Jewish Food/Answered Question
Expert: Patti
Subject: Kosher food/raw foodism
Question: Hi,
I have done my own checking and have found that, generally, jews seem to be forbidden to do a raw animal and raw vegetable food diet(RVAF diet) unless the raw meat is previously salted or soaked in vinegar(which is not normally recommended on a RVAF diet). Is this correct?
Thanks,
Geoff.
Answer:
Hi Geoff,
It's not the eating of raw meat that's prohibited in the Kosher laws, it's consuming blood that's prohibited. Assuming an animal was killed in a kosher way and drained of blood properly, it doesn't have to be cooked at all.
One could eat meat raw by salting it thoroughly to remove the blood, and rinse it thoroughly before eating. Here are instructions for how to Kosher meat by using salt to remove blood:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/82678/jewish/Koshering-Meat.htmIt should be noted that after using the salt method to remove blood there still may be red liquid coming out of the meat. This probably isn't blood, but mohul (juice). It may have the appearance of blood, it's not reality blood at all.
As far as eating raw vegetables, they are absolutely kosher, as long as they're free of insects. The prohibition against consuming insects, even very tiny ones (as long as they are visible to the naked eye) is mentioned five times in the Torah and it's very strict on this subject. Fresh raw vegetables do not need kashrut certification and can be used with either dairy or meat.
I hope I've been a help.
Regards,
Patti
