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Off the Table (in London): Onions and Strawberries

By shanna
Published May, 22 2005 12:12 pm

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First strawberries, and now onions. I’ve never been so glad to not live in London.

I have to say, I’m not sure where to draw the line between use of modern technology and basic knowledge of biology on the one hand, and common sense and following the spirit of the law on the other. Sure, there probably are teeny-tiny insects in our onions and on our fruit, but there are certainly even tinier things living on just about everything we put into our mouths. The halachic standard, as far as I know, is that you can’t eat those bugs that are visible to the naked eye. That’s…arbitrary. Many of these little critters are made to be hard-to-see - green bugs on green vegetables, black ones on seeded fruit, white ones inside onions - so we’re already at a disadvantage there. Obviously, different people have different levels of visual accuity, and just because your near-blind grandfather is the one checking the lettuce, that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to eat half-inch long insects. There has to be some kind of objective standard.

But…are we losing our minds here? Remember, there’s always going to be something small that you don’t see. They didn’t have lightboxes and vegetable wash two hundred years ago, and I’m pretty sure no one was pulling apart onions layer by layer and rinsing each piece off in vinegar before cooking. From the sound of it (I haven’t seen these infested onions first-hand), I’m guessing that the average person wouldn’t notice one of these bugs without first having it pointed out to her, and even then it may be tough. I won’t even approach the issue of these new issurim (prohibitions) and complicated cooking preparation methods are being put forth by rabbinical councils made up of (drumroll, please) men, when the vast majority of the people shouldering the extra work with each new edict are (wait for it) women.

(Both links from Bloghead.)

(Cross-posted at Devarim.)

11 comments so far (Post your own)

1.At 10:40 pm on May 22nd, 2005, Howard wrote:

I’m just waiting for the declaration that animal-like bacteria aren’t kosher… what could be better than washing all of our food with Listerine before consuming?

2.At 4:50 pm on May 23rd, 2005, Alex wrote:

Unfortunately, Shanna, many of these insects are visible to the naked eye (without the use of a lightbox - although having makes it easier to see them)and, although they might be not recognizable as bugs to someone who is not used to looking for them, may in fact be halachically problematic. The bottom line, as always, is to consult your own halchik advisor for what is necessary and not rely on news clips (or blogs, for that matter).

3.At 1:36 pm on May 25th, 2005, Nathan wrote:

“But…are we losing our minds here?”

Yes. I, and others, have been trying to warn about the dangers of following an ever-narrowing spiral downward into absurdity in the area of kashruth. The road to hell is paved with the best of intentions, so the saying goes.

If you want to wash your onions, go ahead and wash them. But if the rabbis start declaring that you must now use certified onions: follow the money. It’s a very, very large amount of money, and that money is being sucked away from observant communities without, unlike in the “good old days”, returning much benefit by funding schools, local rabbinate, etc.

4.At 2:26 pm on May 25th, 2005, Alex wrote:

Nathan

Why don’t you read what your posek from Kashrut.org says about bugs in vegetables, or do you only follow him for his leniencies?

5.At 7:06 pm on May 25th, 2005, jabbett wrote:

Alex– please be respectful in your posts, no matter how much you disagree with another reader. I know, over the Internet, it’s easy to forget that we’re interacting with other, real humans… Jews even. A little ahavat yisrael is in order.

Nathan– you’re not beyond reproach either. While I, too, lament the higher price of certain kosher foods and the sometimes frustrating strictures we must follow, it’s not entirely respectful to accuse certification organizations of willfully extorting money from us with only circumstantial evidence.

However, I was interested to hear what Rabbi Abadi of Kashrut.org had to say on the subject.

What I’ve gleaned so far–
Crustaceans in NYC water, no problem. Asparagus, don’t eat the tips. Brussel sprouts, problematic. Impossible to clean broccoli. Wouldn’t eat a particular kind of Star-K “no checking necessary” frozen vegetables.

And he goes so far as to say they he’s not inventing new issurim by being meticulous about bugs. In fact, he criticizes the OU for being overly lenient regarding bugs for 20 years without halachic basis!

6.At 3:56 am on May 29th, 2005, Nathan wrote:

Musar from kosherblog? I’m someone now!

More seriously, while I have strong concerns about the current trends in kashruth, I intended no personal offense by my comments. I note well Alex’s point with regard to following a particular posek; I can’t/don’t claim to follow the rabbis Abadi (the father is in Israel and two sons run the website in consultation with him), but I do find their approach rather enlightening in many areas. Sadly, they’re strict on hard cheese, but hey, give them time and we’ll see.

Bugs are a problem. Perhaps even worse than kashruth issues, they’re just gross. They are, however, a reality, and the reality is also that you, I and most everyone living has eaten them in whole or parts. Life goes on. Our approach is to soak “problematic” veggies in a mild vinegar solution a few times. It’s pretty nasty to see the little critters that come off with these treatments. Blech. As for Brussel sprouts, I’ll live happily if I never eat another; the wife will give me hell now when she reads this comment.

My local Conservative rabbi, who takes his kashruth quite seriously (he’s a vegetarian - “it’s been 20 years between milk and meat for me”) offered the opinion that frozen peas may be the safest veggie in the context of concern about bugs because they come from inside the protective hull. I’m comfortable purchasing frozen peas without certification, and they’re a very healthy food as well.

7.At 5:40 pm on May 31st, 2005, Alex wrote:

I apologize for the tone of my post.

Jabbett - I really think this is a great blog and I enjoy most of what is put up here. One thing I see, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, is sometimes a general disrespect that can be seen, for example, with this post above. I mean, seriously discuss the halachik issues, bring sources (and there are a lot of classical halachik sources to bring to be able to speak intelligently on this issue)- But, please don’t let it descend into - those women-hating, chumra-loving rabbis have done it to us again. Can this not be done a little more respectfully? I think this goes along with what you are saying - these people she is speaking about are jews too. Inflamatory rhetoric doesn’t help. (I mean this in both ways - we should also be careful not to denigrate any rabbi or supervision which we don’t consider “acceptible”.)

8.At 2:12 pm on June 1st, 2005, jabbett wrote:

Absolutely.

9.At 2:44 pm on June 2nd, 2005, shanna wrote:

I apologize if my somewhat flippant language offended you, Alex (or anyone else, for that matter).

10.At 11:30 pm on June 8th, 2005, elf wrote:

Gender issues aside, Shanna, I think you articulated these concerns very well. Halakha is often arbitrary, and “visibility to the naked eye” may be the best possible criterion here, but it certainly isn’t flawless. Personally, I’m very uncomfortable with the idea of outlawing whole categories of vegetables, but I can’t make a halakhic argument in defense of eating insects that one simply happens not to have spotted.

Anyway, kudos to everyone on the retractions and apologies. This is far above-average internet etiquette.

11.At 1:48 pm on July 11th, 2005, ruth bernstein wrote:

http://tinyurl.com/bsh3h says that hummus may also join this list soon. I think it’s just a scare, but if it’s right, what will the Butcherie do with all that shelf space?