When You are Vegan and Kosher, Where Do You Eat?

Oct 2, 2022 | Food, Jewish thought and practice

Written by Arnie Draiman

So, you’re Kosher, vegan and invited out to dinner? Where to eat? What do you need to be aware of?

When you are vegan and kosher, it can be hard to find what to eat at a restaurant. Given the limited options, many kosher vegans have asked if it is permissible to eat in a non-kosher but certified 100% vegan eating establishment. Although on the surface the answer may seem simple – if a restaurant has no animal products on its premises, everything it serves is automatically kosher, right? – it’s not as simple as you might think. Although some authorities have various ways of working with it so a kosher vegan can eat in a non-kosher certified restaurant, there’s a lot that has to be considered. 

For kosher vegans living in Israel, it’s less of an issue as there are a plethora of vegan restaurants in Israel, and the good news is that many of them are certified kosher. But although in many places across the globe  there are kosher vegetarian restaurants that offer vegan dishes as well, for strict vegans this may not be enough. In some cases, kosher hamburger places offer vegan burgers, but then cook them on the same grill with the same equipment as the meat burgers, rendering them meaty even though no animal was killed in the process. 

So what about a certified vegan restaurant where all the ingredients are certified kosher – does that make the vegan restaurant kosher? 

Most halachic Jewish law authorities believe no, that this is not sufficient. There are too many other issues besides the kashrut of the ingredients themselves. Here is a short list and an explanation about the various concerns one might not think about in this situation. (Be aware that there are myriads of books written describing the intricacies involved for all of the bullet points below, so read these as just a very abbreviated summary of the full explanation.)

  • Vegetables  Leafy green vegetables need to be checked carefully for bugs. Vegan restaurants or almost any non-kosher restaurant may not carry out the halachic requirements in this area. In addition to this issue, in Israel, the question arises if the vegetables conform to the halachic requirements regarding shmitta, terumah, ma’aser, etc.
  • Wine and grape juice – These products have their own set of halachic rules, and even if kosher, there are other issues with how they are handled once open that need to be considered.
  • Vinegar  When made from grapes can have many of the same issues as wine.
  • Sauces – (Hollandaise, Bourguignon, bar-b-q, etc.) or products (Dijon mustard, salad dressings like vinaigrette) that might contain wine or vinegar can be an issue.
  • Bread – In order for bread to be kosher, if it is made in a large enough quantity and if the business has Jewish ownership (or even from the supplier where the bread is purchased if not made on the premises) it is required to ”take challah” – this would most likely not be done in an establishment that is not kosher. 

 And even if the dish ordered doesn’t have any of the above issues, there can be the issue of preparing food in a kitchen not certified kosher. This can especially be a problem in a restaurant that has both vegan and non-vegan dishes (even if the other dishes are vegetarian). One of these other issues can be the problem of Bishul Akum – foods cooked by a non-Jew, though it is more complicated than that.

However, having reviewed some of the issues involved, one halachic authority, Rabbi Haim Ovadia, the rabbi of the Sephardi synagogue Magen David in Bethesda, MD, has written that there are some ways that an individual CAN eat in a certified vegan restaurant.

For example, Rabbi Ovadia believes that the issue of vinegar can be seen in a different light today, since at the time of the Mishna, vinegar was made from wine. He writes that “it is very rare for wine to go bad in the wineries, and so vinegar is destined from the beginning of production to be vinegar and not drinking wine. This means that vinegar, including balsamic, does not need supervision.”

Regarding the issue of bugs in leafy vegetables, Rabbi Ovadia explains that “the main concern regarding vegetables and grains is that they might be infested, but this concern applies only to what can be seen with the naked eye.” In addition, most restaurants wash all leafy greens before serving, not only to avoid customers finding bugs on their plates, but to prevent E. coli food poisoning, which happened a few years ago in the US from unwashed lettuce.

And one other example from his halachic discussion of the issue: “The prohibition on Bishul Akum was meant to prevent intermarriage, which is the result of extreme closeness. This decree only applies to one who prepares and serves food of his own accord because of his love to his Jewish friends. It therefore follows that food served at a restaurant does not fall under the rubric of Bishul Akum.”

Rabbi Ovadia’s full list of issues and questions with his halachic response can be found here

One should be careful, though, to check the actual status of  “Jewish Vegan” eateries and delis making headlines these days – none of the several that we contacted said that they had any kosher certification; rather, they were all designed to be “kosher style.”

As with all things concerning kosher observance, if you are concerned with an issue, ask your rabbi for guidance.

Although some authorities have various ways of working with it so a kosher vegan can eat in a non-kosher certified restaurant, there’s a lot that has to be considered.

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