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Keeping Kosher Or Not Keeping Kosher in Contemporary Denmark

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Keeping Kosher Or Not Keeping Kosher in Contemporary Denmark Keeping kosher or not keeping NJ kosher in contemporary Denmark Johan Fischer DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.77168 Abstract • The Hebrew termkosher means ‘fit’ or ‘proper’ and it traditionally signifies foods that conform to Jewish dietary law (kashrut). This article explores how kosher is understood, practised and contested in contemporary Denmark. In recent years, the rules regulating kosher consumption have been supplemented by elaborate rules concerning globalised mass production, which have had an impact on the way people handle questions of kashrut. During the same period, global markets for kosher have proliferated; this article explores the everyday kosher consumption among Jews in Denmark in the light of these transformations. Everyday kosher consumption among a minority group such as Jews in Denmark is not well understood, and I argue that globalised forms of regula- tion increasingly condition this type of consumption. Even though Denmark is a small and relatively secular country and Jews comprise only about 7,000 individuals, kosher production and regulation have national economic significance. Methodologically, I build on ethnographic data from contemporary Denmark, that is, participant observation and interviews. Introduction been dominant in the global kosher market since the 1990s. The research question here is This article explores the everyday kosher con- how do Jews in Denmark practise everyday kosher sumption among Jews in Denmark in the consumption in light of increasingly globalised context of the globalised mass production forms of regulation? This article forms part of and regulation of kosher products that have a larger research project that compares kosher taken place over the last couple of decades or and halal (in Arabic literally ‘lawful’ or ‘permit- so. Kosher consumption of Jews in Denmark ted’ in Islam) in Denmark and the UK. is not well understood, and I argue that glo- The methodology of this study is based on balised forms of kosher regulation impact participant observation and interviews under- the way people handle kashrut. I understand taken in 2015–16 with religious organisations/ globalised forms of kosher regulation in rela- schools, companies/shops/restaurants and tion to the way in which five transnational most importantly with Jewish middle-class kosher certification agencies – Orthodox consumers. This included fieldwork in eight Union (OU), OK Kosher Certification Jewish households (five of which have been (OK), Kosher Certification and Supervision included here) in and around Copenhagen. (KOF-K), Star-K (Kosher Certification) and These were selected to obtain a good represent- Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC) – have ative spread within the middle-class segment Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Nordisk46 judaistik • ScandinavianNordisk Jewish judaistik Studies • |Scandinavian Vol. 30, No. 2Jewish Studies | Vol. 30, No.46 2 in terms of age, gender and social differentia- and species of animals. Thus, kosher signifies tion more broadly. My research strategy and the classification of permissible and prohibited methodologies allowed me to explore how foodstuffs with a special focus on meat. kosher is understood, practised and contested The term kosher is also widely used to desig- by producers, traders, regulators and consumers nate the ‘rabbinic properness’ of food production, in contemporary Denmark. regulation and consumption (Ivry 2010: 662). In Following this introduction, modern kosher globalised and industrialised mass production of principles and practices are discussed. Then the food and food ingredients, considerable effort paper engages with theories about transna- goes into avoiding any cross-contamination tional governmentality and food practices that or mixing kosher and non-kosher ingredients help explain how the Big Five and smaller (Fischer 2018). As we shall see, standardisa- certifiers govern global kosher regulation and tion plays an important role in these processes. the impact this has on Jewish food practices. Even though global kosher production has The second part of the paper is ethnographic; been regulated since the 1990s, the need for it is introduced by a historical discussion of Jewish oversight or ‘handling’ remains essential kosher in Denmark. The next section explores and inspections by rabbis show that principles kosher practices among the Jews of Denmark. and practices only become compatible dur- The conclusion ties the findings of the article ing inspections. In kashrut, contamination, together and reflects on the emergence of mil- transport and traceability (for a product to be lennial kosher capitalism. kosher all ingredients must also be traceable as What is kosher? kosher throughout the supply chain) have been important issues that require supervision. In Kosher law is ultimately the application of a the everyday lives of fastidious Jews, it is also system of religious precepts and beliefs that important to have separate sets of utensils for govern the types of foods that people of the milk and meat. At Passover or Pesach, a major Jewish faith eat. This system is based on a Jewish festival that commemorates the exodus number of verses found in the Bible, rabbinic from Egypt, special rules apply, as we shall see biblical exegesis, ordinances as presented in in the ethnographic section below. the Talmud (the written record of the oral law From the 1990s onwards the Big Five kosher as redacted in the sixth to seventh centuries), certification agencies have largely dominated and the writings and decisions of later rabbinic the global kosher market. Important issues in authorities. Kashrut is integral to Jewish reli- the literature on kosher concern how regula- gious law (halacha) and includes a number of tion in the form of certification, legislation prohibitions such as a ban on pork, the mixing and inspections was tightened as a response to of milk and meat and a prescribed method of increased consumer awareness among Jewish slaughter. Meat only qualifies as kosher if the groups on a global scale. The proliferation of animal is slaughtered using appropriate shechita kosher production meant that it was no longer methods as interpreted through rabbinic com- exclusively Jews who were in charge of pro- mentaries and customary practices. It is central duction and this strengthened the need for to this process that the blood is drained as fully regulation by trustworthy certifying bodies. as possible. Most Jews only consider meat from Standardised practices unstunned animals to be kosher. Moreover, fish must have fins and scales. Central concepts in Busch (2000) argues that standards are part of kosher laws are related to acceptable plants the moral economy of the modern world that Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 30, No. 2 47 set norms for behaviour and create uniformity. other areas – for example, ‘health’ and ‘spir- This point is important for the emergence and ituality’. Moreover, food practices condition expansion of global and moral kosher markets. and are themselves conditioned by the learn- The concept of transnational governmentality ing of new tastes, handbooks and manuals (Ferguson and Gupta 2002) elucidates how on eating and cultural intermediaries, as well new practices of government and new forms as controversies in popular judgements and of ‘grassroots’ politics are being established on justification. In contemporary secular Europe a global scale. Examples include new strate- significant religious observance coexists with gies of discipline and regulation, exemplified a proliferation of well-advertised specialised by kosher regulation and standards, but also diets, that is, it is a feature of the modern transnational alliances forged by activists and world that many options associated with grassroots organisations and the proliferation religious conviction, health concerns, politi- of voluntary organisations supported by com- cal commitment and aesthetic consideration plex networks of international and transna- coexist and overlap. tional funding and personnel. The outsourcing In this sense kosher consumption encom- of the functions of the state to NGOs and pass issues such as ‘nutrition’ and ‘spiritual- other ostensibly non-state agencies is a key ity’ (Coveney 2000). For modern consumers, feature, not only of the operation of national ‘nutrition’ functions as both a scientific and a states, but also of an emerging system of spiritual/ethical discipline. It serves this dual transnational governmentality. These political function by providing a range of scientific entities are integral parts of a transnational knowledge about food and the body as ‘spir- apparatus of governmentality. It is necessary itual’ disciplines: spiritual here not only means to treat state and non-state governmentality theological, but also refers to the means by within a common frame and as an ethno- which individuals are required to construct graphic problem. themselves with a ‘correct’ concern for the Warde (2016) observes that agribusiness, ‘proper’ way of behaving in relation to eating. sustained economic growth, multinational Food practices are subject to direction, coordi- companies and ever greater international nation and regulation by different (secular/reli- trade have not only transformed the economic gious) stakeholders and texts that are dedicated foundations of Western diets, but also created to describing and prescribing proper eating possibilities of eating in much more varied practices. Contemporary and historical
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