[Avodah] Vegan Restaurant Without Hashgacha

Thu Oct 15 05:14:40 PDT 2020

 From today's OU kosher halacha yomis

Q. There is a vegan restaurant in my community, but it does not have 
hashgacha. Someone told me, that you can go in and order a coffee and 
roll because these are made on dedicated equipment and nothing can go 
wrong. Is one permitted to do so?

A. No. Rolls may contain non-kosher oils, stabilizers and 
emulsifiers. Though unlikely, coffee may be made on non-kosher 
equipment. Even if the kosher status of the coffee and rolls was 
verified, entering an uncertified vegan restaurant, which sells 
kosher and non-kosher products, may appear suspicious to an onlooker. 
Igeros Moshe (OC II:40) discusses this very issue, whether one may 
enter a non-kosher restaurant to purchase foods that are known to be 
kosher? He writes that this would be a violation of both maris ayin 
(literally, ?the vision of the eye?, but the intent is causing the 
observer to become lax in their Torah observance) and chashad 
(literally suspicious, which means that the person?s reputation may 
be compromised). There is an additional concern with entering a 
non-certified vegan restaurant. The observer may assume that all 
vegan restaurants are kosher, and not realize that the consumer?s 
interest was limited to one or two kosher items. Thus, in addition to 
maris ayin and chashad at a vegan restaurant, there is also a 
possible violation of ?lifnei iver lo si?tain michshol? ? causing 
another Jew to ?stumble? and eat non-kosher. As such, frequenting a 
vegan restaurant is more serious than entering a non-kosher 
restaurant, as lifnei iver lo si?tain michshol is not a concern with 
a non-kosher restaurant since the non-kosher status is well known.

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 From today's OU kosher halacha yomis</div>

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Q. There is a vegan restaurant in my community, 
but it does not have

hashgacha. Someone told me, that you can go in and order a 
coffee and roll because these are made on dedicated equipment and 
nothing can go wrong. Is one permitted to do so?

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A. No. Rolls may contain non-kosher oils, stabilizers and 
emulsifiers. Though unlikely, coffee may be made on non-kosher 
equipment. Even if the kosher status of the coffee and rolls was 
verified, entering an uncertified vegan restaurant, which sells kosher

  and non-kosher products, may appear suspicious to an onlooker. 
Igeros Moshe (OC II:40) discusses this very issue, whether one may 
enter a non-kosher restaurant to purchase foods that are known to be 
kosher? He writes that this would be a violation of both

<em>maris ayin</em> (literally, ?the vision of the eye?, but the 
intent is causing the observer to become lax in their Torah observance) and

chashad (literally suspicious, which means that the person?s 
reputation may be compromised). There is an additional concern with 
entering a non-certified vegan restaurant. The observer may assume 
that all vegan restaurants are kosher, and not realize

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