The random etymology of the day

[BlackBlade]

Can we grease the pig first?

Are you allowed to touch pigs?

[rivka]

I could keep one as a pet and kiss it good morning every day, if I wanted to.

Or did you think dogs and cats were kosher?

[Annie Subjunctive]

Or did you think dogs and cats were kosher?

She makes her point well!

I was wandering through my Chinese market this morning wondering how my Jewish friends would fare. (Like Ela mentioned in another thread, you'd pretty much just have to be vegetarian.) But then I wondered - are there Kosher butchering rules for poultry?

[Tante Shvester]

Yes.  The observant Jews I know who travel to China on business carry along all their food in a suitcase.  They tell me it's kind of dismal.

[Annie Subjunctive]

Alas. All it seems that people eat here are pigs and ducks and shrimp. And the occasional hedgehog or snake.

[Brinestone]

You'd think some Jewish entrepreneur could make a living at opening a small kosher restaurant in, say, Beijing. Yeah, Jewish travelers from the States would be few, but in a city that big, maybe there would be enough to keep it open. And maybe if the food was Chinese enough, even non-Jewish people who like good food would try it.

[Annie Subjunctive]

They certainly managed to do well with kosher Chinese restaurants in the States. I bet there'd be plenty of business in the bigger cities.

I think the main problem would be getting the meat - you'd either have to have a kosher slaughterhouse here or import everything from overseas.

[Brinestone]

How hard would it be to start up a kosher slaughterhouse in China? Is there a reason nobody's tried it yet, other than the low population of Jewish people there?

[BlackBlade]

I could keep one as a pet and kiss it good morning every day, if I wanted to.

Or did you think dogs and cats were kosher?

I'm confused. Not so much that I was wrong about pigs, but I was under the impression that there are things practicing Jews won't touch for concern of being ritually unclean. Sorta similar to Muslims who won't touch pigs, or dogs for that matter.

[rivka]

You'd think some Jewish entrepreneur could make a living at opening a small kosher restaurant in, say, Beijing. Yeah, Jewish travelers from the States would be few, but in a city that big, maybe there would be enough to keep it open.

There are a couple in Hong Kong, which gets more business travelers. But I doubt even Beijing gets a steady enough stream to support a kosher restaurant.

And kosher-eating travelers can't even rely on the usual standbys of canned tuna and peanut butter!

How hard would it be to start up a kosher slaughterhouse in China? Is there a reason nobody's tried it yet, other than the low population of Jewish people there?

Not remotely cost-effective.

I was under the impression that there are things practicing Jews won't touch for concern of being ritually unclean. Sorta similar to Muslims who won't touch pigs, or dogs for that matter.

Ritually clean and kosher are not the same thing. Jews are not Muslims.

[BlackBlade]

Jews are not Muslims.

This, I know. I just figured the concept was not entirely a Muslim one.

I figured if you couldn't eat pork, then perhaps you weren't permitted to handle it either. I mean, what's to stop you from chewing up a bacon cheeseburger then spitting it out once the flavor is gone?

[Tante Shvester]

I'd think that it wouldn't make sense to open a kosher Chinese restaurant in China.  China has plenty of Chinese restaurants.  I'd bet they'd go ape for authentic ethnic food, like bagels and rocks.  And having a dairy restaurant would avoid the kosher meat supply problems.

[rivka]

I mean, what's to stop you from chewing up a bacon cheeseburger then spitting it out once the flavor is gone?

Is this a serious question?

[Jonathon]

Jews are not Muslims.

This, I know. I just figured the concept was not entirely a Muslim one.

I figured if you couldn't eat pork, then perhaps you weren't permitted to handle it either. I mean, what's to stop you from chewing up a bacon cheeseburger then spitting it out once the flavor is gone?

The same thing that stops you from swishing alcohol around in your mouth and spitting it out or holding cigarette smoke in your mouth and then blowing it out?

[BlackBlade]

Jews are not Muslims.

This, I know. I just figured the concept was not entirely a Muslim one.

I figured if you couldn't eat pork, then perhaps you weren't permitted to handle it either. I mean, what's to stop you from chewing up a bacon cheeseburger then spitting it out once the flavor is gone?

The same thing that stops you from swishing alcohol around in your mouth and spitting it out or holding cigarette smoke in your mouth and then blowing it out?

The former does not seem strictly forbidden, the later would be impossible because you'd still be inhaling.

[BlackBlade]

I mean, what's to stop you from chewing up a bacon cheeseburger then spitting it out once the flavor is gone?

Is this a serious question?

I intended it to be serious, judging by your reaction there is something obvious I am missing between kissing pigs and chewing them.

[rivka]

Kissing a pig is not eating it.

[BlackBlade]

Kissing a pig is not eating it.

And when my son's food is chewed up and spit out all over the floor I don't say he's "eaten dinner".

[Jonathon]

The former does not seem strictly forbidden, the later would be impossible because you'd still be inhaling.

It depends on what you mean by "inhale". Bill Clinton famously said that he tried pot but didn't inhale, meaning he didn't draw the smoke into his lungs. But my point is that if you think that chewing up a cheeseburger and spitting it out might be okay for a Jew, then smoking without inhaling should be okay for a Mormon.

Of course, I don't think either is acceptable. The prohibitions seem to be against taking those things into your body at all, even if you spit them or blow them out. (Of course, you could easily make the point that when you chew something up and spit it out, you're still ingesting juices and particles of food.) Muslims apparently have a different standard for some unclean animals.

[Annie Subjunctive]

And kosher-eating travelers can't even rely on the usual standbys of canned tuna and peanut butter!

You know, there are a lot of import stores here - I can get an American cake mix, cheddar cheese, Cheerios, or even tuna or peanut butter. I wonder if Jewish travelers would be benefitted of a list of these sorts of stores in Chinese cities. I'd love to put one together for Nanjing, and I'm sure I could find people living in other cities to do so.

Hopefully that would at least ease the burden of having to carry everything you're going to eat in a suitcase.

[Tante Shvester]

Chinese food is probably the most popular ethnic food here in the US.  What's the most popular ethnic food in China?

[rivka]

And kosher-eating travelers can't even rely on the usual standbys of canned tuna and peanut butter!

You know, there are a lot of import stores here - I can get an American cake mix, cheddar cheese, Cheerios, or even tuna or peanut butter. I wonder if Jewish travelers would be benefitted of a list of these sorts of stores in Chinese cities. I'd love to put one together for Nanjing, and I'm sure I could find people living in other cities to do so.

Hopefully that would at least ease the burden of having to carry everything you're going to eat in a suitcase.

Annie, it's the internet. Build a webpage, and they will come.

Also, that's a really cool idea.

[Brinestone]

Chinese food is probably the most popular ethnic food here in the US.  What's the most popular ethnic food in China?

No way. Maybe where you live, but where I live, it's definitely Italian, with Mexican in second place, followed by Chinese.

[Tante Shvester]

Where I live, Italian isn't considered to be ethnic food.  Just "food".

[The Genuine]

right on

An exclamation of enthusiasm or encouragement, as in You've said it really well right on!  This interjection has a disputed origin. Some believe it comes from African-American slang (it was recorded in Odum and Johnson's The Negro and His Songs , 1925); others feel it is a shortening of right on target , used by military airmen, or right on cue , theatrical slang for saying the right lines at the right time. [Slang; first half of 1900s] Also see way to go.