[Avodah] Are Vegan Restaurants Kosher?

Chaim Tatel chaim.tatel at gmail.com
Fri Jan 19 10:30:48 PST 2018


In our metropolitan area, there are currently two (dairy) vegetarian
restaurants (one Indian and one Chinese). We also have a vegan restaurant
(Chinese).

I was the mashgiach for all of these for many years.

Several issues:

1)       Staff would bring in food from home and try to cook it in the
kosher utensils. One of our certified restaurants lost their cert over this.

2)       BUGS in the veggies. Especially cabbage. Several times, I had to
get the owner to send the whole case back and try again.

3)       In one case, I spent an entire week preparing a restaurant for
kosher certification. This included cleaning equipment, kashering where
necessary, replacing other items that could not be kashered, and verifying
kashrut of the ingredients. There was one ingredient that the owner said
was “critical” to her business. We contacted various kashrut experts who
certify products in Asia, and were unable to verify the kashrut of this
ingredient. After a very long, hard week, the owner of the restaurant, head
of our Vaad, and I had a meeting. No one could change their position, so we
ended up not certifying the place. The owner did thank me for the cleaning
job I did.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Akiva Miller wrote:

>Take Chalav Yisrael, for example. Milk is a consumer product which is
ostensibly made of one single, simple, kosher ingredient, and in the
pre-pasteurization era it wasn't even cooked. But because of the
possibility of adulteration, Chazal saw fit to require hashgacha of
that single-ingredient product. Even in situations where Torah Law
would allow us to rely on the probability that a given container of
milk was kosher, Chazal said we *can't* rely on it.>



In Europe, there is a move on to use donkey milk:

Chazal were not kidding when they prohibited “Chalav Akum.”

Domori Donkey Milk Chocolate



https://themeadow.com/products/domori-donkey-milk

This milk chocolate bar is infused with donkey milk powder.

Interesting fact about donkey milk: It is the closest to human milk for
nutritional values and chemical features. It has les fats and more lactose
than any other milk. Cleopatra used to bathe in donkey milk to preserve her
legendary beauty.



And here:

https://www.thelocal.ch/20161121/swiss-chocolatier-pioneers-donkeys-milk-chocolate

Swiss choc master creates donkey's milk chocolate

21 November 2016

A chocolate maker in Morges, in the canton of Vaud, has produced the
country's first ever chocolate made from donkey's milk, thought to be
suitable for people who are allergic to cow's milk.

Gérard Fornerod created the speciality chocolate in collaboration with the
Eurolactis society, also based in Morges, which produces cosmetics and
other products using donkey's milk.

In 2014 Pierluigi Orunesu, founder of Eurolactis, hit the news when he
travelled to the Vatican to present his products to Pope Francis, who
revealed that he was fed donkey's milk as a child growing up in Argentina.

“When he returned Pierluigi suggested that I make recipes with his product.
I started to make pastries and the result was really good,” Fornerod told
Le Tribune de Genève on Sunday.

Wanting to create a product with a longer shelf life, Fornerod soon
developed a donkey's milk chocolate which is the first such product in
Switzerland.

Donkey's milk is said to be the closest animal milk to human breast milk.
Rich in lactose and fatty acids and lower in fat than other milks, it is
thought to boost the immune system and may be suitable for those who are
allergic to cow's milk.

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians considered it an elixir, and Cleopatra
famously bathed in the stuff.

In 2013 the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said donkey's milk has
“particular nutritional benefits” since its proteins may make them more
suitable for people who are allergic to cows' milk.

Speaking to The Local on Monday, Orunesu said he set up Eurolactis since
there was plenty of demand for donkey's milk products but very little on
the market.

“It's the closest milk to mother's milk. And that's very good for all
problems relating to allergies and for nutrition,” he said.

The new donkey's milk chocolate is a first in Switzerland since all
chocolate here is made from cow's milk, he said.

“So it's a way of innovating, and above all, it brings a lightness to the
chocolate that cow's milk does not have,” he added.

Orunesu is confident there is a market for donkey's milk chocolate,
particularly among those who are allergic to cow's milk.

“Not only in Switzerland. In the modern world between four and five
percent  have allergies and that's on the rise.”

However, there aren't actually many donkey's milk producers in Switzerland.
Though Eurolactis was created in Switzerland, most of the milk comes from
Italy, he said.


Chaim Tatel
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20180119/49164bed/attachment.html>


More information about the Avodah mailing list