LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL

We had a visitor recently who was treated to a bunch of rabbis sitting around and discussing the burning issues of the day. At lunch time, we broke long enough to order in some lunch from one or another kosher take out place. Our visitor said, “I think the hardest thing must be to keep kosher outside the home.”

One of the rabbis (no, not your author) said, “Are you kidding? If I can get a kosher hot dog- really kosher- at Citi Field (NY Mets) or Yankee stadium, it ain’t hard at all!”

That started a discussion re the bad old days. Or was it the good old days??

Who ever thought the day would come when we would have Chinese kosher, Japanese kosher, kosher BBQ, kosher Italian- meat and dairy, Bukharian kosher, French kosher, Russian kosher, Thai kosher, Subway kosher, Krispy Kreme kosher, Dunkin Donuts kosher, or kosher burger joints?

We remember when pareve margarine came on the market. At the swankiest affairs, pareve margarine was always served in paper covered pats that were clearly marked pareve. Also, the pareve “milk” was served in their containers so you could know that it was pareve and not really milk at all. Later on when pareve “ice cream” came on the market, it, too, was only served at first in their containers which were clearly marked.

We grew up in a home that was not kosher by any of today’s standards. And outside the home, all bets were off. Yet, there are still lots of foods we have never tasted. As a result, when kosher “lobster, shrimp, etc” came on the market (ie, kosher analogs), we rushed to try them. Apparently, we had not missed anything!

Things have so changed. Go into any supermarket- especially in the Metro NYC area- and marvel at the literally thousands of items marked kosher. There is even a kosher certified “ham glaze” available (we have not yet figured that one out).

Hard to keep kosher outside of the house? Maybe. Certainly in some places that is true. But nonetheless, it ain’t like it used to be, thank goodness.

Now if only someone could come up with a kosher pepperoni pizza that really tastes good!