I don’t think there is any prohibition in either Jewish or Islamic religeous law about selling/serving non-kosher/hallal foods to others, just against eating them yourself.
Bookkeeper:
I don’t know about Halal, but as far as Kosher goes, there are two categories of non-Kosher food which a Jew is not allowed to derive any benefit (e.g., selling, feeding to one’s pets): milk-meat mixtures, and leavened foods on Passover. About all other forms of non-Kosher foods, you’re correct.
Chaim Mattis Keller
From a culinary perspective, there are substitutions that can be made for kosher foods. Some non-dairy creamers, particularly liquid brands, can be used in lieu of milk or cream. Margarine instead of butter is another common one. In Israel, Pizza Hut has “shrimp” made of fish paste, and some Jews I’ve known have used surimi products in different foods. I’ve had foods made with pareve substitutes, and while I wouldn’t rate them among the world’s best, most were edible.
My point is that a recipe that normally uses cream or impermissible meat products can be made kosher by making appropriate substitutions. The quiche Lorraine may have been made with non-dairy creamer and a beef “bacon” substitute.
Robin
I think I’ll ask them next time what they put in it exactly…
You can certainly buy kosher foods from non-Jewish businesses. One of my friend’s favourite restaurants in Baltimore is called David Chu’s. It’s a Chinese place run by Chinese non-Jews, and it’s apparently very good.
I can cook kosher, and I am not Jewish. However, I haven’t got a kashered kitchen so I can not cook to fulfill requirements that Orthodox friends have. Some Jews follow only that they follow the kashrut - ie, not mixing meat and milke - while others require meat-only or dairy-only dishes and utensils be used.
Clairobscur, as you might have figured out by now, these customs are simillar to your user name - both clear and cloudy at the same time. You would think these laws are pretty straightforward, yet there are so many groups that feel compelled to squabble over them…
Different Jews have different interpretations of the law - certainly Orthodox Jews are the strictest, but here in the US many Conservative Jews are more lax about dietary laws - those were the ones I was thinking of who might substitute hallal for kosher. But usually only when traveling or under some circumstances where they can’t get the certified kosher they want, or something clearly pareve (neither milk nor meat) - the idea being it’s closer to kosher or more likely to be OK than simply grabbing whatever random sandwhich is on the rack at the non-Jewish deli (or that’s the reasoning I think they’re using)
Then there are the Reform Jews, a segment of whom do not follow the dietary laws, and “secular” Jews who are Jewish by descent and may retain some of the customs, but for the most part no longer practice the religion.
All very confusing - almost as bad as all the subdivisions of Christianity…
Growing up in the US I really couldn’t grasp the animosity between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East - here they generally do tend to get along. In Chicago it’s nothing unusual to ride to work on the train and see one person reading out of a Hebrew Bible sitting next to another reading out of an Arabic Koran. Why can’t they get on that well back in the homeland?
(Yeah, yeah… I konw there are reasons. But while I might understand intellecturally I don’t get it on an emotional level)