12 Responses

1. These restaurants may serve only vegetables, but without proper preparation and supervision, those vegetables could be full of…bugs!

2. Vegans don’t necessarily wash their vegetables.
   Eventually, vegan eat bugs.

3. What about bugs?

4. There are so many vegan products that have trief fish oils, unchecked vegetables with Tolaiim, and sub-ingredients that have been cooked by a non Jew.
   Besides, going to a vegan establishment run by someone who cares not for kashrus, asking them to omit the wine or vinegar is useless. Its like asking McDonalds for kosher fries. If these places would get a Hechsher they’d soon find out how many times over their establishment was Trief. Proffessor Fixler, in the name of research, commision an experienced Mashgiach to audit any Vegan establishment, I guarantee they will find 10 items that are not acceptable.

5. According to Rabbi Pixler, one may eat in a restaurant which is vegan as explained below, since the matter of Bishul Akum is not applicable.

   How is it not applicable? Why don’t you cite his explanation, if he has one? If he doesn’t, why don’t you point that out as a glaring hole in his “psak”.

   In addition to bishul nochri, which is an issur just like chicken with milk, there are also several other problems:

   1. Just because they say all ingredients are vegan doesn’t mean it’s true. For instance the oil they use may say vegetable but if it has no hechsher how do you know it really is?

   2. It is STANDARD PRACTICE for restaurant staff to cook their own food on the restaurant’s equipment. This food may well be chazer treif — including literally chazer.

   3. Tolo’im.

6. Maybe the Rishon l’Tzion should start opining about issues of nanotechnology and advanced materials, which he may well have a theoretical understanding of, but I suspect has to practical knowledge of whatsoever. Why can’t these heroes like Fixler who have learnt some gemora as “talmidim” of different rabbis, realize that psak for the massses is not a job for the boys but the really highly qualified adults. L’havdil elef havdolos, but maybe a little like dabbling in Electrical engineering and Nanophotonics because you have sat in a lecture by a middle ranking professor at a small university and then read a book or two.

7. What about Bedikas Toloim?! They may not intentionally serve anything from animal origin but neither do they check meticulously for shrozim and eating Shrozim has more Issurim than eating pork.

8. What about truma and maaser?

9. I could never eat in such a place, and I’m appalled that a professor said such a thing. But I’m intellectually curious as to the sevara of Rav Yosef’s psak. Just want to know

10. Was the article in Techumin (not Tanchumim) written as a theoretical analysis or Halacha lema’aseh? If it’s just an analysis (which is what Techumin is really about), then while others can argue, the harsh language is not warranted.

    As to some of the specific points mentioned:

    1. There are certain groups in India (the Jans – pronounced Jains, for example) who are so careful about not consuming any living creature that they will carefully sweep their kitchens before preparing food to prevent accidentally stepping on an insect. They also carefully check all produce to ensure that there are no living creatures present. Would that address the issue of infestation? Also, there are dishes that do not contain vegetables that need to be checked – if all that is contained is squash, tomatoes, carrots, and onions, what would be the issue?

    2. Use of Treif oils – most animal- or fish-sourced oils are more expensive than vegetable oils, which is why they’d not use them – aside from their own “kpeida” against use of animal products. The additional cost of animal-sourced fats – as well as the fact that they don’t easily blend with vegetable oils – is one of the reasons many Poskim allow pure extra virgin olive oil with no Hechsher. They say that while cheaper vegetable oils might be mixed in, treif fats are extremely unlikely to be added – so while you may be cheated, you will not be consuming non-Kosher.

    3. Terumos and Ma’asros – that is only an issue in Eretz Yisrael, not in Chu”l.

    4. Wine and vinegar – an issue if that’s potentially used in the preparation of a particular dish.

    5. Bishul Akum – I’m not sure why R’ Fixler concludes that this is not an issue. Is he speaking about dishes that are made only with vegetables that can be eaten raw?

    This is an interesting topic, and can be very relevant to Frum Jews who travel to places where there’s no Kosher food easily available. The fact that R’ Fixler also happens to be a scientist does not mean that he can’t have a good knowledge of Halacha as well, so the disrespectful tone is not really called for.

    an Israeli Yid

11. TheMir, genuine vegan products obviously do not contain fish oil. Fish are not vegetables. But of course not everything labelled vegan actually is.

12. As a mashgiach that washes greens for bug purposes every day, I can simply state the facts: Even when washing spinach leaves with our special method approved by Rabbi Via from Israel, I still find once ain a while a bug or 2 on the bedika cloth afterwards, having to redo the whole procedure again. So any goyish restaurant that claims they wash their spinach leaves and lettuce and thyme and arugula etc., but obviously does not do it the right away for bug purposes, they are DEFINITELY serving you insects in their food! Rosemary, Parsley, Cilantro, Thyme, Romaine, Scallions, Cabbage, Raddichio, Bok choy, Oregano, Spinach, Spring mix/Mesculin, Strawberries, etc. etc. that aren’t washed and checked properly by a certified bug washer have bugs in them!!! This is a fact proven by me and every other person in this field that is not biased on a daily basis.