I Hope That's Kosher With You...

Lexie’s presentation on Monday really gave me a better sense of awareness of my attitude towards cultures and religion outside of my own. I thought it was really interesting how she mentioned the terrible murder that occurred at a Jewish Center in Kansas and she mentioned that two of the people who were killed weren’t even Jewish! Being raised Catholic my parents never told me that we were wrong for believing what we believe, however, they also never told me that we were right for believing what we believe and we should have the same attitudes when we meet people outside of our faith.  I don’t know how to describe it or why I feel this way, but I feel close to people of the Jewish faith, like we’re distant relatives. Like I said in class, It was taught to me in my catechism classes that the Jewish faith is the roots of Catholicism, so when Lexie brought up the incident in Kansas, it really struck a nerve with me.

Though I was moved by the topics she discussed in the beginning, in the spirit of the theme of the class, the focus turned to food, most importantly on the beginning of Passover and it’s food traditions on this holiday. First, she showed us a video of all the different food laws essentially outlining for us all what is “keeping Kosher” and “not keeping Kosher.” Before the lecture, I thought keeping kosher was staying clear of any and all pork products. That meant no bacon and no ham.

Actually, there’s way more.

Followers of the Jewish faith are restricted from also eating birds of prey, which Josh and/or Anthony pointed out that it made sense it was restricted for health reasons. I didn’t even know that it was a thing to eat birds of prey... like would it even taste good? (I’m trying not to think about it as I’m typing.) AND followers are also restricted from eating cheeseburgers because it goes against kosher tradition to eat beef and dairy in the same meal. Which isn't all bad because honestly, you can live without cheeseburgers... and I mean that in every literal way.

My favorite food tradition is sitting down to a Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean casserole and pumpkin pie at Christmas. My favorite part is the pumpkin pie… with whipped cream of course.

Great presentation Lexie!