FIREWALLED!

[stufsocker]

Johndammit. I can no longer visit LJ communities from the office because every time I try, I get the security violation page saying that the content is "Illegal Drugs." What the flipping flip? First it was just the cooking comms, but now it seems to be all of them. GAH!!! I'm mentally hitting things with other things and bashing bricks

Comments

[stufsocker]

I don't know~! But it's really makign me sad to have all of my communities blocked. I want to contribute and I just can't do it. Aw :(

Keeping kosher is expensive if you're not a vegan. Chicken cutlets range in price from 6.99/lb to 8.99/lb, a small bag of shredded cheese is usually about $5, etc. I get fish, milk, eggs, baking supplies, veggies, etc. at the regular mupermarket prices because those things are almost all kosher. Oddly enough, organic eggs are a big problem because a dozen can often be at least half unkosher due to the presence of blood spots. (We crack eggs into a glass before putting them in anything to check for spots. Regular eggs are much more reliable. I think I've only ever seen 2 or 3 spots on regular eggs over the course of the last 10 years.)

Kosher cheese is vegetarian cheese, though not always vice versa. A lot of cheeses are created using rennet, which is a chemical found in animal stomachs. Old timey cheesemakers used to actually pour the milk and whatnot directly into the emptied stomachs and wait for it to curdle or do whatever it does. Because kosher laws require a separation of dairy and meat products, those kinds of cheeses are not allowed. Soft cheeses like mozz and chevre and feta are easy to find kosher because they don't need that kind of process, but many other cheeses are made with rennet or something like it. The other way cheeses can be made and not be kosher is when they have add-ins, like wine, which is something that has strict rules of its own.

[left_coast_cat]

Huh! I have heard of rennet, but I didn't realize the extent of it!

And the eggs? That's actually pretty interesting. How are blood spots bad? Doesn't kosher eating OK meat?

[stufsocker]

Yea, rennet comes from stomach linings.

Meat is kosher, but part of the process that makes it kosher is that all blood is completely removed. All the meat is salted for a while before being rewashed and packaged, and certain parts of certain animals are completely off limits because of the way certain veins run through the area. That's like the Hebrew National commercial: No Ifs, Ands, or Butts. The back end of cows is off limits because of certain veins and nerves. No filet mignon for the Jews. So meat is good, blood is bad. Blood is totally not kosher, which is what makes the whole blood libel thing so bizarre. Extra bizarre.