A homeless friend of mine is stuck in NYC and his family’s daily meals were (are) provided by this service - despite neither him nor his children being NYC residents. I am sure enough other adults (parents or otherwise) were receiving this food that making such disbursements allowed was mainly about legitimizing the good that was already occurring than accidentally admitting that significant amounts of people were presently being turned without food.
TL;DR: I’m sure NY residents not in the city can get the food if so desired, especially as the system operates on the honor code.
As far as I understand, food prepared by a non-Jew isn't kosher even if the ingredients are. This is not the case for halal food, which may be prepared by non-Muslims.
Vegan and gluten-free really starts to balloon the already immense challenge they are facing trying to implement here. I feel bad for the three people that actually need gluten-free, but everyone else will have to eat “that deadly gluten!”
I don't know how many people have a valid medical need to avoid gluten, but I do know that in certain subcultures it is popular to imagine one has a gluten intolerance.
Edit: Just discovered spurious accusations of racism in this thread so let me clarify that the "certain subcultures" are not ethnic nor religious. I'm talking about the kind of people who believe in astrology, homeopathy, and acupuncture, who talk about fibromyalgia and craniosacral all the time.
There’s a HUGE difference in the number of people who eat gluten-free and those who medically require such a diet. This fad will come and go just as many before it have.
Yet they singled out one religious dietary requirements whilst ignoring a whole demographic with a large populus and history of the area - colour me perplexed.
Still, thank you for replying instead of blind downvote because antisemitisim has many forms it seems, even here :(
[EDIT ADD] WOW this comment has gone up and down like crazy - was +4 few mins ago, now -2 (as I type) - I'm stepping away from this forum for a bit as I do not wish to draw sad conclusions that appear evident :((
Yes, and also one of the few avenues of legal suicide in the UK and many countries that do not easily or legally allow assisted suicide for those wanting it to avoid further suffering.
> as I do not wish to draw sad conclusions that appear evident
The sad conclusion that appears evident would seem to be that you didn't do the research.
Any commercial kitchen can, without significant difficulty, produce halal food. The same certainly isn't true of kosher food. Here's an account of making a (fairly simple) food factory kosher: https://www.star-k.org/articles/articles/getting-certified/c... . For a commercial kitchen, you likely have worse problems; beyond the initial setup, you'd at a minimum need segregated areas, utensils and appliances for milk, meat and neither. You'd also need a lot of training.
There's no reason to think there's any anti-semitism here; it's just an issue of practicality.
Your comment is condemning the logistical choice while ignoring that there are many different kosher authorities and no one would satisfyingly serve the entire nyc religious Jewish community
The data at hand indicates that there would not be a way to serve kosher food given the broad number of kosher authorities, many of whom are in direct conflict over religious validity making trying to appease them impossible.
The nyc school system has lots of experience with these communities and knows what it is doing in terms of how to reach the most people.
Perhaps it would make more sense to offer kosher rather than halal, since Muslims accept kosher, whereas Jews don't accept halal (because not blessed by a rabbi, I believe).
Agreed - however in light of the sudden downvote withoutcomment, you kinda feel that people should not be allowed to downvote without comment and avoid turning this into reddit.
I raised a fair and valid observation and yet, well, hard to ignore such things and I'm not going to debate why as politics is bad.
Thank you for your concerns and not blindly dismissing the point as many have and did do.
>in light of the sudden downvote withoutcomment, you kinda feel
I have felt similarly in the past, in similar situations. Play it through though, in a variety of cases, and we see why it's not just allowed, but a good thing.
I don't know where this widespread misconception has come from, but it is not true. Unless by "kosher food" you mean kosher lettuce and pickles or something, rather than meat.
Uh no. One of the primary reasons why kosher is more expensive and logistically difficult than some other dietary requirements are the requirements for separation of kitchen space, rules around treatment of utensils and so on.
This is fascinating. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how this is supposed to work though. Does this assumption never break down at any point? From the moment the iron is extracted and melted to the moment the knife comes into your hand... is there some kind of chain of custody certificate that says it's never touched anything impermissible? Are there entire kosher industries and factories I'm not aware of for making utensils and such?
A brand new utensil is assumed to be kosher, since it's unlikely a factory is going to have food in it that would contact the utensils.
Also, a utensil is koshered by the same heat-level that made it non-kosher. So if used on a fire, it's koshered on a fire. If used only in hot water, then it's koshered in hot water.
It can get more complicated: Some things (like plastic, or wood) can never be koshered (except by removing a layer from the surface, for example by sanding) because they absorb too easily.
Red hot heat can kosher anything, but those substances can not withstand the necessary temperature.
Glass is interesting as it's considered impervious, and some hold that simply washing it is enough because nothing absorbs into glass.
Are the pots and pans used for dairy, meat and vegetarian foods ever washed in the same commercial dishwasher? This is impermissible in many kosher traditions.
I invite anyone who thinks keeping a kosher kitchen is straightforward to do some quick web searches on the topic.
It can be straightforward if you maintain two entirely separate kitchens forever :D It seems like the complexity comes in trying to chart a path through the grey area between 100% separate and 100% integrated.
I recently learned that insects are not kosher, so some Jews don't consider figs to be kosher because of the fig wasps. There are probably more examples.
AFAIK yes, but then, they are just as equally Halal compliant and felt the need to specially cater for that group of dietary needs over another - would love to know the logic going on there upon this.
It's far, far easier to prepare halal food than kosher food, in that the halal rules are mostly just around ingredients. Kosher gets a _lot_ more complicated.
For instance, essentially all vegetarian food is halal, but it probably isn't kosher.
