Kosher? That means the rabbi blessed it, right? Not exactly. In this captivating account of a Bible-based practice that has grown into a multibillions-dollar industry, journalist Sue Fishkoff travels throughout America and to Shanghai, China, to find out who eats kosher food, who produces it, who is responsible for its certification, and how this fascinating world continues to evolve. She explains why 86 percent of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy kosher food are not observant Jews—they are Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists, vegetarians, people with food allergies, and consumers who pay top dollar for food they believe “answers to a higher authority.” Fishkoff interviews food manufacturers, rabbinic supervisors, and ritual slaughterers; meets with eco-kosher adherents who go beyond traditional requirements to produce organic chicken and pasture-raised beef; sips boutique kosher wine in Napa Valley; talks to shoppers at an upscale kosher supermarket in Brooklyn; and marches with unemployed workers at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant. She talks to Reform Jews who are rediscovering the spiritual benefits of kashrut, and to Conservative and Orthodox Jews who are demanding that kosher food production adhere to ethical and environmental values. And she chronicles the corruption, price-fixing, and strong arm tactics of early-twentieth-century kosher meat production, against which contemporary kashrut standards pale by comparison. A revelatory look at the current state of kosher in America, this book will appeal to anyone interested in food, religion, Jewish identity, or big business.

More than 550 coins photographed and discussed in this book are NOT KOSHER...in other words they are forgeries, often intended to deceive unwitting collectors. David Hendin has collected and researched these neglected forgeries for more than 35 years, and now makes his diagnostic methodology and huge database of photographs available to scholars, collectors, and dealers. Hendin writes: "When apparently legitimate college professors and scholars were prepared to authenticate, as genuine, ancient Jewish coins that even a beginning collector could identify as suprious, the time had come to document all those known fakes."

Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how Manischewitz wine became the first kosher product to win over non-Jewish consumers (principally African Americans); the techniques used by Orthodox rabbinical organizations to embed kosher requirements into food manufacturing; and the difficulties encountered by kosher meat and other kosher foods that fell outside the American culinary consensus. Kosher USA is filled with big personalities, rare archival finds, and surprising influences: the Atlanta rabbi Tobias Geffen, who made Coke kosher; the lay chemist and kosher-certification pioneer Abraham Goldstein; the kosher-meat magnate Harry Kassel; and the animal-rights advocate Temple Grandin, a strong supporter of shechita, or Jewish slaughtering practice. By exploring the complex encounter between ancient religious principles and modern industrial methods, Kosher USA adds a significant chapter to the story of Judaism's interaction with non-Jewish cultures and the history of modern Jewish American life as well as American foodways.

In an era of anxiety about the safety and industrialization of the food supply, kosher food—with $12 billion in sales—is big business. Timothy Lytton tells a story of successful private-sector regulation: how independent certification agencies rescued U.S. kosher supervision from corruption and made it a model of nongovernmental administration.

An Abe Lieberman mystery Abe Lieberman is a strong, sympathetic character, an Everyman whose love for his family is only matched by his quiet, zealous commitment to justice. "A figure out of Talmudic lore-endearing, wise in his crotchets, weary with his wisdom," says The Washington Post. He loves what he does, but it takes its toll as his commitment to what is right is sorely tested every day on the mean streets of Chicago. As a moral man, he is sometimes faced with some uncomfortable ethical choices in order to see that justice-rather than the letter of the law-is meted out. And in Not Quite Kosher, the latest Abe Lieberman mystery by veteran Edgar Award-winning Stuart Kaminsky, our hangdog sleuth is up to his eyeballs in tsurris, the kind of trouble that will drive a man to madness. From tracking a pair of low-rent thieves who stumble into a heist way over their heads to finding out what happened to a man who predicted his own death in a bizarre twist of fate, not to mention planning for a grandson's bar mitzvah that threatens to send him to the poorhouse, Lieberman will do much to find a way to make everything right, even if it takes years off his life. And his Irish partner, Bill Hanrahn, the Priest to Lieberman's Rabbi, is in trouble of his own making. For the woman he loves is the object of affection of one of the kingpins of the Asian crime syndicate in Chicago and the notion of this woman marrying anyone from a different culture is anathema. How far will he go to win the woman he loves? And at what cost? Just another day in the lives of a pair of Chicago's most amiably odd detective team . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"The first meat-only kosher cookbook, with one hundred and twenty recipes deliciously designed to appeal to cutting edge cooks of all faiths who are turning to kosher meat for superior flavor and results. Experienced home cooks have long praised the virtues of kosher meat, prized for high quality and humane and well-supervised raising, butchering, and trimming. The innovative recipes in The Kosher Carnivore will delight families who keep kosher as a fresh and modern alternative to traditional kosher preparations and will appeal to a broader group as well--including the lactose-intolerant--with the author's terrific mixture of classic, elegantly ethnic and just-a-little-bit-fashionable entries, such as:--In Beef: Classic Pot Roast, Grilled Steak Chimichurri, Slow-day BBQ Brisket--In Veal and Lamb: Veal Meatballs, Grilled Lamb Riblets, Lamb Sliders--In Chicken: Simple Roast Chicken, Simpler Roast Chicken, Simplest Roast Chicken--In Turkey and Duck: Country-style Turkey Meatloaf, Oven-roasted Spicy Turkey Sausage, Pan-seared Duck Breasts with Figs and Madiera--In Soup and Stock: Creamy Mushroom Soup, Hungarian Bean Soup with Smoked Turkey, Beef & Barley Soup This is not your Aunt Sadie's Jewish cookbook! The Kosher Carnivore also features around forty recipes for side dishes, creatively reinventing standards such as Creamed Spinach (without the butter or cream), condiments and sauces. It also provides instructions on how to grill, roast, braise, stew, pansear-- and even fry perfect crispy chicken without a buttermilk soak--along with tips from expert butchers and chefs across the country"--Provided by publisher.

Film critic Herbert Cohen views films as potential life lessons, and defines a "kosher movie" as one that has something valuable to say about the human condition. In this survey spanning many genres, Cohen presents films as tools for self-discovery and for navigating challenges of life. What do romantic comedies really say about love? What can Cast Away teach us about the value of time? What parenting lessons can we learn from Dead Poets Society? Exploring 120 stand-out movies from the past 30 years, Cohen shares inspiring personal anecdotes about self-growth, relationships, parenting, aging, dealing with adversity, and more.

The second edition of Kosher Food Production explores the intricate relationship between modern food production and related Kosher application. Following an introduction to basic Kosher laws, theory and practice, Rabbi Blech details the essential food production procedures required of modern food plants to meet Kosher certification standards. Chapters on Kosher application include ingredient management; rabbinic etiquette; Kosher for Passover; and the industries of fruits and vegetables, baking, biotechnology, dairy, fish, flavor, meat and poultry, oils, fats, and emulsifiers, and food service. New to this edition are chapters covering Kosher application in the candy and confections industries and the snack foods industry. A collection of over 50 informative commodity-specific essays – specifically geared to the secular audience of food scientists – then follows, giving readers insight and understanding of the concerns behind the Kosher laws they are expected to accommodate. Several essays new to the second edition are included. Kosher Food Production, Second Edition serves as an indispensable outline of the issues confronting the application of Kosher law to issues of modern food technology.

Generating over $12 billion in annual sales, kosher food is big business. It is also an unheralded story of successful private-sector regulation in an era of growing public concern over the government’s ability to ensure food safety. Kosher uncovers how independent certification agencies rescued American kosher supervision from fraud and corruption and turned it into a model of nongovernmental administration. Currently, a network of over three hundred private certifiers ensures the kosher status of food for over twelve million Americans, of whom only eight percent are religious Jews. But the system was not always so reliable. At the turn of the twentieth century, kosher meat production in the United States was notorious for scandals involving price-fixing, racketeering, and even murder. Reform finally came with the rise of independent kosher certification agencies which established uniform industry standards, rigorous professional training, and institutional checks and balances to prevent mistakes and misconduct. In overcoming many of the problems of insufficient resources and weak enforcement that hamper the government, private kosher certification holds important lessons for improving food regulation, Timothy Lytton argues. He views the popularity of kosher food as a response to a more general cultural anxiety about industrialization of the food supply. Like organic and locavore enthusiasts, a growing number of consumers see in rabbinic supervision a way to personalize today’s vastly complex, globalized system of food production.