Keeping Kosher: When Jewish Law Met Processed Food

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2016

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Roughly two percent of Americans are Jewish, and only a small fraction of them keep kosher. Yet between a third and a half of all packaged food in an American supermarket has a kosher label on it. How did kosher law become big business? Join us this episode as we find out how ancient Jewish dietary laws have shaped and been shaped by the science of processed food, from Coca-Cola to Jell-O and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I mean, Jello doesn't look anything like an animal carcass.
0:06.1	You know, it's kind of soft and sweet and flavorful.
0:08.6	And the gelatin itself doesn't look anything like something prohibited.
0:11.3	It doesn't look like a pig skin or beef bones or anything like that.
0:16.8	I can't argue with that.
0:18.4	Jello does not look like an animal carcass for sure.
0:22.1	But so what?
0:23.1	Well, the problem is, does Jello possibly look like a thing that you can't eat if you
0:27.0	keep kosher?
0:28.0	If I didn't know that gelatin comes from an animal, it just looked like dessert to me.
0:31.8	Oh, I see.
0:32.8	Well, I didn't even know that you can't eat gelatin if you keep kosher.
0:36.4	It's actually even more complicated than that.
0:39.2	That's right.
0:40.2	This episode is all about kosher law.
0:42.2	Or really, what happens when an ancient set of religious food rules collides with the
0:46.4	modern industrial food system?
0:48.1	And why that matters to anyone who eats in America not just yous.
0:52.1	You're listening to Gastropod, the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science
0:55.5	and history.
0:56.5	I'm Nicolas Twilly and I am a no-nothing Gentile.
0:59.4	I'm Dimes Cynthia Graber and I'll be your Jewish guide this week.
	...

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