Originally posted by KellyJay
I spent a small amount of time in Israel; they don't mix dairy and meat so no
cheese burgers or cheese on pizza, the word Kosher has a very strong meaning
to those that live there. Even the fast food places don't advertise cheeseburgers,
but many of them will serve them to you if you ask.
Kelly
Where did you stay in Israel? I know of a great little cafe near Ben Yahuda square in Jerusalem that makes GREAT steaks smothered in a creamy sauce to die for. They also have live music.
I and my family lived in Jerusalem for 4 years so I know a bit about the place and although the kosher thing is practiced religiously by a lot of Jews, there are also a lot of Jews who poo poo the whole thing.
In fact up north near the Kinneret there is a kibbutz devoted to raising pigs and selling bacon and such.
The only thing they have to do to satisfy Israeli laws about raising pigs is to have them elevated above ground so the hooves don't touch dirt. They are raised on basically a chicken wire fence held up about one foot above ground.
I worked at the Intel plant in Jerusalem and they did make a big deal out of having kosher utensils, the kosher ones had a small hole in them near the end of the handle and kosher plates and utensils had to be washed in a kosher part of the kitchen.
One time a Palestinian worker pulled a mischievous joke that almost caused a riot.
He took non-kosher utensils and punched holes in them and mixed them with regular kosher ones and somehow the staff found out and there was a near riot over the result.