I’m not familiar with the finer points of Mosaic dietary law, but I can’t think of any. Am I missing something?
ETA: I know that there can be issues with how food is prepared, but a lot of those can be gotten around by doing things in the right way. Feel free to comment on that, but I’m mostly interested in vegan foods that can’t be made kosher with any preparation.
Spices. Someone keeping strict kosher will ensure that their spices are certified as such. I doubt vegans consider any spices to be non-vegan. I don’t think vegans have any problem drinking non-kosher wine, either.
It could also be considered non-kosher if prepared in a non-kosher kitchen.
Anything made with grapes if not prepared by kosher jews. Also vegetables and fruits not inspected for bugs. Any bug bits= not kosher. Those are two things I know.
My wife and I are learning the ins and outs right now so that we can keep Kashrut
if the ingredients and the cooking locale are all kosher certified, vegan food is kosher.
Also from
http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm
“You may also notice that some baking powders are not kosher, because baking powder is sometimes made with cream of tartar, a by-product of wine making”
Bread or other grain products (except matzah) which were owned by a Jew on Passover.
Food which was used in idolatrous worship - not a common problem nowadays.
It’s actually not that uncommon at all in India, but I don’t know how populous kosher Jews are in India. Food offered to Hindu idols is not likely to be resold anyway, I suppose (but people still do offer food to idols there).
I was in a kosher Indian restaurant here in the US, Hindu-owned and vegetarian, but under rabbinic supervision. Near the front of the store there was a little table with a statue and a bowl of grain which you could scoop out and place in front of it. I was a bit taken aback to see that in a kosher restaurant, but I assumed that the offerings didn’t make their way back to the kitchen.
Shmendrik: Generally with cultures that make food offerings, once that food is offered to a god/spirit/etc., it is officially the property of that entity. This doesn’t mean that all sacrifice items are automatically belonging to that entity only, but that the portion that is shared with the entity is officially verboten for humans to eat. Aside from that, even in certified kosher restaurants, if it is a restaurant owned by someone who practices another faith, it’s their prerogative to adorn the restaurant’s interior however they like.
Personally, I’ve never seen a good Chinese restaurant in the US without a bodhisattva hanging out somewhere with joss and an offering in front of it, including the “size of a hallway” type take-out places. I’m guessing that the cultural devotion to the deity depicted in the statue at the Indian restaurant you went to was of a similar variety-- it’s mainly there for the benefit of the owner and the restaurant.
It will also depend on the degree of kashrut – Conservative Judaism is more lenient in some areas than Orthodox, for instance. There are some Orthodox who now believe that broccoli is not kosher because there is a risk of tiny insects hiding in the stubbly part. I suspect that most vegans would be appalled to find an insect in their broccoli (as would most other people, for that matter) but wouldn’t avoid broccoli on the off-chance.
The Jewish population in India has been shrinking rapidly for years, through intermarriage and immigration to Israel.
In Hinduism generally, food that is offered to the gods is afterwards given to the worshipers to eat as a blessing.
There’s also Santeria ceremonies.
A link followed in Analog’s response above is a vade mecum of a large bunch of fruits and vegetables. I doubt any non-super duper orthodox housewife or mashgiach (specifically trained kosher food inspector) follows each step, but relies on the good sense within the boundaries laid out above.
Star-K is actually pretty lenient as far as bug checking goes. “Super-duper Orthodox” housewives wouldn’t even rely on a lot of those guidelines.
Another big category which I forgot to mention earlier is agricultural laws. This applies mostly to produce which is grown in the land of Israel, which is subject to a number of rules about tithing, the Sabbatical year, not eating fruits the first three years they grow on a tree, etc.
So actually, an ordinary vegan meal made of Israeli grain, fruit, or vegetables would not be kosher.
Yes, I had completely forgotten those. I love the one where the field is left to the poor.
Strict vegans will avoid wines that have been fined with egg whites, gelatin, casein, isinglass, or other animal-derived agents.
Wouldn’t bug bits make it non-vegan, though?
Amusing thread. Is honey vegan? (Of course, it is kosher, although bees aren’t.)
There are special rules about kashrut during Passover. All grains are out, for example (unless prepared under strict rabbinic supervision to assure they have not been allowed to ferment).
I am reminded that when I spent a month in Israel, I found a large clump of wild mustard which I picked and my wife prepared with lentils (makes a tasty dish). Afterward she told me that it had been crawling with bugs, which she mostly got out but probably a few remained. Had they been grasshoppers, it would have still been kosher, but I think they were mostly ants.
Honey is not vegan. It is produced by animals.
I was once yelled at by a vegan acquaintance for giving her a beeswax candle as a gift.