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[maxcriden]

Many millennials — people born after 1980 — have embraced vintage items: vinyl records, thick-framed glasses ... and now, dietary laws.

"I'm 21 years old, and, yes, I do keep kosher," says Lisa Faulds.

She says she ate whatever she wanted growing up: "bacon, ham, all that fun stuff. Seafood, shellfish."

But that all stopped a few months ago.

According to a 2013 Pew Research Center study, nearly a fourth of millennial Jews are keeping kosher.

That's almost twice the rate of their baby-boomer parents — so this is not necessarily because of their parents' influence.

Millennial Margo Smith says it's about values, "taking the root idea of keeping kosher as an idea of being respectful and knowledgeable about the way in which your food is prepared and where it comes from and kind of combining it with the farm-to-table philosophy."
The Atlantic has reported that millennial kosher-keeping Jews are having a big influence on kosher cuisine.

There's now kosher grass-fed beef and kosher free-range chicken — organic, of course.

In uber-hip Brooklyn, a restaurant serves kosher banh mi — that's a Vietnamese sandwich.

And then there's The Gefilteria, a New York company offering small-batch, high-end versions of Bubbie's classic gefilte fish.

Call it kosher cool.

This is really strange to me. I was raised Jewish and do not identify as, or consider myself, Jewish now, but I do remember most (Reform) kids I grew up around did not keep Kosher. 25% seems like a pretty massive number.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/30/352583387/millennial-jews-embrace-old-world-eating

(To me, eating restrictions as part of religious practice have always seemed outdated to me, and I've never found an answer to why they're still practiced today that was personally satisfying to me.)

Were you raised with religious eating restrictions? Do you still practice them now? No judgment, I'm just curious about people's respective reasoning here.

 

[braves01]

I for one am not surprised by young Jewish millennial hipsters deciding it's authentic and cool to keep kosher. I doubt the increase in the number of millennial Jews keeping kosher has a corresponding increase in religious devotion.

 

[8 X 11 Printer Paper]

Haha, no god will be keeping my bacon away from me. Hell I had ham last Yom Kippur.

 

[CharlieDigital]

I heard this segment this morning and thought that:

She says she ate whatever she wanted growing up: "bacon, ham, all that fun stuff. Seafood, shellfish."

"...taking the root idea of keeping kosher as an idea of being respectful and knowledgeable about the way in which your food is prepared and where it comes from and kind of combining it with the farm-to-table philosophy."

Was dumb as fuck. What's disrespectful about bacon, ham, seafood and shellfish?

In uber-hip Brooklyn, a restaurant serves kosher banh mi — that's a Vietnamese sandwich.

Fucking hipsters.

 

[God Dayumm]

Kosher is good. Take for example tuna, for some reason they add soy to that, so you go for either the organic or kosher options.

 

[Opiate]

I'll say this is part of the organic/natural/ethical food wave. This is a method of fusing that desire to eat healthy/natural/ethical/whatever with your religious beliefs. I am admittedly totally shooting form the hip.

 

[maxcriden]

Kosher is good. Take for example tuna, for some reason they add soy to that, so you go for either the organic or kosher options.

I agree. But I just stick to the organic option in that case. (Way too many foods have soy or other cheap, filler products added though. And I say that as a big fan of soy in forms in which it's actually featured, like dark soy sauce as part of pad see ew, agedashi tofu, and inari.)

 

[CharlieDigital]

I'll say this is part of the organic/natural/ethical food wave. This is a method of fusing that desire to eat healthy/natural/ethical/whatever with your religious beliefs. I am admittedly totally shooting form the hip.

Eating healthy can't really be equated with eating based on religious beliefs.

One has an actual, biological, nutritional, and scientific basis and the other is based on some book that says you can't eat bacon.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

i eat hebrew nationals and kosher dills

 

[Orbis Tabula]

I'll say this is part of the organic/natural/ethical food wave. This is a method of fusing that desire to eat healthy/natural/ethical/whatever with your religious beliefs. I am admittedly totally shooting form the hip.

That's what I'm thinking right now. Although I don't like to question the sincerity of peoples' religious beliefs, it seems like a good explanation.

 

[studyguy]

My girlfriend keeps Kosher when it's convenient. Sometimes she'll order bacon, sometimes not. There's no real method to her madness.

 

[Delta Assault]

More Red Lobster for the rest of us, I guess.

 

[Aquamarine]

Eating healthy can't really be equated with eating based on religious beliefs.

One has an actual, biological, nutritional, and scientific basis and the other is based on some book that says you can't eat bacon.

People practice it because it's their way of bandwagoning on the "alternative" diets craze.

You know...vegan, gluten-free, organic, cage-free, kosher, that kind of thing.

But you're absolutely right...it doesn't have any notable health benefits.

 

[Rentahamster]

the other is based on some book that says you can't eat bacon.

 

[grumble]

It's a way of differentiating yourself from the crowd . Thank social media

 

[Dan]

I for one am not surprised by young Jewish millennial hipsters deciding it's authentic and cool to keep kosher. I doubt the increase in the number of millennial Jews keeping kosher has a corresponding increase in religious devotion.

Yeah, first post nailed it. Yet another way to 'rebel'.

 

[CornBurrito]

Glad I don't identify as Jewish. I hated people at my Jewish high school getting holier than thou because they kept kosher while breaking 100s of other Jewish laws.

 

[B!TCH]

I don't get the replies in this thread. People are fairly selective about what they eat regardless of their reasoning so singling out religious or ethical eating restrictions as "dumb" screams of selective reasoning/confirmation bias. Just because you don't like religion or "vegetarians" doesn't mean they are less entitled to equal respect.

Were you raised with religious eating restrictions? Do you still practice them now? No judgment, I'm just curious about people's respective reasoning here.

(To me, eating restrictions as part of religious practice have always seemed outdated to me, and I've never found an answer to why they're still practiced today that was personally satisfying to me.)

Great thread you have here.

judgment =/= my own opinion

I can have an opinion without judging others for having a different opinion.

ETA: I never called anyone dumb. I just meant I can personally understand eating habits with an underlying moral or ethical logic to them that can be easily understood more than those with a spiritual or faith-based logic to them.

Calling religious practice "outdated" is a judgement not a fact, but regardless, I only singled out your post because it was the opening post which set the tone for the discussion that followed.

 

[maxcriden]

Great thread you have here.

judgment =/= my own opinion

I can have an opinion without judging others for having a different opinion.

ETA: I never called anyone dumb. I just meant I can personally understand eating habits with an underlying moral or ethical logic to them that can be easily understood more than those with a spiritual or faith-based logic to them.

 

[fallagin]

I for one am not surprised by young Jewish millennial hipsters deciding it's authentic and cool to keep kosher. I doubt the increase in the number of millennial Jews keeping kosher has a corresponding increase in religious devotion.

You're just a gentile, you wouldn't understand.

 

[Opiate]

Eating healthy can't really be equated with eating based on religious beliefs.

One has an actual, biological, nutritional, and scientific basis and the other is based on some book that says you can't eat bacon.

I'm talking about the natural/organic fad (And its association with health), which is definitely not based on science.

 

[Soriku]

I'll say this is part of the organic/natural/ethical food wave. This is a method of fusing that desire to eat healthy/natural/ethical/whatever with your religious beliefs. I am admittedly totally shooting form the hip.

Killing two birds with one stone I suppose.

Glad I don't identify as Jewish. I hated people at my Jewish high school getting holier than thou because they kept kosher while breaking 100s of other Jewish laws.

lol, as if saying you're not allowed to eat something is something to brag about

 

[maxcriden]

Calling religious practice "outdated" is a judgement not a fact, but regardless, I only singled out your post because it was the opening post which set the tone for the discussion that followed.

I'm sorry it came off that way--I meant to indicate that in my opinion, this in particular is an outdated facet of the Jewish religious practice. As someone raised Jewish, I think I am entitled to this opinion. Regardless, I meant to indicate it as being my opinion and not fact, and I'm sorry I wasn't clearer about this. Secondly, I did not mean to set any tone for an echo chamber, I genuinely wanted to open this up to conversation and differing opinions, and I'm sorry it didn't lead to that. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion and I hope you'll expand on your opinion about this subject.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I'm sorry it came off that way--I meant to indicate that in my opinion, this in particular is an outdated facet of the Jewish religious practice. As someone raised Jewish, I think I am entitled to this opinion. Regardless, I meant to indicate it as being my opinion and not fact, and I'm sorry I wasn't clearer about this. Secondly, I did not mean to set any tone for an echo chamber, I genuinely wanted to open this up to conversation and differing opinions, and I'm sorry it didn't lead to that. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion and I hope you'll expand on your opinion about this subject.

if you're gonna talk outdated and Judaism I'm gonna go with the shabbat with its onerous restrictions. kosher seems positively progressive compared to that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activities_prohibited_on_Shabbat

 

[br3wnor]

"I'm 21 years old, and, yes, I do keep kosher," says Lisa Faulds.

She says she ate whatever she wanted growing up: "bacon, ham, all that fun stuff. Seafood, shellfish."

But that all stopped a few months ago.

Wow, that's really impressive.

 

[richiek]

SHOMER SHABBOS!!

 

[Delta Assault]

if you're gonna talk outdated and Judaism I'm gonna go with the shabbat with its onerous restrictions. kosher seems positively progressive compared to that.

...That's the one with the elevators, right?

 

[NYCmetsfan]

...That's the one with the elevators, right?

my edit had it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activities_prohibited_on_Shabbat


Bill Maher had a good bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpCNKp9PD0

 

[BocoDragon]

Gentile hipsters go vegan. Jewish hipsters go kosher.

 

[Who]

I was raised Mormon so it meant no caffiene or alchohol.

I drink both unashamedly....although like the OP, I don't in any way still identify with the faith.

 

[block tower]

they were kosher before it was mainstream.

 

[AnathemicOne]

I had to google kosher to understand this thread, and I'm a millennial.

 

[Sobriquet]

Bacon tastes good. Pork chops taste good.

 

[Phobophile]

I had to google kosher to understand this thread, and I'm a millennial.

Can't believe my generation is this ignorant.

 

[AnathemicOne]

Can't believe my generation is this ignorant.

Never been exposed to the term, well not explicitly enough for me to care anyways. Plus, I'm not Jewish.

 

[BocoDragon]

I had to google kosher to understand this thread, and I'm a millennial.

The important word in "millennial jew" is jew, not millennial.

I'd suggest you learn up on other peoples' cultures and faiths... but this isn't actually a story about people of your (our) generation.

 

[Dali]

Yes and yes. I even started a thread about it where you swine loving charlatans shouted me down. It's not for religious reasons I avoid the pig though.

 

[Soriku]

my edit had it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activities_prohibited_on_Shabbat


Bill Maher had a good bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpCNKp9PD0

lol. What does this masochism achieve?

 

[BocoDragon]

Yes and yes. I even started a thread about it where you swine loving charlatans shouted me down. It's not for religious reasons I avoid the pig though.

It kinda is, unless you're also avoiding other meat.

Avoiding pork "for health reasons", and leaving out other meats, is most assuredly from religious influence whether you know it or not.

Just like circumcision.

 

[Not]

"Moral reforms and deteriorations are moved by large forces, and they are mostly caused by reactions from the habits of a preceeding period. Backwards and forwards swings the great pendulum, and its alternations are not determined by a few distinguished folk clinging to the end of it."

-Charles Petrie

 

[Dali]

It kinda is, unless you're also avoiding other meat.

Avoiding pork "for health reasons", and leaving out other meats, is most assuredly from religious influence whether you know it or not.

Just like circumcision.

No its not. If it were for religious reasons then I'd have to believe there were some diety I was offending or that man had an immortal soul.

 

[BocoDragon]

No its not. If it for religious reasons then I'd have to believe there were some diety I was offending or that man had an immortal soul.

Where did you get this idea that it's a good idea to avoid pork then?

If you're full vegetarian, I understand completely.

But why pork specifically? Who told you pork was the one to avoid?

 

[Admiral Bone to Pick]

Younger site audience + typical GAF self-hatred = People in this thread trashing on millennials.

 

[Odrion]

*clap*

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Where did you get this idea that it's a good idea to avoid pork then?

If you're full vegetarian, I understand completely.

But why pork specifically? Who told you pork was the one to avoid?

Do you think he's lying to you for some reason

 

[BocoDragon]

Do you think he's lying to you for some reason

No.

If you think you're eating pork for "dietary reasons" and you're an atheist, but you got your wisdom about about how pork was "bad for you" from what was ultimately a religiously influenced source, then you are abstaining from pork for a religious reason whether you know it or not.

Plenty of secular doctors and parents consent to circumcision. That doesn't change the fact that the only reason it got into our society in the first place is because of religious history.

Pork is generally a harmless meat, and in many ways is arguably better than other meats. It is certainly not obviously worse from a scientific standpoint. So if someone has singled out pork as "the bad one", that is probably from a religious origin whether they are aware of it or not.

 

[SirPainsalot]

Jewish Hipsters sticking to kosher? Not surprising lol

 

[Dali]

No.

If you think you're eating pork for "dietary reasons" and you're an atheist, but you got your wisdom about about how pork was "bad for you" from what was ultimately a religiously influenced source, then you are abstaining from pork for a religious reason whether you know it or not.

Plenty of secular doctors and parents consent to circumcision. That doesn't change the fact that the only reason it got into our society in the first place is because of religious history.

Pork is generally a harmless meat, and in many ways is arguably better than other meats. It is certainly not obviously worse from a scientific standpoint. So if someone has singled out pork as "the bad one", that is probably from a religious origin whether they are aware of it or not.

Dude how can it be for religious reasons if I'm not religious? Just stop it you're embarrassing yourself. You can call it indoctrination if you want but it's not religion.

 

[Not]

Younger site audience + typical GAF self-hatred = People in this thread trashing on millennials.

Natural reaction from autonomous individuals who are being consistently generalized and placed into categories.

The most common targets are young people, because they remind older people that they aren't anymore.

 

[blame space]

millennial Jews rule