As we get closer to the holiday of Passover - which starts tomorrow evening - I wanted to take a moment to talk about food. Food plays a large role in our tradition - both regarding when we eat, if we eat at all and what we do or do not eat. The word "kosher" is familiar to many of us - Jewish or not - but I just wanted to take a moment to share a story and a thought or two.

I went to college in a pretty large city compared to my home town. Although that city was home to many other schools with large Jewish populations, this one was not. Needless to say, most if not all of my friends were not Jewish, and if they were, they'd have an easier time explaining Christian theology than talking about a Passover seder. Anyway, one friend - I'll call him 'Mike' - and I studied physics together, often into the wee hours of the morning. One time he wanted to order pizza, and I had to explain the whole "kosher" thing. Keeping kosher means that I can't just order food from any random store - I had to know if I could eat there. And then I got the question:

"What is kosher? Is it food that's been blessed by a rabbi?"

I have to admit that every time I am asked this question, I imagine chickens dancing down a conveyor belt with a rabbi waving his hand and mumbling something about blessing the chickens. That's not how it works. In a nutshell, "kosher" food means the following:

• No pork


• No shellfish



• No mixing meat and dairy (that means separate dishes, utensils, etc...and definitely no cheeseburgers)



• No birds of prey



• Only acceptable animals may be used (beef, lamb, bison, etc. are all fine) and must be killed in a certain way (the most painless method, as I am told)



• All fish needs to have removable fins and scales (salmon, flounder and sea bass are good. Swordfish and eels are not.)

There are more rules, but that's the basic snapshot. In today's modern age, anything sold as packaged goods or served in a restaurant also needs to be under supervision (this is not necessarily a rabbi and no blessings are involved - it's just "kosher quality control" - someone there who knows all the ins and outs of the rules and makes sure that there is no deviation from them).

Mike, my college friend, then became obsessed with finding out everything that was kosher. He would randomly stop me in the halls, asking "Naomi, is orange juice kosher?" (yes) "Is turkey kosher?" (kosher turkey is kosher.) And of course, "Are Oreos kosher?" (thankfully, yes).

Many, many people keep kosher during the holiday of Passover, when there is an added stringency of not eating any bread or leavened products. Some - like my in-laws - keep their house kosher for Passover, but not year round. I didn't grow up keeping kosher, and sometimes when I pass the local diner and I smell bacon wafting in the air, there are some things that I miss. But the food available in the kosher world has become better and better, with more restaurants turning kosher, more packaged goods coming under supervision, and more opportunities to find gourmet kosher food - and I'm not talking about Oreos.

Here are some sites to check out...

Shamash.org's database of kosher restaurants worldwide

Kosher food blog at About.com - some great kosher for Passover recipes

A great "how-to" on keeping kosher, and explaining the myth of "kosher style"

An interesting article on the "why" of keeping kosher