Kashrut at Kayam

I have spearheaded a six-week conversation here, essentially entitled, "can we develop a kashrut policy that goes beyond the system of hechshers (formal kosher seals of approval)?" which would, for example, allow us to buy things at a Farmers Market and eat them in them in the farm's kosher kitchen. This has been an absolutely fascinating conversation in a highly pluralistic community, one where some folks care most about the Jewish law aspects of diet, others care most about the local/organic aspects of their diet, and still others care about both.

Each week, a small working group has made some progress in moving towards this goal. Tonight at our community meeting, we discussed the draft below, which will be the last one I participate in this summer. :( It's still a work in progress, but I'm immensely proud of both the process we've gone through, and the progress we've made. I'd love to hear your thoughts and your questions....

DRAFT—July 7, 2010

The kitchen in the village of Kayam Farm is an

eco-kosher vegetarian kitchen.

This means:

Klal Gadol--A great principal: The more whole foods and the fewer the ingredients the better. The more processed and the more ingredients there are in an item, the harder it is for us to know where the food comes from, what we’re putting in our bodies, and the more complicated it is to establish the kashrut. (Ideally, all things we buy would have a hechsher AND be local, organic, and seasonal.)

Two questions arise: a) what if something doesn’t have a hechsher but we know suggested addition: we can converse directly with the producer and they tell us that it contains only kosher ingredients and is cooked using only vegetarian utensils? or b) what if an item has a hechsher but isn’t organic, or contains ingredients which aren’t identifiable as food?

The following are the eco-kosher vegetarian requirements for Kayam’s kitchen:

1. Items purchased suggested addition: from producers we have been able to speak to, e.g. at a Farmers Market, can be considered kosher even though they do not have a hechsher, as long as the items:

a. contain only vegan ingredients

b. contain only ingredients identifiable as food.

c. do not contain anything “sharp,” such as onions, garlic, leeks, scallions, radishes, acidic foods (those that you can eat raw are fine, all others are not), or things which have been pickled in vinegar

2. Bread suggested edit: from producers we’ve been able to speak to is kosher as long as it follows the three above rules.

3. Milk being sold commercially does not need a hechsher, with the exception of flavored milk. Raw milk which is sold legally is kosher. All milk for our kitchen must be hormone free and organic.

4. Cheese must have a hechsher and be hormone free. Though the Tablet K hechsher is not accepted by some members of our community, it is permitted in our kitchen. We will strive to obtain a selection of cheeses which are acceptable to everyone.

5. Other dairy needs a hechsher (eg. Yogurt, whipped cream, butter and sour cream)

6. Store-bought processed products need a hechsher unless we are able to speak to the producer.

7. Any cooked item without a hechsher that contains ingredients which are not typically eaten raw is not kosher, eg. cakes or muffins. Cooked things which contain only ingredients might be eaten raw are kosher, such as jam, tehina, or roasted peanut butter (as long as the rules in #1 above apply)

8. We will strive to have everything in our kitchen be chemical and hormone free.

For those who will be going to Farmers Markets, here are the questions to ask of the vendors to determine if their wares meet our requirements:

1. What ingredients does this item contain? (mentally apply requirements in #1 above)
2. What else do you cook using the same utensils?(mentally apply requirements in #1 above)