocking Bac-O's are ever going to confuse someone with eating real bacon. Same with using Soy protein on top of a burger. You can call it a cheeseburger, but it ain't.
I say they put Bac-O's or Turkey Bacon on top of the Soy Cheese and the burger and go for the triple whammy, the Kosher Bacon Cheeseburger.
jperlow at 5:43PM on 03/03/08
Soya cheese, unfortunately, does not remotely taste like cheese. (Nor do 'real' plastic-like cheese slices for that matter.) Hold the 'cheese' on my kosher burger, please!
Raki5 at 5:50PM on 03/03/08
This is very interesting. My sister who is a bit more observant than I (although we both keep kosher homes) finds this most sacreligious. She won't buy Bac-Os or anything else that represents something that is treyf. (unkosher). We've had this discussion many times and she is adamant about not buying these products. Personally with the exception of a parve cheesecake that my nephew makes for the kosher restaurant he works in) it ain't the same!!
RichardCrystal at 2:53PM on 03/04/08
just a matter of time before you jump the fence. As i said to someone earlier this am, if you want to stay a virgin until your married, don't have sex with a blow up doll
gerald tritt at 10:21PM on 03/04/08
Okay, I'm Jewish and I don't keep kosher, but I'm still mightily offended by the thought of this kosher cheeseburger. Not because I find it sacrilegious to Jewish law...but sacrilegious to the laws of good food. SOY CHEESE?!?! Ugh! I don't even want to know what kind of mad science is involved -- and I'm thinking proton colliders, particle accelerators and dark matter -- in making soybeans taste anything like cheese made from a cow's milk. *shudder*
For shame!
shamelesscarnivore at 6:16PM on 03/07/08
To start, I am Jewish and have kept Kosher at some points in my life. I personally do not find a problem with this at all. The point of Kashrut is not the appearance of the food you are eating. The fact that a soy product looks and tastes like a dairy product does not in fact make it a dairy product. Would you mind if somebody at edamame and then ate a kosher hamburger? I don't think so.
Another point: Jews regularly eat Kosher for passover cereals, rolls etc. If that is allowed why shouldn't this be?
I understand the argument that you need to make a fence around the laws. That said, I think common sense and solid education is enough of a fence in this situation.
Rocky at 7:48PM on 03/08/08
It all comes down to a matter of personal authenticity, doesn't it? Either you respect the concept in its totality or you don't. There really is no middle ground other than rationalization, of course.
drbehavior at 2:35AM on 03/10/08
Oy Vey!
crazyspice at 5:14PM on 03/10/08