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ahh the Laws of Kashruit in regards to food.

Well there's 2 interpretations

Kosher Style and Glat Kosher

Kosher Style is keeping with the origional concepts of Kosher without becoming Adrian Monk. Don't place milk and meat on the same plate, do not consume pork, do not consume shellfish. That's it.

Glat Kosher is Kosher Style with a healthy dose of a**l retention. All food must be fresh, and if it's processed at all, a rabbi must inspect the food processing plant to make sure that the food is infact kosher. Then the rabbi authorizes the food processer to place a symbol on their label that shows the product is infact glat kosher.

There's a suprising number of things that both qualify as kosher, and those that are not kosher. For example...

Bacos = Glat Kosher, it contians no element of pork, it's completly vegetarian.

Hostess Cupcakes = Not Kosher, they contain gelitan within their frosting that is made from animal bones, mixing with the milk products within the cupcake makes the cupcake not kosher.

But wait there's more!

Remember how I mentioned Glat Kosher is a**l retentave? and that under general law, you're not supposed to place milk and meat on the same plate. Under Glat Kosher interpretation you're not supposed to do that with the residuals on the plate. Meaning, no matter how long ago you had that cheese cake, the plate you served it on may NEVER have any meat product on it, It's dairy from that point on.

I'm sure I've raised more questions then I've answered, but that's the general principle.

"Kosher style" means "not kosher," unfortunately. Leaving out pork, shellfish, or overtly visible mixtures of meat and dairy... that's a good start, but "well begun is half done," as Mary Poppins would put it.

"Glatt" means smooth (Yiddish from German), and it refers to the condition of the lung of the slaughtered animal, which has to be examined for smoothness versus lesions, to determine whether the kosher animal, slaughtered in kosher fashion, is actually kosher.

Lately, "glatt" has been extended in the vernacular to mean "kosher according to the strictest interpretation." That means that not only do meat foods not go on dairy utensils (and vice versa), but they also aren't cooked on the same stovetop burners or in the same ovens, and the dishes aren't washed in the same basin or with the same dish rag/sponge/brush. However! If you're Sephardi, you can switch between milk, parve, and meat if the dishes are glass (not Pyrex, which is a mixture of glass and metal, but PURE glass).

Veal is baby cow, and because cows are kosher, veal can be kosher -- if it's raised in a kosher way, slaughtered in a kosher way, and examined and found to be without defect.

That doesn't make it a nice thing to eat, though, does it? You know how they make veal? They stick a calf in a dark, tiny pen so that it never sees light and it never gets a chance to exercise or walk around on the grass. They feed it nothing but milk, long past the age at which it should be eating grass. Then they kill it while it's still young. It has a horrible life. Personally, I can't stand that thought, so I won't touch veal.

sad I refuse to eat baby anything, even if for some incredibly odd reason it was kosher. I like at least knowing what I eat had somewhat of a chance at life, even if it was raised on a farm. Mind you- not that I eat meat that often anyway.

To add on the concept of tzar baeilim hachayot... one of the reasons we say so many prayers, (BTW this is not a sanctioned interpretation, I'm doing this on my own,) is that the protein on our plate, gave its life, to sustain ours.

That's why Kosher meat is ritually killed, and they try to keep the animal as calm as possible. Special knives, specially titled jews with said special knives, ritually kill the animal and then inspect it.

Meanwhile, while I'm off in the woods of New England, durring archery and/or muzzeloader season looking for half a ton of angry pot-roast, I know that the animal I take is not going to be glat kosher, regardless of how fast it goes down, or what it's hooves look like. However, the take is just as kosher as the brisket from the supermarket that my mother prepares every rosh-hashonna, using my grandmother's time honored method of making galvanized rubber.

Besides, I take most of my hunt to a nearby 'res' and preform tzedakah.

I know that Divash will probably never eat anything out of my kitchen without renovating the appliances with boiling water and a blow torch, but frankly, It's inpossible for me to either go all the way glat, or just forget the concept all together.

The reason I brought this topic up, was I wasn't sure if filet mignon was kosher or not. I can stop eating filet mignon at the steak house.

Probably a stupid question:

What does it mean to raise an animal kosher? Does that mean no cruelty, hormones, stuff like that?

Exactly, Neuf. Humane animal raising and slaughtering increase the cost. Personally, I feel that's a pretty good reason to decrease one's meat intake, rather than to decrease one's compassion for food animals or forego the laws of kashrut.

Have you tried ordering kosher meat online? http://www.kosher.com has some fantastic meats and fish. They ship it in such a way that it's frozen solid the entire time it's in shipping, and you can thaw it out whenever you want it. Yes, it costs some, but I find it's worth it, personally. Also, canned tuna is often kosher.