Tips on Keeping Kosher As a Tourist in the Third World. Table of Contents. Introduction and Overview... Page 1

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1 C:\A\Zim-trip\kosher.in.third.world.wpd DRAFT Tips on Keeping Kosher As a Tourist in the Third World By Yehuda Wiesen March 14, 2006 Table of Contents Introduction and Overview... Page 1 Challenges to Keeping Kosher on The Road... Page 1 General Approach... Page 1 Food to Pack... Page 2 Non-Food to Pack... Page 2 Food to Buy Locally... Page 3 Non-Food to Buy Locally... Page 3 Breakfast Ideas... Page 3 Lunch Ideas (for the road)... Page 4 Dinner Ideas... Page 4 How to Pack... Page 4 Quantities to Pack... Page 4 Notes on Food Storage and Safety... Page 4 Misc Tips and Ideas... Page 5 Ideas not Yet Tried... Page 5 Suggestions from Some Experienced Travelers... Page 5

2 DRAFT Tips on Keeping Kosher As a Tourist in the Third World By Yehuda Wiesen March 14, 2006 Introduction and Overview These tips are intended to help the first time traveler to remote places to keep kosher, despite no kosher restaurants and not knowing any Jews in the area. They grew out of my recent trip to Africa. Most of these tips assume you have access to a stove of some sort. Of course, different people may have different standards of kashrut, so no one approach will suit all. Some halachic information and guidance related to traveling is available on the web at: These tips focus on things unique to travel in remote areas. They do not cover kashrut in general. For example, they do not cover kashering a kitchen or preparing foods. Since these tips do not provide explanations, rationale, nor rules, and they may raise many questions for the reader. However, these tips may provide food for thought as you plan out your trip. All questions should be referred to a competent halachic authority. Please note, I don t eat meat or fish, so there are no tips for them. This is a first draft, and comments are welcome! Send your comments to travel@mahadash.com. Challenges to Keeping Kosher on The Road The major challenges to keeping kosher while traveling in the third world are: 1. Finding kosher food 2. Avoiding insects 3. Bishul akum General Approach 1 Plan ahead (and have a backup plan) 2 On arrival at a new location, have enough food with you for the first day or so, so you have time to locate local resources. 3 Eat a vegetarian diet 4 Cook in your own pot 5 Bring foods not available locally 6 Stay where there is a kitchen or microwave, or cook on a camp stove or fire 7 Think simple meals 8 Look for hospitality. (There are Jews in unexpected places.) Page 1

3 Food to Pack Pack foods not that are not available locally and are important to your diet. Hechshered foods are very scarce in the Third World, so take any that you will need. Do not over pack. Some of these foods may be available locally, but it is nice to pack some, so that you know you can make your first meals without going shopping. Here are some ideas on foods to pack: 1. Bouillon cubes or soup flavoring powder (pareve) 2. Spaghetti (good for a quick meal) 3. Rice (small amount, good for a quick meal, can replenish supply locally) 4. Salad dressing 5. Mayonnaise (for egg salad or potato salad) 6. Soy sauce or tamari sauce 7. Cooking oil (e.g., canola) 8. Sugar (sometimes not available locally) 9. Salt (sometimes not available locally) 10. Pepper (if you cannot do without) 11. Mustard/ketchup (if you use them) 12. Peanut butter 13. Jelly/jam 14. Challa rolls for fri nite (they keep if refrigerated) or Matzah 15. Granolla bars (various brands, since you may tire of one type) 16. A few spices (bay leaf, oregano) 17. Small cans of tomato sauce (for quick meals of spaghetti) 18. Wine for Shabbat kiddush (small bottle) 19. Raisins (good for little snacks while on the road) 20. Quick oats 21. Dry milk Non-Food to Pack 1 3 quart pot with thick bottom, so you can use it to fry and saute as well as boil. 2 Cooking implement (one large spoon can turn foods and serve as ladle) 3 Kitchen knife 4 Fork/spoon 5 Peeler 6 Paper plates (with plastic coating on top) 7 Napkins 8 Mug (for tea, soup, etc.) 9 Food storage containers with tight lids (one 2 quart, one pint) 10 Plastic bags for sandwiches 11 Candles for fri nite and Havdala 12 Spices for Havdala Page 2

4 13 Bentcher/Luach 14 Iodine tablets (to make local water safe to drink, cannot take chlorine on airplanes) 15 Copper pot scrubber to clean pot 16 Water purification materials (e.g., iodine pills) 17 Camp stove 18 Dish soap (can replenish locally) Food to Buy Locally 1. Eggs 2. Rice 3. Pasta 4. Fresh fruits and veggies (onions, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, string beans, avocado, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, mango, oranges, melons, apples, etc.) 5. Coke, Fanta, beer 6. Extra virgin olive oil 7. Tea, coffee 8. Dried spices 9. Flour 10. Dried beans 11. Baking soda/powder (think about your recipes) 12. Sugar, salt, pepper Non-Food to Buy Locally 1 Napkins 2 Dishtowel 3 Liquid dish soap 4 Strainer Breakfast Ideas 1 Oatmeal 2 Hash brown potatoes 3 Toast (if bread is available) 4 Muffins (if oven is available) 5 Fresh fruit 6 Veggies 7 Cereal and milk (if available) 8 Eggs (fried, scrambled, omelettes with mushrooms or other veggies) 9 Leftovers from dinner 10 Pancakes 11 Fried dough Page 3

5 Lunch Ideas (for the road) 1 Egg sandwich 2 Leftovers from dinner 3 Peanut butter sandwich 4 Fresh fruits/veggies Dinner Ideas You may need an oven for some of these dishes. 1 Spaghetti and mushroom/tomato sauce 2 Rice pilaf (bouillon, mushrooms, garlic, onions) 3 Potato salad 4 Rice and lentils 5 Rattatoui 6 Rice and veggies with peanut butter sauce 7 Veggie stew 8 Various potato dishes (fried, french fries, baked) 9 Salad 10 Soup (veggie) 11 Breads (home made pita made in fry pan?) 12 Potato kugel 13 Noodle kugel How to Pack 1 Bring foods in unbreakable containers (e.g., plastic, or packed inside the pot). 2 Wrap cans and containers in clothing. Quantities to Pack Do not over pack. 1 One-fourth pound of pasta per person is a meal 2 1 can of tomato sauce for every day or two (if you like it) 3 1 oz of peanut butter per person per day Notes on Food Storage and Safety 1 Hard boiled eggs left at room temperature last at least 2 hours. 2 Some wild animals are attracted by fresh fruit (e.g., elephants like citrus fruit) 3 Soak local produce in iodine water before eating. Non-Hechshered Foods You may need to consider buying non-hechshered, prepared food. Ask your rabbi about the following: 1 Milk, if a government agency polices the milk industry Page 4

6 2 Liquid dish soap (a petroleum product) 3 Dry pasta (almost never has non-kosher ingredients) 4 Commercially produced bread without animal fat (often can talk w baker at local bakery) Misc Tips and Ideas 1 Take food on airplanes, since requested kosher meals sometimes do not materialize (e.g., when there is a change of equipment). 2 Kosher restaurants go out of business or may have limited hours, so check ahead. 3 Air terminal stores that offer kosher sandwiches can be problematic: they may sell out, and may not be stocked daily. 4 Cook dinner in morning (if have refrig) since will be hungry at the end of the day. 5 A PB&J sandwich on roll lasted 8 days (mostly refrigerated) on one trip I took. 6 Vegetarian restaurants that are religiously based or vegan may be more strictly vegetarian than other vegetarian restaurants. 7 Plan your cooking more than usual, since you will have limited number of pots and containers. 8 I took two of the packaged (LaBruite) meals ready to eat and ended up eating only one, but it was nice to know there was a meal available at any time. 9 Larger restaurants may use a rice cooker exclusively to make boiled rice. Ideas not Yet Tried 1 Ask a (small) restaurant to cook food in your pot (e.g., rice, veggies) and observe and take part in the cooking. Suggestions from Some Experienced Travelers 1 Hunt down as many Jewish communities as possible, and eat well when you find them; there are kosher outposts all through Africa and Asia in the most unlikely spots. 2 Even when there are no kosher restaurants, there are often vegetarian restaurants under supervision (when we were in Kenya, for example), kosher communities that have communal meals (Bangkok used to serve guests all shabbat meals communally). or at least kosher families/homes that were findable. 3 Buddhist restaurants are almost always strictly vegetarian. 4 Many countries have local customs that facilitate eating in restaurants. For example, in Bali, banana leaf was a common source of cooking implement, so we had many happy meals of 'tuna banana leaf' where the plain fish was cooked in a banana leaf over an open flame. No non-kosher pot to worry about! 5 Note that despite traveling with own pot, pan, mug, and cookstove, we still managed to unhappily lose 15 pounds each in very, very treif China. Page 5