Is It Kosher?
By Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz — a comprehensive guide to the kosher status of hundreds of common foods, ingredients, and food categories.
Restaurant Information
"Eating out" is easy in a city blessed with kosher restaurants under reliable supervision. But where there are no kosher restaurants, many people who otherwise are very careful about kashrus at home succumb to the temptation of eating in a non-kosher restaurant, relying on the myth that many foods do not require supervision.
If we examine a typical menu from a health food or ordinary restaurant, we find very little that can truly be ordered without risk of eating treif. Even a simple breakfast of coffee, fried eggs, lox and bagels with cream cheese presents problems: non-kosher frying pans and oils for eggs; lox cured with non-kosher fish; bagels with non-kosher shortening and release agents; cream cheese with non-kosher rennet.
What is permissible in a non-kosher restaurant: coffee or tea prepared in a special, separate utensil and served in styrofoam cups; cold fruit or salad cut with a permissible knife and served on cold, clean non-kosher utensils. However, even this can prove disappointing, as many waiters add sauces or dressings even when not requested.
Another concern for the kosher patron is "ma'aris ayin" — the appearance to the eye. People who don't know better may reach the wrong conclusion about the status of eating anything in a non-kosher establishment.
It is evident that kashrus observance deserves the same care and caution wherever one eats, whether in restaurants or at home.