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This chapter opens with a discussion on some of the contexts in which science was deployed intersected with Jewish observance during the 19th century, including calendar-making, the use of electric light on the Sabbath, and the possibility of chemical tests for non-kosher additives to food. During the early 19th century, some Jewish writers followed Christian authors in trying to ascertain the natural philosophy hidden in the Torah text, but this project was largely abandoned by mid-century. In contrast to Quakers, Anglo-Jewry made little use of design arguments, these being directed primarily to children and, on occasions, to working men. Jewish writers on science appear to have been more willing to entertain speculative hypotheses than contemporary Quakers.

This chapter assesses the controversy over the knives used in sheḥitah, or slaughtering of animals. In east European Jewish society, meat was a central element of the diet, and the observance of the kosher laws was one of the most obvious ways in which Jews were distinguished from non-Jews. Moreover, a rigorous observance of these laws was one of the ways in which individual Jews demonstrated their piety. The quality of the ḥalaf, or knife used for sheḥitah, is one of the key elements in determining whether meat is kosher or not. During the early days of the hasidic movement, a dispute over the type of knife that should be used — specifically a demand that slaughtering knives be sharpened or ‘polished’ in a special way — played a major role in the struggle between the hasidim and their opponents, particularly the mitnagedim. The decline of this dispute contributed to the establishment of a degree of peace, or at least coexistence, between the groups.

This chapter assesses how Jews faced particular problems in ‘carnivorous Europe’, where meat was eaten every day, servings were generous, and wine was drunk as though it were water. For Jews, consumption of meat and wine was conditional upon their preparation according to strict rules. Adherence to Jewish dietary law thus entailed waste: on the one hand, of animals which had been found to be unfit after ritual slaughter, and on the other, of remains which could not in any circumstances be eaten by Jews. As such, a Jewish community needed a far greater supply of animals than a Christian one, irrespective of the appetites or financial means of individuals. The cost of a pound of kosher meat would have been prohibitive if the relevant butcher had not been able to sell the rejected parts to Christian customers. In summary, then, the presence of a Jewish community in any town was always dependent on the regular availability of kosher meat. As with meat, Jewish law laid down precise rules defining kosher wine. Wine was inevitably found at the tables of the Italian Jews of the period, above all in such a great wine-producing and consuming area as Umbria, whose countryside is today still characterized by extensive vineyards.

Eating together and sharing food is often taken as a sign of community—as in rituals of communion, and it was often a site of conflict. This coda explores care workers’ and patients’ reflections on eating and food—from the smells of “African cooking,” to the joys of patients accepting African foods and kosher dietary restrictions—as meditations on belonging and incorporation by patients and care workers alike.

This chapter describes the sacred obligations of the Jewish woman. The mishnah of kinin deals with the problem of the bird sacrifices that a woman who has just given birth or other individuals who have experienced impurity are obligated to bring after they recover. This is connected with the issue of the beginning of a woman's ritually unclean period (menstruation). The chapter then considers the culture of modesty. The battle against immodest dress is at the very centre of the culture of modesty; the modesty of Jewish women saved the Jews from exile. Finally, the chapter focuses on the commandments of kashrut, explaining the necessity for Jewish women to learn the rules regarding kosher food.

This chapter talks about observers of American Orthodoxy that were struck by what was labelled as a move to the right during the second half of the twentieth century. It discusses the insistence on the term ‘glatt kosher’ and stricter rules of kashrut in general, as well as the increasing insistence on separation of the sexes in the synagogue during services. It also explores basic sociological factors that explain why Orthodoxy in modern society is adopting a stance of greater isolation from the wider Jewish community and of ritualistic stringency. The chapter mentions Charles Liebman and his pioneering 1966 analysis of American Orthodox Judaism in the American Jewish Year Book. It distinguishes between ultra-Orthodox Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy in terms of attitudes towards the broader Jewish community, modernity, and Zionism.

This chapter explains what modern kosher and halal production, trade and consumption are. More specifically the chapter introduces religious consumers as well as the relationship between globalised markets, production, regulation and audit culture. The chapter ends with reflections on methodology and organisation of the book.

This chapter serves as an introduction to Judaism/kosher and Islam/halal in the UK and Denmark respectively. The main function of these discussions is to give the reader a broader historical and societal context for exploring kosher and halal in greater empirical detail in subsequent chapters; we also discuss broader similarities and differences between kosher and halal in the UK and Denmark.

This chapter explores the manufacture and production of kosher and halal meat (both red meat and poultry) in London and Manchester in the UK and also Denmark with specific reference to audits/inspections, legislation, networking, product innovation and certification. The reason for focusing on the UK in particular is, firstly, the UK has large Jewish and expanding Muslim communities as well as some well-known kosher and halal certification bodies. At the same time this market is far more complex than the market in Denmark.

Within the last couple of decades, the trend in both kosher and halal production is that these globalising religious markets have moved beyond meat to include enzyme production, for example, as enzymes are part of a wide range of types of foods and drinks. This chapter explores how multinational companies that are both kosher and halal certified understand and comply with rising requirements in respect to issues such as certification, staff policies, science and innovation, for example – and how non-meat products such as enzymes are produced and qualified as kosher and halal.

In this chapter we explore how Jewish consumers in the UK and Denmark understand and practice kosher consumption in their everyday lives. Many Jewish groups are fastidious about their everyday kosher consumption and this point has reinforced regulation of global kosher production and regulation. A specific focus in this chapter is how consumers make sense of the issues raised in previous chapters, that is, buying/eating meat and non-meat products in a changing global context.  Another important theme explored is how Jewish consumers understand and practice their everyday (kosher) food consumption in our two case countries.

In focusing on the consequences of globalising kosher and halal markets this book has demonstrated that similarities and differences between kosher and halal consumption, production and regulation in different national contexts are not well understood, and that to better understand global kosher and halal markets they must be explored at different levels of the social scale. This conclusion is organised around three keywords from the book’s title: religion, regulation and consumption. We conclude on these themes by bringing in a few examples from preceding chapters and by reflecting on the ‘bigger picture’ these conclusions evoke. 

Opening with personal story of drinking Coca Cola at Passover seders, traces intertwined story of kosher certification of Coca Cola and incorporation of scientific knowledge into kosher certification through the interventions of Rabbi Tobias Geffen and the almost known lay chemist Abraham Goldstein.

Framed with the case of how Oreo cookies became kosher, explains how government requirements and the complex supply chains of modern industrial food generates a preference for kosher-certified food among food producers, using an extended description of a 2010 tour of a Ventura Foods private label plant to detail the integration of kosher practices into contemporary food manufacturing operations.

Drawing heavily on the experiences with kosher meat by his mother and grandmothers, presents the decline of kosher beef from the 1930s-1980s through the family and person experiences of Harry Kassel, the principal wholesale kosher meat distributor in the US 1960-1980. Includes discussion of New York State Kosher Law Enforcement Division, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen, and the Commack Kosher Meat case that invalidated states laws regulating kosher food.